Forum Friday: Canadian Teen Puts Your Skills To Shame

Before I delve into this week’s Forum Friday, let’s all take some time to reflect back on our high school years. Specifically, take a look back at your automotive tastes in your teenage years.

No matter if you were in high school in the 60’s or the 10’s, you wanted your ride to be your own. You used whatever money and “skills” you had to make that car special. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who looks back and cringes at the things I did to cars. Teenagers’ taste is… questionable.

VWvortex member valleyboy911 will not have to look back on his teen years ashamed of his automotive choices. You see, valleyboy911 (or VB as I’ll call him) appears to have very good taste for a man of his age. He’s taken a 1992 MK2 Jetta and completely transformed it. And he started working on it two years ago when he was 16.

And I’m not talking modifying in an “I’ll just put some bright white dual-windshield wipers on my off-white 1980 Pontiac Sunbird.” (Yeah, I did that; it was the early 90s and the thing to do.) Nor did he paint his radio knobs on the same car similar colors of the MOMO Benneton F1 steering wheel (I saw a picture of a Mk2 GTI in a magazine and loved it, OK? Have I mentioned the car had a camel-colored interior? Classy). No, he had a solid plan and vision. And he wasted no time tearing into the black sedan: sanding, filling, priming, and patching the engine bay.

What was he prepping for? VB had a 1.8T engine out of a Mk4 GLI ready to install. Could he take the easy way out and use the stock engine mounts? NOPE! He had to show everyone up by cutting and welding in MKIV engine mounts; again, he was 16.

And his great taste doesn’t stop with an engine swap and matching 6-speed manual transmission. He’s installed tinted Euro headlights. He tinted the taillights himself (because, of course he did). And VB even made his own black suede headliner (because yeah, he’s unstoppable).

I won’t share all the details here, you’ll need to review his thread for everything, but in 2-ish years he took a completely stock car and transformed it into a showstopper. And his work hasn’t ended. VB recently posted a photo of his MK2 Jetta ready for its first spring drive, and what’s sitting there? A heavily bolstered race seat and a brand new alloy wheel (HRE?) wrapped in fresh rubber.

If valleyboy911 is doing this kind of work in his late teens, I can’t wait to see what he does in his twenties and thirties. Respect.

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