Digestible Collectible: 1992 Volkswagen Corrado SLC
It’s been a while since I’ve written about a Volkswagen product in a positive light. They certainly haven’t made it easy. That said, new cars aren’t my thing, and Wolfsburg did make the occasional interesting car back in the day.
I’ve been on a binge lately of looking at hot hatches that are becoming eligible for historic plates. That seems appropriate as I’ve passed the halfway point to my theoretical retirement. The Volkswagen Corrado has always fascinated me, so I fired up my usual searches.
Ugh. Finding an older Volkswagen that isn’t either thrashed or stanced is a challenge.
I suppose that’s at once a function of the popularity of Volkswagen’s performance models, and of VW’s perceived quality issues. I’m a bit concerned about this 1992 Volkswagen Corrado SLC, as it’s a first-year VR6 model. Can anyone tell me if these powerplants were particularly troublesome?
I can say that any car with factory BBS basketweaves automatically moves to the front of my desirability list. They are, by far, my favorite wheel of the ’80s. The black paint isn’t my favorite, but it looks nearly perfect. The light-tan leather looks wonderful, though I picture myself needing to clean up Heinz and Crayola frequently from the rear seats.
Yes, $7,000 is a bit steep for — though I’ve found a few others with a $10,000 asking price. There is an enthusiast following that could bring the value up over a basic commuter, but I’d think $4,500 is more realistic for this car.
Some enthusiasts say they were born with gasoline in their veins. Chris Tonn, on the other hand, had rust flakes in his eyes nearly since birth. Living in salty Ohio and being hopelessly addicted to vintage British and Japanese steel will do that to you. His work has appeared in eBay Motors, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars, Reader's Digest, AutoGuide, Family Handyman, and Jalopnik. He is a member of the Midwest Automotive Media Association, and he's currently looking for the safety glasses he just set down somewhere.
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I had one of these for 12 fantastic years and 151k miles, and then I sold it under duress (kids, family, etc.). I had the supercharger rebuilt at 147k. It had a beautiful interior. It was supurbly made by Karmann. I think this car pushed them out of business. It drove so well and was useful, with nice rear seats and a good trunk. Yes it had issues but none that were too terrible. I miss it terribly. I always wanted the V6 but it was never in the cards. And they never made a car so nice again.
I have a '97 Jetta GLX VR6 that sits in the garage. The engine and transmission are fine; everything else around them (power steering, power windows, vacuum lines for locks, instrumentation, cruise control, manual seat controls, A/C compressor, powered sunroof) has fallen apart.
Last year i purchased a 1990 VW Cabriolet with 60,000 original miles. The second owner was a young kid who wanted to go the hot rod route. Coil over springs European bumpers and i could go on and on. Finally after having god only knows how many butchers working on it he gave up. He put it up for sale thru Craigslist. The car was a mess. The body was great, nice paint and interior and a nice top. No rust no accidents but ran like shit. I gave him $3,000.00 only because he had the original parts. I put a few months of work into it. Im retired so i have the time. Who ever worked on the engine i would not let them touch my lawn mower. Replaced the struts, radiator, fuel regulator, a few relays replaced the bumpers with the original, replaced the instruments lighting with LED's and washed and cleaned the interior. The car runs 100% I spent about $1,000.00 in parts plus my labor and the car looks great. My insurance is $140.00 a year full coverage and i can drive it anywhere. I use it as my second car and it keeps the mileage down on my new Mini Cooper S. The last Cabriolet i did this to years ago i brought for $2,500.00 and spend about $800.00 and drove it for 5 years. Sold it for $5,800.00. These cars are simple and parts are cheap. If you can work on the car yourself they are great or you have to have a good honest mechanic who knows VW.
I think those are the same wheels Audi put on my Mom's '89 80 Quattro. Look great but boy what a PITA to clean!