1995 Bramble Metallic (aka Blackberry) Corrado VR6 - Round 2 of VR6 ownership

[P3rks 11]

Hello everyone! I'm back in the fold and I have just picked up a good and honest Blackberry VR6, 90k on the clock. Best thing is that it appears to be 99.9% complete, no missing trim bits etc and everything works as it should, down to the very last bulb. That's half the battle with these, right? Best part it was local to me.

 

I plan on keeping this fairly original looking (well, sympathetic) and restoring it (the engine bay is original and 23 years old!).

 

Bit of a teaser pic for now:

IMG_2759 by Rich Perkins, on Flickr

 

I have a bit of a list to start with, so if anyone has any advice where to look for these, let me know (it's been a few years since I've been in the Corrado game so i'm a little rusty).

- Corrado Floor Mats (high quality, thick pile/shag)

- Original tool kit and case

- Amber or clear side repeaters

- Driver's seat bolster foams

- Exhaust System, 6-branch, de-cat and cat back system

- 1995 Original sale brochure

Edited June 11, 2018 by P3rks

[Dogma 10]

Lovely enjoy

 

 

 

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[Harrier 1]

Welcome back :)

I have a good quality de cat I don’t need, if interested I can get a picture or 2 ?

[Jim Bowen 1]

Got a Miltek sports cat. Done about 200miles.

[robrado974 1]

That looks lovely. Amber side repeaters are available at Heritage.

[delfinis38 1]

That looks lovely. Amber side repeaters are available at Heritage.

 

Not sure they are hella. I bought some hella origional of ebay

[robrado974 1]

Not sure they are hella. I bought some hella origional of ebay

 

My mistake , I was on about the repeaters on the wings , bumper indicators are deleted I think . I got a pair about a year ago , now my fogs look crap next to them

 

 

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[P3rks 11]

Thanks Chaps! I'm truly smitten. I've had a bit of a hard time with cars recently as I've gone from old VW's to new cars (for the convenience) and I've had nothing but trouble. Bit of history below:

 

My Old Corrado in it's prime:

 

In the interim I ended up with this... 40k(ish) on the clock. Very original and lovely to look at and drive. Only sold it as I did about 400 miles in 3 years. Soft top's just wern't for me..

IMG_20160605_183307 by Rich Perkins, on Flickr

 

Then the problems started... I bought a TT Quattro Sport 240, which was a massive money pit.. Had a boost leak I could never fix. I repaired one thing and another 3 things broke. Even the next owner contacted me a few months later saying the same...

 

Lovely Interior though...

 

Then onto a Ibiza FR - my first brand new car. It never, ever drove straight and had knocking drop links from new. Within the first month it needed new drop links, wishbones, track controll arms, ARB's, top mounts etc etc. After the replacement parts the tracking was clearly all over the show even thought the dealer promised it had been re-set. After about two months the dealer coughed up that they didn't have tracking facilities and it had not been done, so they took it to a 3rd party. Car came back in the red (failed) on all corners. They couldn't get it straight. This is when the dealer told me it had been dropped off the transport.

 

The dealer swapped me to a Leon FR. This car was genuinely great.

 

I paid extra for a genuine roof spoiler, dealer fit and paint. The car came back to me with this.. Yep, they'd smashed the door onto a 2 post ramp and then denied it..

 

But then... A few weeks later someone in a Freelander had left their handbrake off, it rolled down a slight hill, gained some speed then hit my car and bounced it off the wall. The car was about 3 months old. After this the car was never the same as the approved Seat repairers did such a **** job needing three attempts, but each time pushing the paint further up the car until it needed a full respray to rectify. It had bubbles, blisters, runs, paint over sand marks, lacquered over watermarks and poor panel fit (to name a few). Truley terrible. I ended up with a healthy payout and traded the car in....

DSC_0335 by Rich Perkins, on Flickr

 

I then thought I'd upgrade to a proper car.

 

Worst car i've ever owned and worst car experience in my life. The gearbox leaked after two weeks. Then it started whining (like a supercharger) when pressing on. It then leaked again and again and again. Each time BMW refusing to accept there was a fault with the car, saying the whine was a "characteristic" and that even though the car had leaked, and where it was leaking from.. It was not leaking at the time they had it so it wasn't broken and refused to fix anything. I ended up with a massive complaint with the Ombudsman involved. Took over a year with 8 months not driving the thing until I finally won. BMW even accused me of tampering. The arrogance of BMW was truly eye opening. The car also had faling spot welds in the roof structure and a mutltitude of other issues... Truley an awful, awful experience and a heartbreaking situation. Finally got most of my money back though...

YP66LFX by Rich Perkins, on Flickr

 

Then onto my latest and last new car... Lovely little thing and then the turbo popped after 10 days of ownership (first time I used full throttle). Becuase of my previous experience that went straight back. No argument from Abarth as it was a known faulty batch. Full refund and that was me done with the new car experience.

 

... and that brings me to today. Back to my roots, Bought a cheap daily beater Passat (I love it) and went on the look out for a garage toy. That's how I've ended back in the fold.

F926F13E-9783-4704-9B58-4AB13195C299 by Rich Perkins, on Flickr

 

A bit of a rollercoaster, right!?

Edited June 12, 2018 by P3rks

[P3rks 11]

Not sure they are hella. I bought some hella origional of ebay

 

 

I've bought the ones form Heritage for my Rivage, and the fit was terrible. They were just cheap tat and a waste of money. I want hella next time

[ger040 3]

you have been seriously unlucky with the cars - with new cars the trend seems to be either you get a good car or a poor car don't know why?

