Ibiza 1.4 Chill - Sad Story/Happy Ending

I have a confession to make, I've neglected an Ibiza!

The cars a 51 Ibiza Chill 1.4, it was bought for my partner as a replacement to a Seicento Sporting that had a shot headgasket among other things three years ago. Originally on 29,000 miles totally standard but with the goodies like A/C, Alloys, CD Changer, Fogs, Climate etc.

Soon after getting the car we realised how rigid the MK3 seats were compared to those in my MK2's and it was that bad for Vicki that the car was going to be moving on in less than a week. Happily we spotted a MK2 GTi interior on Ebay so we bought it, fitted it and haven't looked back.

Since then its been used daily by Vicki to get to university and then work, she is now a teacher. Being a teacher she's never got much spare time and when she has pampering the car is usually last on her list of things to do. I occasionally wash it if i have time after looking after mine but truth be told its been pretty neglected cosmetically, even though the service history is immaculate!

Its had some unwanted attention over the years, several kids and their parents have vandalised it after not appreciating Vick's teaching authority and its regularly used for shopping and moving around garden materials.

Despite all this it has never once refused to start or broken down - 34,000 faultless miles with us. It filled in for the Cordy on more occasions than i can count, cracks 110mph and regularly does over 400 miles on a full tank.

So here it is now after 3 years of use.













As you can see its dirty, faded, full of earth and a brick?!?!

So now the happy part, as i've been badly ill and off work i've been instructed to do physical things that i can see a result in. So with Vick away and the car on the drive I decided it was time to make up for the neglect and show it some love!

So first off i cruised down to the local jet wash and got all the muck underneath hosed off, the arched cleaned out and all the dirt off the body, a good start. I then brought it home and thats when the real work began!

The inside was wet and dry vacced, dusted, polished and windows cleaned with autoglym products.

Next was the nightmare of the outside, the paint was badly oxidised, there were scratches all over, other marks and ingrained muck! So out came the T-cut, Super Resin Polish, Bumper Restorer, Vinyl Cleaner and Wax. Oh and a mechanical polisher.

These were the pads after, the one on the far right should be bright yellow and the others an off white colour.



And here is the final result a photoshoot at my favourite local ruin!



















Now the car is in the condition it deserves to be in after three years of faultless service, I'll try to keep it this way.........

It is a fantastic little run around, unfortunately it will be moving on in a few months as we are looking to replace it with a Golf GT TDI.

I suspect after limp modes, boost leaks and god knows what else we'll regret the swap.

ather`s said:

is your favourite ruin hardwick house and its grounds by any chance?? car looks super clean now. brill.

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Not far off, its sutton scarsdale hall about 10 mins from hardwick

stezo2k said:

thats a great story, looks like shes still in great nick

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Its scrubbed up better than I expected.......... maybe all the dirt was protecting it?

Cars had a bump at the weekend, drivers side wing mirror obliterated.

New one on order and should be back to form by the end of the week.