2002 VW Lupo Cambridge - JDO

[Fruttolo]

Ahh thats a shame! Well are you doing VW days? I'm there from the 14-17 if you are! Yeah trust me, it's not something i want to do, but it's the way it has to be unfortunately. The money has to come back somehow, as i was bailed out with the money to get me out of the issue, i need to pay it back now. Sucks, but i'll be building something new soon.

.

Sadly I have no more free time to take on such long drives for this year and I will not be there, guess we should try our best to be in Austria next year with working and unseized cars LOL

I'll wait for some e28 content in the meantime

[Deaky97]

This is so sad man, I hoped to meet you in Austria but none of our cars made it, and there was no way I'd recognise you all without cars
I know it's a bad financial hit but it's such a shame to see this car "die" because of it

Ahh thats a shame! Well are you doing VW days? I'm there from the 14-17 if you are! Yeah trust me, it's not something i want to do, but it's the way it has to be unfortunately. The money has to come back somehow, as i was bailed out with the money to get me out of the issue, i need to pay it back now. Sucks, but i'll be building something new soon.

So sad to see the car getting parted due to this.

Literally i'd of rather it gone out in a crash or something i couldn't avoid, proper blow having to strip it after all the work.

[hinrichs]

So sad to see the car getting parted due to this.

[Fruttolo]

This is so sad man, I hoped to meet you in Austria but none of our cars made it, and there was no way I'd recognise you all without cars
I know it's a bad financial hit but it's such a shame to see this car "die" because of it

[Deaky97]

Shiiiiit mate, I saw your car got pulled over and siezed by the cops in Germany....... Thats fucked up.... What happend?

Yeah trust me, not a great night and not an experience i wish to go through again.

Ride hide in Germany the have some rule ground clearance 9cm and no damage on Tyre lip fender etc 11 cars. That's what I know

Yeah, i aired out the the services (Bullet in the head no.1)

A load of cars got pulled, some of which would have been pulled by vosa in the UK, some of which weren't displaying GB stickers, using headlight alignment blanks, carrying a hi viz etc as they're legally required.

So the cops pulled them all, and are having the cars safety checked. They aren't being tuv tested, but the checks are being done at a tuv centre.

Yeah, we were not alone in this either. Cars were being done at the borders, driving home, everywhere. Even standard cars were being checked. They were hot on it this year. All the cars underwent a TUV insepction (Hence the horrific cost), and all failed.

Hello, following this topic since day 1. Is there an update from that FB post about pulling your car in Germany?

Hello! It's home, but not for long.

[Deaky97]

Hi All.

Sorry for being a bit quiet, you've obviously all seen how Worthersee went down, so i've understandably had a fair bit of shit to sort out.

How the media / Social network portrayed the whole incident -

Boy racers being dickheads, causing carnage with no regard for others

What actually happened -

We had previously stopped in france 5 miles from the border to help a friend who had a blow out, we ended staying for 4 hours (all 11 cars of ours) to help our friend get his car fixed and ensured he was safe. We then left our friend and his group after this as they had decided to take a different route, and got on our way.

For the next 3 hours, we sat at every single speed limit, we gave every other road user the exact same respect we would expect, and basically drove like we were on our driving test. (Driving abroad scares me enough as it is lol)

At about 7 oclock, we decided to take a break at the services to get some food. We all parked up, and went to the Mcdonalds at the services.
What we failed to realise however, is the fact this services was the main police watch for illegal activity towards motor vehicles in Cologne.

Within 15 minutes of stopping 3 police cars had blocked our cars in, and we were being questioned.

After about 2 hours, 10 of the 11 cars were seized.

by 2 o'clock, every car had been taken.

We were then left at the services, with absolutely no sleeping arrangements set up, no idea of transport, absolutely no idea of where the cars were going and no means of contact for the car either. Stupidly scary situation. Basically stranded, all flapping not knowing what to do, you can imagine what an absolute nightmare it was. Probably the worst experience of my life.

Cannot thank Bastien and Andy enough for coming out to help us, Bastien gave half of us (bearing in mind there was 20 of us) a lift into Cologne, with Andy giving the other 10 a lift, so we could sort a hostel of some form, and thankfully we managed to find one. We really would've been completely stranded had it not been for them two, so i cannot express enough how much i respect them for sorting us all out. Bearing in mind we had also never met, but had just spoken a few times on here!!

The barmen at the hostel kindly offered to get us incredibly drunk, so i took up this opportunity with Michal instantaneously.



I've heard of people being stopped in Germany, but not on this scale. I've known of cars in far far worse "states" than the selection we were with being let off with a get out the country and a slap on the wrists. The problem we had was the amount of cars. The police even said, had it been a group of 3, we'd of had everything checked, more than likely had an on the spot fine, then been told to leave immediately. Unfortunately, it was a huge case of wrong place, wrong time. I went last year with absolutely zero issues as a passenger, in a car far more blatantly modified than mine too with far more questionable mods.... one of them. Can't dwell on it.

