Damn it. These are the words, among many more colorful and perhaps less appropriate words, which I say to myself when I think about my very first Volkswagen. It was my first car, a Rich Red (not Mars Red) 1984 Rabbit GTI.
It had 137,000 miles, and was still in the hands of the original owner, a guy named Glen who I was put in touch with by a shop owner named Bart Weinberg. Glen told me stories of how he had really wanted a Scirocco all those years ago, but was too tall to fit into one comfortably. The GTI fit the bill however (lucky for me) and so he went home with one. It was $8496 in 1984, and I picked it up for $2000 in 1995.
Seemed like a fair price, as it was in fairly decent shape, but it wasn't perfect. It ran pretty poorly thanks to about 10,000 vacuum leaks in the CIS fuel system, and it had a little rust...a little leak in the windshield, the usual. But it was mine, and it was everything I hoped it was. Back then a Rabbit GTI was pretty end of the todem poll. The VR6 GTI had just been released, and the 16v Mk2s were still pretty quick as far as things on the street.
It wasn't long before I had a host of Autotech parts for the engine, SPAX suspension, Euro bumpers, a Momo steering wheel, and some pretty sweet Borbet Type C copies. From there a little magazine called Performance VW started up and that was pretty much it. It wasn't long before a smoothed out, Euro-style look was what I wanted. If you want to get specific, it was the cover car of the August 1997 issue (
Euro Express) that sealed the deal. This was something I could make happen.
By that winter money had been saved, and the car had been dropped off at a guy's home garage (for body work). His name was Toby Kuser, and he was...well I don't know who recommended him, but I'll be damned if it wasn't some of the best paint and body work I've ever seen. I may not have known it at the time, but knowing what I know now?
Well let's just say it's looking pretty good all things considered. After the car was finished in the body shop it ran around for a couple years, still on the 1.8 8v engine, but now with Compomotive MO wheels in 16x7" and a combination of Jamex springs and Bilstein shocks, and finally a set of H&R coilovers. The judges at Waterfest '99 were impressed with that, and ultimately awarded the car 3rd in class.
After that it sat, somewhat neglected, under cover behind my parent's house. The sad results of a halfway completed G60 engine swap.
I had the best of intentions, but least of funds, and only after I sold the swap (with a very nice and VERY expensive charger fresh from Bahn Brenner, in fact, John Betz's own personal charger, since he had now started running something called a Lysholm) to my good buddy Kevin W, was I able to get the car back on the street.
Robert Overholser, now of
Lufteknic Porsche, came up for a weekend blitz install of an ABA tall block, complete with a 'By Bernie' head, Schrick 276, and a bunch of Techtonics parts (not to mention the Neuspeed throttle body). This motor was completed with Supersprint exhaust, and some fresh BBS wheels (bought from Ryan Davis, RIP) in 15x6" were thrown on for good measure.
This, was how the car was meant to be. It was loud, it idled like a top fuel dragster (like John Force as my dad James Brown always said) and with super minimal weight (and Corbeau seats) it was quite quick. The 4K gearbox didn't hurt things either. Sure it would top out at about 120mph in 5th, but it got there in a hurry.
I managed a few solid victories and surprised a bunch of much faster cars, including some V8 American Muscle. It placed second at H2O International, 2001. You can see Kevin W's G60 GTI just to the right...
Fast forward 3 more years and it was running even better, thanks to new injectors and some dyno tuning at NGP, but it was killing me (and the car) driving it 80 miles a day to and from work. Not to mention it was a very cold winter and she was a tad drafty...
A Mk3 Jetta VR6 was purchased, debt was incurred, and someone waved $4500 cash under my nose for the car. Jettisoning the car along with some emotional baggage, like an idiot, I sold it.
Within a couple months it had been unceremoniously ripped apart, a 1.8t hacked in (and I do mean hacked) and a clipper kit from a 1993 Cabriolet was shoved onto the car. Seats gone, engine gone. Beetle cluster sitting in the dash, on the bumpstops, you name it. It was heartbreaking. The guy who I sold it to had soon grown tired of it and a friend, Paul Grimes, actually bought the car and it sat at work for a while. I had the chance to buy it back, but my precious motor was gone, the car was not running right, and even if I had the money I probably wouldn't have bought it back. It broke my heart.
From there the car bounced around, Delaware, Arizona, some other places, before ending back east, just slightly north up in Pennsylvania. I knew the car was around, and had spoken with the owner a few times even, but always managed to miss the car at H2O, and never made it to any other shows the car popped up at. Until 2010.
This year I found my car, 15 years since I first bought it (October of 1995 is pretty close anyways), 7.5 since I sold it, and still with that same Toby Kuser respray. I recognized it instantly, from the slightly damaged rear hatch release (which for some reason wasn't shaved when I had the work done) and some other telling marks on the rain gutters, rocker panels, and under hood paintlines of the car. There was no denying it, this was my Mk1.
And it looks good, damn good considering the majority of the body work was done 13 years ago on a serious budget. I'm not a fan of the white walls, but hey, not my car anymore. All that matters to me is that the car is still alive, still looks good (if a little worse for wear) and once again has an 8v(!), now with a Lysholm'd ABA. (remember that G60 that almost went in, with John Betz's old charger? talk about full circle)
So, what now. Well I can't say I don't miss the car, but I am glad the current owner clearly values it for what it is...and has done a lot of work to get it back to a nice respectable condition. If you're reading this, thanks. I hung around as long as I could at H2O hoping you would stop by so I could shake your hand and maybe even sit in the old girl one more time, but it wasn't to be. All I can say is that if you DO ever plan on selling...you know where to come first. Please.
Damn it. I can't believe I sold that car. I still have the original shift knob, in the classic golf-ball dimpled style, and it resides in my current Mk3. Perhaps one day, if I'm very lucky, I can reunite it with the rest of the car. Go to Der Wolfsburg Rennsport
Flickr Page for the full set of pics...
_WRS