 

with regards to dealers some offer excellent aftercare service and others just want your money and run

 

At least with an older car if it goes tits up you can just scrap it and walk away

 

by the way that is a very nice looking corrado there very jealous

[P3rks 11]

you have been seriously unlucky with the cars - with new cars the trend seems to be either you get a good car or a poor car don't know why?

 

with regards to dealers some offer excellent aftercare service and others just want your money and run

 

At least with an older car if it goes tits up you can just scrap it and walk away

 

by the way that is a very nice looking corrado there very jealous

 

Seriously unlucky! I've come to the conclusion, that all new cars have issues. It's just how they are fixed and how anal you are about the problems. With old cars that have that certain characteristic, a squeak, ill-fitting, high clutch, funny idle. It's probably been there from new! We have a pool of 6 Octavia's at work, all the same model, colour, spec. Identical. Each one drives differently and has it's own little traits.

 

And with new cars, you order, it's delivered and that's your car. With used at least you get chance to inspect and test drive before you buy.

 

The issue is warranty work too. The dealer's don't get paid for inspection work, only work carried out to repair. And that repair has to be authorised by the manufacturer. It's always to a minimum. Take the BMW for example. It lost 1.5l of gearbox oil. The dealer knew it had leaked, they even knew the area it was leaking from (oil cooler). But becuase the car wasn't leaking under thier inspection - BMW refused the fix as it wasn't actually "broken" at the time. The mind boggles. And when you're paying £500 a month on PCP, fixing it yourself grates a tad.

[mic_VR 3]

Geez! Sounds like you've done the right thing getting away from new cars. Welcome back to the fold :thumbleft:

 

I have a '67 plate Golf and that had to go back for a leaking door seal and malfunctioning radio within a few weaks. Currently I'm sure there's an issue with fueling as it seems really hesitant and runs rough on part throttle.

The dealer had it for 2 days but no issue apparently. Thankfully it's not so bad that it needs to go back, maybe it's just me being overly sensitive.

 

Look forward to seeing more images of the new steed.

[Jim Bowen 1]

I've had a 16 Plate fiesta for 2yrs now, not had a single problem with it in 40,000miles, only needed front brakes pads so far

[mic_VR 3]

I've had a 16 Plate fiesta for 2yrs now, not had a single problem with it in 40,000miles, only needed front brakes pads so far

 

There's always one.... :lol:

 

Jim, If P3rks doesn't want that sports cat let me know as I could be very interested.

[Dogma 10]

lol that’s more cars than I’ve owned in my life. 🤪

 

 

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[Tjninny 10]

I know we’re all different but I’ve never seen the attraction of putting all my money in a brand new car(value drops like a stone straight away)it means I can run my Corrado, Audi 80 cabriolet and a touareg all together, while still having holidays abroad 3 times a year. Like I say we’re all different but it suits me. Those B5 Passats are cracking cars - they do all you want for reasonable money.

[GrahamU 6]

Wow, now thats a story...

 

I have heard so many bad things about dealers especially bmw, but to acuse you of tampering is low.

 

Welcome back

[robrado974 1]

Christ , you have some bad luck . Hope you have better luck with the corrado . Talking of BMW , my mrs got a brand new 118i on pcp , she was fed up with second hand cars , namely the Golf TSI , I will say no more . We picked it up , the rep was showing us the basics . He was demonstrating the trip computer and it failed !, brand new with no miles on it .

 

 

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[GlosterOx 0]

Good luck with your new acquisition, always loved Blackberry and that one looks a stunner!

[leon263 0]

Getting good driver's seat foams is going to be tricky but if you can pick up a good passenger seat from a breaker, swapping the foams over to your existing seat is pretty straightforward.

[Simeon 0]

Jeez, and I thought I was unlucky with cars :lol: welcome back to proper car ownership :) I've got a Blackberry VR6 too, but my beater is an old Octavia as it was cheaper than a passat

[yanmack 11]

Just curious, is the actual vw name bramble metallic or blackberry for this colour?

[P3rks 11]

Thanks Chaps!

 

Yes, quite a story, I went with new cars to avoid any drama or messing about with repairs etc - I'm glad that worked out :lol:

 

I'm loving the Passat and Corrado combo, I've been playing about with it so far and building a to-do list, which I'll post up shortly.

 

I think the official colour is Bramble Metallic or Brombeer to the Germans, which translates to Blackberry!

[Perculator00 10]

Hello everyone! I'm back in the fold and I have just picked up a good and honest Blackberry VR6, 90k on the clock. Best thing is that it appears to be 99.9% complete, no missing trim bits etc and everything works as it should, down to the very last bulb. That's half the battle with these, right? Best part it was local to me.

 

I plan on keeping this fairly original looking (well, sympathetic) and restoring it (the engine bay is original and 23 years old!).

 

Bit of a teaser pic for now:

IMG_2759 by Rich Perkins, on Flickr

 

I have a bit of a list to start with, so if anyone has any advice where to look for these, let me know (it's been a few years since I've been in the Corrado game so i'm a little rusty).

- Corrado Floor Mats (high quality, thick pile/shag)

- Original tool kit and case

- Amber or clear side repeaters

- Driver's seat bolster foams

- Exhaust System, 6-branch, de-cat and cat back system

- 1995 Original sale brochure

 

Looks great and congrats. This is what I am after as well in case anyone has any leads. Black or Brombeer are my top choices and a black interior. Late model SLC only.

[Perculator00 10]

Great find P3rks. I am after one like this as well. Sent you a PM

 

Thanks