This Guy Bought A 'Cut And Shut' Golf GTI And It Nearly Cost Him His Life

Whenever you buy a used car there’s always an element of doubt about its history. That’s why buyers are always urged to look into a car’s past, and make sure there are receipts for major work carried out.

Unfortunately for Lee Clowery of Couldon, near Stoke, even a full service history wasn’t enough to protect him. Just 24 hours after buying a 1990 Volkswagen Golf GTI, he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a van. The car simply split in two, and the wreckage makes for sickening viewing.

It appears the car is part of a ‘cut and shut’ operation, in which the undamaged front half of one car is welded to the undamaged rear of another car. The welds become weak points in the car’s structure, and can not only affect a car’s driving ability, but can cause the vehicle to crumble in the event of a crash.

According to Leek Post & Times, Clowery said:

“I really don’t know if the car caused the accident but I have taken that corner numerous times. It was wet but not raining.

“However, I went round the corner and the car just began to slide and I saw that I was going to go head-on into the van which was coming the other way. I pulled on the steering wheel to get it back over but it put the car sideways.”

The van hit the Golf on the driver’s side, just behind Clowery’s seat, and the rear end simply sheared off: “It had also only been spot welded so some of the bits had not even been attached to each other.”

Read the full report, and see more shocking images of the destruction, here.