Belgian Builder Brings Back MKII Golf GTI’s Sparkle

The first generation Golf GTI may rightly get all the credit for sparking the hot hatch revolution, but it’s arguably the MKII which perfected the formula. Large enough to be an easy day-to-day travel companion, small enough to navigate city living, modern enough to be moderately comfortable, reliable and safe, yet just old enough to capture the tail end of the classic era, the A2 Golf could easily be the best-looking and best-driving vintage VW of them all. We’d love to have one for ourselves, but clean examples are as rare as chewing gum in Singapore—a scenario that led one European Car Lounge reader to take matters into his own hands.

Documented across 20 pages of excellent photography and detailed write-ups, Ice_ken of Belgium demonstrates what a lot of time, money, patience, talent, a huge cache of tools and perseverance can do to an old car. Stripped to the bare metal and gutted, Ice slowly brought his four-eyed, blocky little hatch back to sparkling white brilliance, the resultant car a stunning reminder of how lithe and pretty even inexpensive German cars once were. Just looking at it, we want to drive the wheels off—surely there can be no greater compliment to the owner’s efforts.

Click here to view the full forum thread.

Photo Source: thecarlounge.com