Thanks guys! Yes, the Devil is freezing his tail off right about now...
I've never been against modding; I just didn't think I'd ever be willing to do it to my "first born".
It all started with the "duckbill" spoiler I put on a couple of years ago; I did that just 'cuz (and it polishes off the front-end).
Then, when Mom got rid of her Cabrio, she gave the car cover to me. Problem is, the blue cloth cover bleeds blue all over the top and, worse, the boot (the stuff is difficult to get out of the vinyl). So, I decided the easiest solution would be to get a used black boot, which I did (I ALWAYS cover the car if I take it to work, so it was sort of a must; I prefer the white boot, but the black one sort of ties in well with the black flares). And, it was the first time I had to get a refund from an eBay seller; the boot was a wreck and the seller said that it was "like new!"
Speaking of the flares, she originally had white ones, Ron. One was slightly damaged by the previous owner and one was trashed thanks to living in Flagstaff for six years (the town uses cinders during snow season rather than salt). I couldn't tolerate looking at those two any longer, so I decided to replace all four with the intention of getting them painted when the car gets a respray; new ones only come black.
Anyway, the inspiration is a GTI I spotted in a VW magazine a couple of years ago:
When DubModder finally added the Mk1 Cab to the lineup, Lucky beat me to the fun and posted a screenshot of my car stock, but with BBS RZ's added to it. That prompted me to go in and play with DubModder, making a few "DubMods" which pretty much convinced me to go with it (blending that GTI with my Cab is really the best of both worlds
). I had planned on getting another set of wheels anyway (but was thinking "snowflakes") for when the Zandvoorts get refurb'd. If it weren't for seeing a preview of how good the RZ's looked on it, I wouldn't have lost my mind and gone into mod mode.
The RZ's are 14x6.5 with an ET30 offset. They're refurb'd wheels off of a BMW so I had to use BMW lug bolts with them. The tires are 185/60-14 Pirelli's. Right after the wheels/tires were installed, the 4-year-old front struts seized up (just like the originals did)
. I was going to upgrade the suspension, but not until next year; but my little car decided she was having none of that. "New shoes?! Well! I MUST have new suspension too!!" So, H&R Sport springs and Bilstein strut inserts were bought. The fronts were installed last week (and the week before that new axles were installed
) and man, do they rock!! The car handles gloriously!
The rears should be fitted within the next week or two (I now have a Mk4 Jetta that requires attention after it was forced to run over a tire on the freeway last week
). So, the front was brought down, finally, to match the rear. And the old strut inserts had oil all over them and dirt logged into the chamber and the bump stops that dated back to November 1985 were shot to Hades. New strut mounts and bearings were installed along with the Bilsteins.
She went from a whole hand gap with a bit of room to spare down to a 3-finger gap:
Oh, as for the grille, Ron, yes, I had one. But, as it turns out it was an aftermarket grille, not OEM which I failed to notice until I went to test fit the thing. The chrome (or red) trim cannot be installed on it due to the idiotic way they manufactured the inner lights. So, I sold it to a fellow Cabby owner here in Phoenix who is going with the non-chrome look.
Ah, and one more pic I wasn't able to show in public. I spent an entire Saturday cleaning CV grease off the front end after the axles were replaced (both boots split apart). I will say, at least my car breaks paired parts in pairs.
^That job also gave me the opportunity to brighten up 20-year-old calipers:
She and I will be venturing out on a road trip this weekend (the Jetta is parked until further notice
), so I'll be getting some better "post drop" pics (and shocking the hell out of my parents!
).
Euro bumpers, H&R/Bilstein Sports, 14" BBS RZ's with polished lips and eventually GTI stripes (need to wait for cooler temps to install them)! 
Not ot mention Fuzz dice...
