Andy owned a 3.0 CSL and had commissioned a firm local to him to completely restore the car. Unfortunately, the company ran into financial trouble and Andy heard about it just in time, so at least he was able to rescue the car. He sent it directly to Munich Legends for us to assess the work done so far, and the work left to do. Scarily, almost every nut on the car seemed to have been left loose, engine mounts absent, and even wheel bolts left untightened. It was not a happy car.

The company had advised him that the original Scheel material was no longer available and so had trimmed the interior in (nasty) leather. The car had also been painted in Alpine white – which was never a CSL colour (Chamonix was the only white available) – and to top it all the engine smoked so badly it obviously needed rebuilding. The report did not make for great reading. Andy decided that his health couldn’t stand another full-length project and asked our team to find a new owner who would be more willing to take up the challenge. In fact, the history and paperwork were above average, and at least all of the car was present, so, given that Andy was sensible in his approach to pricing it was not too hard to find an enthusiast who wanted his own CSL project.

The new owner’s approach was quite simple. Keep the car original. Make no compromises. Get on with the job.

Our restoration team wasted no time in stripping the CSL back to its bare shell, and once done, the various components were taken on by the relevant in-house and out-sourced specialists. The underside was also stripped and fully rebuilt as new, with all the suspension and drive train re-powder coated, new pipework, fuel tank, and the non-original dog-leg gearbox replaced with the correct ratio, original spec four speed ‘box. The shell was media blasted and any corrosion or filler removed and re-metalled. Once primed, prepped and blocked, the CSL received a beautiful coat of the original Golf yellow paint – the same colour it left the factory wearing, back in 1972. The brightwork was sent off for electroplating, the dashboard was lovingly restored by our cabinet makers, and the interior retrimmed in original Scheel, taken from Munich Legends’ own secret stash.

While the body shop worked their magic, our team were busy rebuilding the 3.0L M30 engine, both inside and out. The ancillaries were removed and sent off for powder-coating, looms re-covered and covers and trims repainted to match. The cooling system and pipework was completely replaced.

Once the interior was retrimmed and refitted and the dash in and working, the original steering wheel – that someone had inexplicably painted white – was restored and given a coat of black to match the original CSL citypack brochures, and finally the car was complete and ready to drive.

Golf yellow is one of the signature 70s colours for coupes, and the original 14” wheels, original carpets (very rare in good condition) and factory-perfect seats all make this a very true-to-original E9 CSL. In fact, we think you’d be hard pushed to tell its been restored, as opposed to just being a very well kept original, unrestored example. We think that’s something to be proud of! We hope you enjoy the photos of this fabulous project as it unfolded