Pic post (vintage): Old school (this is what it really looks like)

Josh did a little digging in the archives (for once) and scanned in this gem of his 1986 GTI and our buddy Damion's 1991 GTI at a Baltimore autocross back around 1993 / 1994. Autocrossers Inc used to hold these events on the parking lot where Raven's stadium now resides - a real shame as it was an easily accessible and growing event. Had they been allowed to continue I'm sure that the Baltimore VW landscape would be significantly different than it is today. I'll see if I can convince Josh to find and scan more, as there were some great cars that used to attend. Funny how different things were back then, and how far they've come. Whether that's for the best or worst I'll leave you to decide.

_WRS

Waterfest 16 - the slim pickens

Sometimes despite your best intentions or efforts, one has no choice but to abandon plans. That pretty much spells out my efforts this year for Waterfest. As the granddaddy of big-time VW shows it has always been a little bit crazy for those of us who have to work the event.



It's like Christmas in July, for anyone unlucky enough to work at a big-box retailer through a holiday season, but usually extremely hot and humid. Still, there are worse ways to make a living, and as much as Waterfest means weeks of hard work before and after, it is worth it.



This year, perhaps even more so than the past. At the absolute peak of Waterfest insanity, 2003 and 2004, it seemed to me that no-one, not the vendors, not the participants and not the customers were having much fun...but since then, the event has slowly, surely, gotten back to that 'VW show' vibe which had been lacking.



Maybe it is because the haters who claim to dislike it so much have finally all stopped coming, or maybe it's because there isn't QUITE the same massive number of people there, clogging all the isles and making it hard to walk. It could even be the revamped restrooms, which hey, do make a difference.



Whatever is, Waterfest 16 turned out to be a pretty much all-out success from my point of view. It was pretty warm yeah, and there is always something to complain about, whether that is judging, Jersey roads or whatever, but the feeling, the core of the show, was really good.



So if it wasn't as crazy, what's my excuse for not taking more pictures? Well not as crazy doesn't mean more free time for me....I pretty much only had time to take pictures Friday after set up and at the hotel. Jason, Arno and I were hanging with Leila from Vogtland NA, and Stephan from Vogtland Germany...



There were some really nice cars, with a pretty decent sized group from the Long Island / Eastern Queens...and a lot of air-ride, as there is no way you could roll cars like this in or out of NYC. At least not without a roll-back!



And that was it...I took a few pics at the show with the mobile, but this is it for the good quality stuff.



I'll probably claim to take more pictures at H20, the next big event on the schedule for me, but only who knows, with the size that show has become maybe it is the 'next' Waterfest and I'll have more excuses...

_WRS

VW Roots (Baltimore's Finest Jetta Club)

Every once in a while it's good to look back on where you came from, and where you managed to pick up this addiction. I've been into cars my whole life, my favorite Matchbox car was a blue Sachs sponsored Porsche 935, so the post and pic series which is forthcoming isn't necessarily exactly where it all started for me, but it's the first time Josh and I would hang out with other people strictly because they shared a similar passion. That group was Baltimore's Finest Jetta Club. Thanks to Josh's camera always being in hand, he was there to take these pictures.



Back in the day, a certain car or model would tend to get really popular in Baltimore, and for a really long time it was all about the Mk2 Jetta. Back then half the cars weren't really sporting anything more than some chrome Hammers and maybe some kind of body kit or some lowering springs, but it was the car to have, no doubt. The 'it' car went onto the 300Z soon after, and the Acura Legend soon after that, but there were those who stuck with the Volkswagens, and those guys were the Jetta Club.



I'll need to check with Josh if he has any other pics, but this series is of the club president, Billy, and his newly acquired Corrado G60. Keep in mind this car was only 3 years old at most when these pictures were shot...and Billy's black 92 GL with the Momo Quasars and modified Maxima body kit was only a year old. Billy was quite the VW head...he lived and breathed it hardcore, and he had an 87 GTI 16v as a more in depth project as well.



The closest thing to this grip of cars these days would be an R32 parked next to a Mk5 Jetta, with a Mk4 20th Anniversary out back.



This 16v was running a full body kit from Autotech (I think?) and was resprayed in a slightly more flashy version of the OEM maroon paint. There wasn't any internet to jump on, no way to know what the other guys were doing except for what you saw in European Car, or what you saw at Bug Out. There was no Waterfest, no H20, no Dubs anywhere at all. Just your catalogs from Neuspeed, Autotech and Techtonics. There were other shops, like JT Motorsport and Rapid Parts, but they didn't have those same glossy mags, or the cache of the 'Big Three.'



