By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Nestor seems pretty much determined to take literally every hinged panel on his “Crazy Jetta” and make it so it opens all cattywampus. I can’t wait to see what he does with the gas filler door! Check out his ride page.

By Ron Honig

WaytooFurious

Now I have heard of people living in their cars, and I have seen people who have built houses to accomodate their car collections. However until now I had never heard of anyone building a house to look like their favourite car. One couple in Austria love the VW Beetle so much that they had an architect design their dream house/car. Get the full story here.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

This is awesome. Via Autoblog

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

I rolled into Sears a few weekends ago to hit up Tool Territory for a set of Allen drives, and what do I see but a pristine MkI VW GTI. Holy cow! Must take pictures. The owner pops up while I am snapping and gives me a bit of detail–he’s the third owner, and the second owner (of a body shop, too) gave it the fresh coat of paint a few years back. This car is gorgeous inside and out, including the immaculate (and requisitely loud) red interior. Minus any sound deadening post-manifold, it sounds as good as it looks. With 142K on the odo, this is one snazzy bunny! More pics after the jump.

Continue reading "Mall Parking Lot Find: Mint GTI!" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Yesterday I had a chance to sit down and talk to Jill Bratina, VP of Communications for Volkswagen America. She was on her way to San Francisco for a big event they are staging for the new Jetta. I’ve heard complaints that the new design looks bland, but I think it looks very nice, with many design cues from the beautiful NCC they showed off at NAIAS. And with a starting price of $16k, it’s obviously a lot of car for the money. I asked Jill how they could even turn a profit on the Jetta. She said the fact that it’s built in their Puebla, Mexico facility and has 85% NAFTA content really helps them keep the cost down. Makes sense.

So I asked her all the obvious enthusiasts questions. We’re not going to see the Scirocco over here. Sorry. And the bus isn’t gonna happen either, though we may see some old bus styling cues on a new project they are working on called the “new small family” series, which will be alternative fuel vehicles. It sounds like VW has not entirely ruled out bringing over the Polo. Still, nothing definite there. Jill emphasized that VW will always have products for the enthusiast, like the current GTI and GLI. And they realize that there are concerns around the quality and durability of their vehicles and are making it a top priority to improve things there.

In addition to the new Jetta, Jill is very excited about the next version of the Beetle, which she said will “get back it its roots.” Maybe we’ll see it unveiled early next year?

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

I spotted this VW Lupo on the way into work the other day, and I LOVE it. It’s got some good stretch-and-poke going on, with the tiniest deep-dish wheels I have seen and one of my favorite VW mods of all: the boeser Blick, or ‘mean look’. To get the boeser Blick right, you have to weld an extension onto the leading edge of the hood–it’s not an easy mod to do. This whole car is super smooth–I really like the creamy paint and the color works with the polished wheels to make it really stand out. One more pic below the jump!

Continue reading "Stretch ‘n’ Poke Lupo" »

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

If there was ever a sign from above, I think I got it. Within a week of arriving in Germany, I bought a car. You guessed it–another blue Passat wagon. This one is slightly less-used than my one in Detroit: it’s got 145K kilometers on it instead of 141K miles. The cool features include a 98hp TDi engine with the normal German 5sp (0.668 5th – holy overdrive, Batman!), the OEM in-dash navi headunit, Climatronic, and cloth heated seats. The WTF features include power windows up front with crank windows in the back. I think I will have to address the suspension and 15″ wheels regardless of whether I decide to keep it long term–they make for a really soft ride. My husband is already talking about exchanging parts with my wagon back at home. Does that mean he’s finally ready to mod on his own?? Yikes!

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Most of these vehicles should never have disappeared in the first place, but all of them need to come back. Now. Let me know what you think of my list. What did I miss?

Ford Bronco

I really don’t know what Ford is waiting for. Seems like a no brainer to me.

See the rest after the jump!

Continue reading "Top Ten Vehicles That Need to Come Back" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Robert has a ton of work in his wild widebody Golf, and it’s all super well documented on his ride page. Check it out!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Mike from Clunkbucket checked out Bug-In 35 at California Speedway in Fontana this weekend, an awesome meetup of performance VW’s. Click through for a ton of pics of squirrely Beetles actually burning up the drag strip.