The main reason are cars were seized, is due to the suspension. Air ride, well any aftermarket part for that matter has to have TUV approval to be roadworthy in Germany. None of our cars had that. So it was game over from the moment we stopped.

Obviously, the laws regarding our cars in the UK and in Germany differ greatly, so unfortunately trying to prove the cars road worthiness (i.e MOT, of which mine is also completely legit) wasn't going to cut it. Had i gone on my stock wheels, and a set of decent coilovers (AP/Bilstein etc) i more than likely would've been let off.

I knew the risks, and unfortunately, it backfired this time. Shit happens, that's life. Valuable lesson learned, and an expensive one a that. Important notes for next year at least....

So knowing full well our cars would be gone for the foreseeable duration of the holiday, we decided to club in on 4 hire cars and drive to Austria instead. Needless to say, Worthersee never fails me, i just love the place, and thankfully still got to enjoy 5 days there, albeit loosing 7 days.



On Wednesday 10 of us left Austria to talk to the police in person back in Cologne. Talking via the embassy was providing very mixed information, so we decided to talk face to face with somebody, to get a bit of reassurance on the matter. The main officer on the case was thankfully, actually a great guy. He was very very helpful, and by the end of the day, had informed us the cars would be set free on Thursday, for 900 euro's, and no plates, and no V5.... Meaning we had absolutely no choice but to have the cars recovered back to England. This cost me another £400.



On Thursday, we all got together at the compound, and began to resolve the issue with the police. I unfortunately didn't catch any of the officers names, but all things considered, the 3 i dealt with were great guys, and very helpful throughout the day. It makes shit situation slightly better when you can have a laugh and a joke about it all with the people who put you there to begin with....

As it stands, 3 of the cars have been damaged while in the impound.

My recovery arrived at just after 6 in the evening, and with mine and Alex's cars loaded, it was time to get home. Never in my life have i been so happy to see my car on the back of a recovery truck. By friday morning, just after 6 i was home. i slept very well.



So where does this leave me now?

Well, it sucks, but due to various reasons (Such as money) I'm braking the car. Not something i wanted to do, but £1200 of losses isn't a great financial hit to take. I'm sad about it, but there's not a lot i can do about that now.

I'm taking the car off the road for the last time, on July the 9th.

[Mehowski]

Hi all,

I was in Lewis' car when it got seized in Germany. We were on the way to Austria for Worthersee treffen.

The Lupo sadly never made it further than Cologne because of the Polizie but is back in the UK now.

I'll let Lewis tell you a bit more about it...

[fckns]

Hello, following this topic since day 1. Is there an update from that FB post about pulling your car in Germany?

[YesOuiSi]

A load of cars got pulled, some of which would have been pulled by vosa in the UK, some of which weren't displaying GB stickers, using headlight alignment blanks, carrying a hi viz etc as they're legally required.

So the cops pulled them all, and are having the cars safety checked. They aren't being tuv tested, but the checks are being done at a tuv centre.

[SWLA9B2.099]

Ride hide in Germany the have some rule ground clearance 9cm and no damage on Tyre lip fender etc 11 cars. That's what I know

[Kalin]

Shiiiiit mate, I saw your car got pulled over and siezed by the cops in Germany....... Thats fucked up.... What happend?

[Deaky97]

With Wothersee fast approaching, i've been busy getting bits and bobs ready for my big drive over.



Finally sorted out my horrendous air lines, they now go into the front of the boot floor, so no longer drag across the floor like previously.

Sorted my top mounts last night, now i just need to sort my rear wheel bearings, service the car and get all the tyres replaced! Oh, and i need to adjust my rear toe a little more, as it's toeing in slightly.

Been to a few local shows etc over the last few weeks too...







So happy with this thing. But also, on the back of that, i'm calling it a day with this car, and Lupo's as a whole this year. I most definitely will not be getting rid of the car, but i'm putting no more focus into the car as such. I'm actively looking for a new car as we speak, and once i'm back from Austria and VW Days, i'll be making the right moves to get a new car sorted. I'll then be putting all my time and effort into that, so this will be getting retired after 5 awesome years. What i'll do with it, at the moment, i really don't know. We'll just have to see how big of a whole in my wallet a new car makes.... E28's arn't cheap anymore

[Deaky97]

Congrats! Deserve it in my opinion, it's a very interesting build.

Cheers buddy! Never thought it'd go this far tbh!

Well done man, well done!

Now you can sell it for profit

Hahahaha, well this is true! We'll see at the end of the year...

That's awesome man! It's always been a dream of mine to be in PVW, maybe I should actually start working on my Volkswagen lol

Hopefully you get a full feature soon, you deserve it!

Cheers man! That would be the best thing ever for me!

This is bloody awesome

You know it

[stormtro0perN]

This is bloody awesome

[19birel]

That's awesome man! It's always been a dream of mine to be in PVW, maybe I should actually start working on my Volkswagen lol

Hopefully you get a full feature soon, you deserve it!