Altogether there were probbaly 10-12 hardcore members of Baltimore's Finest Jetta Club, and maybe another 5-6 that would show up on the odd occasion. Most of these guys were getting out of the whole car phase, with families and real life to deal with, so after that first 6-8 months of hanging out at the Polytechnic parking lot on Sunday afternoons, we lost touch with Billy and the rest of the guys. From there we started hanging out with the younger guys at Loch Raven Reservoir, but that's a story for another time.



Who knows, maybe there's a mint G60 Corrado stuffed into some garage in East Baltimore, parked next to a dusty old 16v project that never quite got finished all those years ago. Probably not, but it wouldn't surprise me...just remember that it's guys like this that helped keep the VW scene alive back in the dark ages of Watercooled tuning. Sure the cars look dated and a little tame by today's standards (however the wheels are all hot!), but they were the way things were back then.

_WRS

Streetwise GTI

The old Mk2 road like an absolute box of rocks with when it was set up super low, but that was to be expected with coilovers, cobblestones and way too many miles...it looked good doing the deal on the streets of NYC though. This is a photo of Josh's from a few years back.

_WRS

Pic post: Mk2 1.8t @ H20 International 2005

My favorite version of this car, with the 15" TH Lines. Much better handling, acceleration and feedback than the 16" Modern Lines, which I was never a fan of.

_WRS

Compared and Contrasted: Mk1 GTi

Just a little further proof that the Mk1 is the ultimate VW. Flexible on all fronts. Style, performance and eras.

Pic post: Back in the day 85 GTI

Found another pic of Josh's / my old '85 GTI. On the list of things I regret in life, selling these Compomotive MOs are toward the top when it comes to car stuff. Damn.

_WRS

With the Fox no longer, introducing the B5 Wagon

It's tough sometimes with cars. Like all relationships, sometimes you're just more in love than other times. Some of us may entertain ideas of selling our current chariots and upgrading / downgrading for more power / prestige / room / or whatever, while others may look for something more simple, stripped down and basic. It happens all the time. 'The grass is always greener on the other side' and all that crap.



Well Jason, who pretty much has honorary status as an official part of the team now, has these feelings more often than not. In fact, I can honestly say not a day goes by that he doesn't propose dropping everything and buying some random car that could be 'so cool' with x, y or z done to it. Bad bad ideas as he says. So bad they are good. I beg to differ, but then I tend to be more conservative on that front. Usually it involves something that will be impossible to get parts for, or close to impossible to keep on the road (see also: Crazy like the Fox) and so they don't always come to fruition, luckily for him.



Anyways, this 2000 Passat B5 Wagon is Jason's daily driver. Sure he has an '88 Scirocco 16v that he could put money into and drive, which would be fun and fast, but he's a big wimp when it comes to really driving cars (haha) and so he needs something 'cushy' to drive everyday. This Passat was on the chopping block until recently, but after the chips were cashed in on the Fox project, he decided to hang onto it. Unfortunately these fantastic 19x9" Touareg wheels have already been sold to Arno over at Baak 2 Basics, so it was time for some new rollers...the bent and abused steelies simply not being sufficiently pimp for the wagon. The choice: fan-freaking-tastic Miro 111 wheels in a positively massive 18x9.5", all the way around.

Boo ya!

Tires will be 225/40 R18, and seeing as the final offset on the old Touareg wheels was the same as these (et40) the extra .5" shouldn't pose too much of a problem for the old girl. As you can see Jason's taking no prisoners with the ride height (Vogtland coilovers) so it should be sitting very pretty by this time next week. I for one am excited to see it.



I mean just look at that! No lip, spokes go right to the edge, and well, I couldn't ask for much more, and it's not even my car.

_WRS

Is winter over yet?

Because it's depressing to open up the garage to this...

Throw back pic post: Essen Motorshow 2002

This Essen Motorshow is currently going on over in Germany, and thinking about this reminded me that I had a nice little stash of pictures from when I attended back in 2002. Definitely more important to the European car tuner and enthusiast than the SEMA show here in the states, there is still a huge range of "stuff" at Essen. Often times you just see the car coverage in the mags, and honestly that's about all I took pictures of, but the additional exhibition halls have an insane number of booths selling any and all things auto related, or not.





