04-01-09
Introducing Dan Part 1: The Volkswagens
Gabe and I are going to do a series of ‘get to know us’ posts and we figured what better way than to walk down memory lane with a resume of our previously owned enthusiast cars that eventually led to S2000 ownership.
Here is Dan’s first entry:
While my wife has owned two Honda Preludes previously (which I loved), I have owned almost all European cars since I’ve been able to drive. Many of them were VW’s actually. In the beginning…
1968 Volkswagen Beetle
My parents started my habit when they bought a 68 Beetle for the kids to drive. Being the oldest, I was in line first. And at only 16, I tastefully modified the car with a Clarion CD Player, Rockford and Pioneer amps, and two subwoofers of course. My new hobby became building particle board sub enclosures that tried to squeeze as much bass out of those two little 8′s as I could. It was a confusing time for a young man, what can I say! The car itself was a really nice deep red color and was in good stock order. That is until I wrapped it around a light pole showing my friends my drift skills on a wet day. So much for sharing the car with my siblings… Sorry Sara, Matt and David! No picture unfortunately.
1977 Volkswagen Scirocco
After working a summer at the country club golf shop (best job ever!) and cashing in some bonds from my Grandmother, I bought this 77 Scirocco the next year for $1600. It was an impulse buy, I can’t lie. But it looked sweet with Italian styling, the then fat and low profile 60 series tires with raised white lettering, flat black hood, and black sport interior. But unfortunately what I actually bought was a guy’s weekend fix-up project. To be more accurate, I believe Paul calls it polishing a turd. The motor threw a rod the next summer, and by then had revealed that the car was originally a terrible puke green color with matching green puke plaid interior. The plaid interior revealed itself as soon as the black spray paint wore off the cloth seats and onto our clothes. I later rebuilt the motor in high school auto shop with a guy named Chris, who now runs a piece of SpeedyMoto, and drove the car for about 2 years total. But when it was running, it was a sexy car to me, and I remember it fondly.
1984 Volkswagen Jetta GLi
Fast forward about 6 years and a few crappy Volvo’s in between, I bought a 1984 Jetta GLi that had made the rounds with our close friends. It had a solid ownership history and had seen lots of attention over the years, including ownership by two VW mechanics. The last owner before me was my close friend Paul, and if I recall correctly, I traded my 89 Yamaha FZR600 and some cash traded hands to close the deal. About to graduate from college (Go Beavs!), I figured I needed a car to drive to interviews in while wearing my new suit — although looking back, how gangster would that have been to show up on a crotch rocket in a nice suit!
It was a great car considering it had lived a rough life in the hands of college students for about the previous 10 years. When I got it from Paul, it was really well sorted with a G grind cam, Autotech race headers and full exhaust, Autotech sport springs, Autotech stressbars, Schroth harnesses, a rockin stereo, and the Fittipaldi rims our friend Pat had fitted years earlier while the car was in his ownership. It was so much fun and so solid, I actually took my first track day in it, where I learned about lift-off oversteer on a wet turn 12 at PIR. Good memories! The car was eventually sold after getting the college grad job and I put the money towards our closing costs on our first home.
2002 Volkswagen GTi 337 Edition
After buying our first home, you know I was dying to put the remainder of disposal budget towards the car I had promised myself throughout college. When I read on VWVortex about the 337 edition GTi model that Europe was getting, I was in love. When I read a few months later that it was coming to the states, I was obsessed. I ordered the car at the local dealer and put down my deposit. 5 months later, my car arrived, and I was a little boy with excitement! I washed the car nearly every day and was even pulling pebbles out of the low profile (now 40 series) tires so it wouldn’t click click click when cruising!
I later did numerous track days, a couple of auto-x days with EESCC, and of course the Larison Rock Hillclimb. It was very confidence inspiring with great suspension and tires, had a lovely rubber band-like torque curve from the little 1.8 turbo motor, big Recaro seats, and flashy BBS rims — all stock! And at $22,500, it was the bargain of the century. But in the end I sold it because I was irritated with the sometime crappy build quality, and underneath it all, it was just a Golf. I sold it after 18 months.
1977 Volkswagen Rabbit Track Day Car
{i know what you’re thinking: Isn’t this post ever going to end?}
Shortly after buying the 337, it was clear I would need something else to beat on because there was always a little voice in the back of my head that was worried about wadding up my new car that I still owed a lot of money on. Not to mention Paul had always wanted to build a little VW assault weapon and had amassed a ton of parts at the ready. When the appropriate donor car surfaced, we poured a years worth of hard work and a fair chunk of money into the little car. We emerged with a stripped out racer with a 2.0 liter 16 valve and close ratio 5 speed, H&R springs and shocks, stress bars top and bottom and front and rear, rear sway bar, Sparco race seat, Falken Azenis spec tires, custom brake system, the best fluids, and … well you get the idea; there’s a lot goodies on board! It has proved to be a great training tool and we have done easily a dozen track days in this car, a few Larison Rock Hillclimbs, and it is bullet proof! Paul at Sports Car Shop in Eugene is a perfectionist, and I’m lucky to have him as co-owner and builder of this car. With the recent addition of the slicks for track days, we have reeled in some very expensive competition on the backside of PIR!
So there’s more personal VW history than you could possibly have wanted. While not known to be pure sports cars, the Volkswagens I’ve owned are sporting cars that are easy to attain, cheap to work on, and surprisingly fun to drive. But now that I’m rocking the S2000, none of them came even close!
dc
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