No, but that would have been one heck of a project. At one time that car was offered to me for nearly nothing.
"The one that got away" was this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Audi-...1%7C240%3A1318
I contacted the seller as soon as the auction was listed. He promised to call me the next morning to verify/clarify a few things. I was ready to purchase. Despite numerous emails he never called. I was disappointed.
He may not have wanted to answer my inquiries about the car's past. It was pictured with a college sticker from Concordia College, a school in the midwest. I was aware of another identical GTI in the midwest with significant (structural) rust in some important places. He claimed that it had always been a CA car, yet had the Concordia sticker on it.
There is rust visible on the firewall in one of the listing pictures, yet he denied any rust and claimed it was "a rust preventative substance".
The car may very well have been as presented: a low-mileage, super clean Fox GTI with a few minor cosmetic issues. Even the other possibilities I mentioned would not have deterred me- I was ready to buy, but he never called.
Oh, well. I have other projects put away and am currently enjoying the free space in the garage for other non-automotive projects.