The whole thing was a bit overwhelming, and my photog skillz were decidedly lacking, as was the equipment, but it was a lot of fun, and I have plenty of memories to show for the experience. Probably the best thing is that I got a chance to cross one of my life-goals off my list of things to do before I die. (Which was, listening to Kraftwerk's Autobahn, while driving ON the Autobahn)

Enjoy this smattering of pictures, with more over at the Flickr account. Audi had just recently won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with their all-conquering R8, there were vintage cars such as the Pike's Peak Quattro, Ford RS200, plus all sorts of lower level spec and rally race cars. Polo Super 1600, Lupo Cup...the list goes on. I had honestly expected more street / tuner cars to be on display, and to some extent I suppose there were, but most were not exactly what I would call tasteful, interesting, or worth the space on the memory card.

_WRS

Automated display of a W12 motor. I sure wouldn't want to have to do a timing chain job on this thing!

Pic post: Late 90's flash back

J's post from the other day had me digging through the archives from the late 90's. At the time I had my pride and joy, 1984 Mk1 GTI, and my newly acquired 1995 Bright Surf Green Golf Sport.

I drove the hell out of that car. I purchased it exactly as it looked in these pics, minus the VR6 chin and the wheels. Lots of good times were had with this Golf Sport (not a GTI), and although I was sad to find out it had been written off a few years back, it seemed a fitting end. It had been owned by an old friend of mine Charles Fields, aka DJ Feelgood, and had seen more than its share of late night parties before I even got my hands on her. The very first night that Charles had the 1995 Golf home from the dealership, the back window and hatch were shot out in a gunfight. (this was downtown Baltimore in the 1990s, which was a hairy time to live in the heart of the city)

Another side note, I'm pretty sure this is the same Golf Sport that I went to check out in a dealership when J and I went to see these new-fanged Mk3 2-doors they came out with. There were not / are not many Bright Surf Green cars out there, and this was the only one I recall seeing in Baltimore. Then I went on to own it just 4 years later. Who knew? Not the best pics, but I figured they were worth the story.

_WRS

Pic post: Film just looks better

After my session of scanning in photos last night, I came to a bit of a realization. Old school film looks better. Well, perhaps not better, but more natural. To me it should have been pretty obvious I suppose, as I'm a long time believer that vinyl records sound more natural, and for a guitar nothing is better than a tube amp...solid state has no place in a serious guitarist's rig.

Now, the thing of this is that film certainly doesn't appear to be more accurate, much like a vinyl record isn't more accurate than a compact disc, but it looks like you think it should, just like a record gives that warm sound like a band at a perfect venue. It looks like a memory...which is what pictures are really supposed to be I guess, but in these days of digital SLRs where you can set it to "rock and roll" and just fire away, pictures almost seem to have become less than they were just a decade ago. A good picture is still a good picture, but it's too easy to just snap snap snap...the two pictures on this page were both taken with my old, beloved, and still occasionally dusted off Cannonette G-III rangefinder. Neither are perfect, but to me they look just right....

_WRS

Pic post: CCVW 1985 GTI, over the years

Well, I was getting myself all geared up to start ranting about something and it turns out that I was totally wrong. So here I am without anything particularly interesting to say, and I figure I may as well throw up some pics of my old Mk2. (which was previously Blaksquirrel's old Mk2, which eventually became Kevin W's new Mk2, and is now no longer with us) This car was a trooper, and can be seen in it's previous incarnation on the CCVW post from a few days ago. Although the odometer stopped working somewhere in the 220,000 mile range back in the late 90s, the car generally did between 20,000 and 25,000 miles a year....Josh drove this thing a LOT. I would say that the original engine and transmission had at least 350,000 miles on it before I traded it for a newly rebuilt 8v. (the first motor I ever did without any help from a more experienced builder)

Super rare USA spec Hella smoke / red tail lamps. Sold to Robert, who then sold them to some kid who wrecked the car (Jeff / Robert's 1992 GTI 8v) they were on...arg on both counts.

From there it did another 30,000 miles with me before I sold it to Kevin W, and god only knows what it did from there. I would bet the chassis had well over 400,000 miles when it was finally deemed "un-salvageable" by Kevin, thanks in no small part to somewhat half-assed bodywork and the ocean air of south Florida. It was a great car, and spent the vast majority of its life slammed to the ground on a set of H&R coilovers, which never came close to leaking or failing by the way, and was really a key car in our little crew of people. Lots of late night runs, parties, hauling records to some DJ gig or god knows what else, and I don't think it ever broke down, not even once.

So these pics are bascially how the car looked just before I got it, and then after the rebuild in 2004, completed just before H2O International. I have to say, I miss my old Compomotives too, but at least I still have the pictures....

I didn't bother repainting the bumpers, I have no idea why. Probably money.

This reminds me: Kevin I want that front license plate back! ...it can go with my collection of my old front plates. =) (actually Josh deserves the old DST 785, come to think of it)

_WRS