I took the car to Car Audio Security to have them fit the new stereo correctly and properly as I was fed up of trying myself. The guys there are really, genuinely passionate and caring about their work, the workshop guys are so welcoming and happy to share knowledge and keep you informed of what they're doing. And I was asked to come back and show them my Golf R, just because they want to see it! Needless to say, I shall now be upgrading the ICE in the Golf R through them as I'm totally blown away with their service.
Speaking of ICE, here it is finished off:
And now the sad bit...
This is the end of the line for the GTI in my ownership. I met up with a new owner today who wants to swap my GTI for his 2003 Golf R32, we took some test drives and spent some chatting and agreed to go ahead with the swap. So by the end of the month I shall part ways with the GTI, possibly forever. It's really mixed emotions for me, as I've invested not just money into the build, but so much time and passion that it's genuinely like a break up with a partner for me. I don't care if people think I'm sad for being emotionally attached to my GTI, but it's helped me through some of the roughest times in my life in recent years and it was the achievement of my dreams to have owned one.
I just hope the new owner loves her as much as I have and still do. Maybe they'll even take it in new directions or go where I was going to go with it. Only time will tell. But for now, I think it's only right to say thank you to all of those who have followed this build and left nice comments or sent kind words over messages. It's through the support of most of the people in the VW world that I've made it through the recent years.
But... This is far from good bye from me!