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I was looking for ideas for the patio and that looks good, I’ll remember it once we’re finished with the building. Why not get a local architect to come take a look, they know what will and won’t pass planning. We’re in a conservation area but when the architect first came he knew what we’d need to do from the start and the application went straight through. Always worth the conversation isn’t it.

Garages on the front used to be unusual but seem to see more springing up nowadays, planning rules have definitely relaxed in the last 20 years. Go for it, worst they can do is say no!

His drive’s about 4 feet below ours so it’s quite a structure, 3 bays wide, one of which is an enclosed garage. Stairs up the outside at the other end with an office upstairs and he’s got a long wheelbase T5 he parks inside one of the carports. It was good to get the Corrado out yesterday, can’t see it going anywhere today in this mucky weather though!

Actually took it past the end of the drive for some V-Power and a 30 mile spin. First time since the end of September!

The seats or the steering wheel??? Yes, the wheel’s great, feels spot on, just like a brand new wheel in a quality car would I guess. The stitching is a thing of beauty, I look at it and wonder how it’s possibly done, there’s probably a “How it’s Made” show that gives away the secret!

Sneaky picture!

Here you go, tried to get a close up of the stitching, they make a great job of steering wheels, don't know if they do gear knobs though.

Might be worth trying the place I had my steering wheel done at, they made a great job of that, may do gear knobs. http://royalsteeringwheels.com/

Well I’ve had the VR6 twenty years this September, I had a valver for five years before that, and we’ve been saying that we’re on the verge of prices rising for most of that time!

Mine was registered November 95 but there were definitely some hanging around unsold for a while, there used to be a P reg Aqua VR6 near where we lived which would mean August 96!

That’s the one, I was just about to get the car out the garage for a photo!

No sorry, in the boot, just above the carpet line.

This has hijacked your thread hasn’t it! S confirms its a 1995 build, K is Osnabrueck and 002448 means it was built 12 cars after the first Storm. Mine’s 003701 and classic green but built after the Storms finished. Mine has a small label inside the back panel about the same size as an old supermarket price sticker, says 18 May 1995 on it, don’t suppose you have anything like that do you?

Chris Gaskell had an encyclopaedic knowledge of this stuff and was a sad loss, he would have told you the exact numbers! The Storms, particularly the green ones weren’t much out of the ordinary coming down the production line, a different head unit, multi changer and colour coded grill over any other green one with beige interior on the line. I’ve never seen a number to confirm how many of the final 451 built after the last Storm (for sale) were UK cars, but mine along with around another 300 or so others is one of those as I believe that at the end of production RHD outnumbered LHD by 2:1.

My understanding of it was that the 500 Storms were part of the last batch of 1,300 built for VW UK. They were scattered through the production run just the same as LHD and RHD cars were built alongside each other which is what makes them difficult to identify as the Storms themselves aren’t subsequent whereas the VINs were sequential. The first Storm was allegedly 002436, the last sold was 003592 then the second last Corrado built was a green Storm 004043 followed by 004044, a LHD classic green, both the last two ending up in the museum. The above all has the caveat of “that’s my understanding of it!”

Based on the understanding that last Corrado off the line was SK004043, mine was 342 from last, definitely a late dash! I think it all started to go downhill when I replaced the heater controls with the Climatronic panel, it’s OK when it’s fitted though, I’ll pick one up one day.

You’re welcome fella, glad to be able to contribute at least a bit towards fitting the recaros! The centre console must have been designed to creak, rattle and disintegrate, I think mine’s approaching equal parts plastic and araldite, every time it comes out another bit has to be glued together on the way back in!

OK, first things first, I believe I've got your plugs. Red plug is just as you say, 701 906 231, the brown plug was paired with it in the loom I've chopped it from and it looks exactly like the one in your photo but the number is 3A0 972 751 H, I've zoomed in as far as possible on your photo and it looks like it could read that as the number is right on the edge and you can't really see the base of the 2. Unless you're anywhere near M1 J30 on a running in journey, PM me your address and I'll stick them in the post. Next the wiring. Only the heating wire runs up into the backrest as both motors are in the base, the wire you're looking at should run down behind the side trim to the hinge and then come out of the cover underneath to the plugs. I expect yours has broken at the hinge some time and been shortened, you could probably just extend the wire and reconnect it.

I couldn’t find any recaro ones for mine so I fitted some from a Golf. I had to trim the bolster part of the base elements off and rejoin the loop as the seat cushion is a separate part in the recaro seat but not in the Golf. Problem with modern elements is that they’re a carbon mat rather than copper wire loop which apparently won’t work with traditional controllers, or so I was told!

I’ll have a dig in the garage tomorrow, no promises but I might turn something up.

Excellent news mate, they just look so much sleeker in there don’t they, glad some turned up!

That’s some progress, very impressed!

Thanks for that, looks just what I’m looking for, just got to find one now, part number is 94-98 Passat apparently!

That’d be great if you could, I’m liking the easy fix!

I might pass on the baby oil!