'88 tornado Red 1.6 Jetta TX

Hello all,

I have just joined the forum so I thought I would get stuck in, no need for long introductions I'll let the photos do the talking.

The first day I bought her, I brought her all the way back from Norwich to Essex with under 70k on the clock, a whole heap of paperwork; dating back to the day she was bought and a big smile on my face.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Everything about the car was as it rolled out the factory and still remains that way to this day (with a few minor changes). Original radio cassette, interior and steel wheels.

I loved how the car was completely unmolested, 1 owner from new which were an elderly northern couple who didn't really drive too much, a perfect start for some subtle mods.

My first mod was to remove the black vinyl which covered behind the number plate and the front and rear door pillars.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

(no photos of door pillars but you get the idea )

and after:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

My second and third mod has been counted in the above photograph, pressed clean metal plates and Genuine Autohaus- Wolfsburg number plate surround (front and back).

My third mod was a good slamming, I ordered some JOM coilovers from Venom Motorsport, they arrived two days after payment, very happy with the service thanks guys .

A Weekend later the lowering commenced.

Before Lowering:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Up on to axle stands she went:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Back seats out to reach the rear top mounts:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Off came the old coilovers:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

On went the shiny new ones:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

This was the final Result before they settled:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

After a little height adjustment i rolled her like that for the next couple of months, untill i got bored of the skinny wheels and fat tyres.

I am a huge fan of originality and subtleness so i decided to go with banded mk2 golf steels (the same ones that were originally on her anyway).

A very helpful guy from the midlands took on the job of banding them up for me at a very resonable price i might add.

I decided to go with 14" steels banded to 8" at the rear and 7" at the front.

I guess growing up with aircooled vw's due to my uncles life long enthusiasm i wanted tuck at the front and a bit of poke at the rear. Kind of mixing up the arch flush watercooled feature at the rear with a nice aircooled tuck at the front. I know how the aircooled boys love a bit of tuck.

This is what i achieved a weekend after buying and sealing the wheels.

Wheels masked and primed:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Wheels painted:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I was pretty happy with the turn out of the paint it wasn't perfect but hey ho.

Personally i'm not a fan of flawless paint work and perfect body work. I like a car that shows it's age, a bit of rust, wear and tear, Ranging from a little natural age rusting on the doors and bonnet to a fully blown rusty rat splitty camper or beetle, but that's just me

I like to call them 'character marks'

As you can see from the above photos i had to cover the tyres before painting. This is because the weekend before i travelled to Basildon in which a very helpful garage named Oakdene Autos very kindly stretched 175 tyres on the rears and 165 tyres on the front.

Not mad stretch but this is my daily drive, i need a little practicality.

the rears:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

and the fronts:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Just a couple of quick photos after putting the wheels on:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

This is how she stands atm (credit photo to audistu of renegadedubs.com):

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

To be continued ...

Welcome!

Looks like a great car! Keep it very OE and clean!

thanks , OE was the intention from the start, i will be sure to keep it that way.

Sweet buddy im lovin it keep the updates comin. Where was this advertised buddy i live 10 mins from norwich and missed this one

she was advertised on piston heads, i can't remember exactly where i picked her up from though :/