I can proudly say I have owned 15 cars in the past 10 years! Sounds impressive doesn’t it!? 1.5 cars a year! the stuff of dreams! It matters not that the majority of my jalopies weren’t road worthy, nor that I may have fibre glassed an aluminium sign to the sill of a particularly rotten Talbot Sunbeam to pass it’s safety inspection! or, that the said Talbot lost its ‘modified’ exhaust during the aforementioned inspection. No, the fact I have owned more cars in the past 10 years, than most will in a lifetime shows. Nay! Proves I know more about cars and car modification than anyone else of a similar age! Think I’m full of it!? Want to prove me wrong? Then replace the engine in a Hilliman Imp in under 30 minutes on a rainy day with a hangover!
As my status of all knowing mentor of automotive tuning is now indisputably confirmed I would like to introduce you to this, my weekly post on Chinese car tuning. Every week or so, I will post the best of what China’s young street racers have to offer.
Gizchina News of the week
For my first post I hopped to have pictures of a particular well styled Tianjin Saloon, which has been doing the rounds in Qingdao. Unfortunately, I was unable to get pictures of the 1 liter matt grey beasty, so you will have to make do with Ji Gang’s heavily modified (大众) Volkswagen Jetta!
Pictures after the jump!
Yes, under that mountain of fibre glass and filler is a standard Jetta saloon with an R32 inspired makeover.
The Jetta’s shell has undergone a huge amount of cosmetic work starting at the front, the original grill has been replaced with a unit from a VW Sagatar, and the lights are custom Magotan style models. As you work your way around the sides you will notice the side exit quad exhaust! You may also have noticed that the rear doors have been sealed up to give the old Jetta a 3 door sporty feel. The rear end hasn’t escaped the surgeons knife either, here you will find yourselves greeted with a pair of R32 tail-lights, and an oddly shaped (pre-dented?) trunk lid.
The inside has been fitted out with racing style bucket seats, the steering wheel and center console from a VW Bora, and enough leather to re-skin the entire buffalo population of Texas, if you wanted them all to be bright red that is.
I’d like to applaud Ji Gang and his amalgamation of VW spares for stepping away from the normal Soueast Lioncel modification route, although it would be interesting to see what he would make of the faux Lancer!
More in next week!
It’s worth noting that the theme here is not just the Mk. V Golf R32.
The rear end is vaguely styled after the “R32” Nissan Skyline GT-R (’89-’94), which is the actual source for those taillights.
Actually, I feel sort of sorry for it. I think the original car has a handsome face and would be quite the looker with the addition of parts and elements from the Golf GTI Rallye of the same original vintage (late 80’s, though I realize this generation of Jetta saw continued production in China for quite some time). This just looks like a blob of fiberglass rolled into a Jetta by accident. Doesn’t even compliment the existing proportions or styling lines that couldn’t be hidden.
It reminds me of those VW Beetle kits you could get back in the 80’s I think they were called Wizards and it gave you Beetle a Ferrari look but you could still see it was a Beetle only now a much heavier and ugllier one.
It’s worth noting that the theme here is not just the Mk. V Golf R32.
The rear end is vaguely styled after the “R32” Nissan Skyline GT-R (’89-’94), which is the actual source for those taillights.
Actually, I feel sort of sorry for it. I think the original car has a handsome face and would be quite the looker with the addition of parts and elements from the Golf GTI Rallye of the same original vintage (late 80’s, though I realize this generation of Jetta saw continued production in China for quite some time). This just looks like a blob of fiberglass rolled into a Jetta by accident. Doesn’t even compliment the existing proportions or styling lines that couldn’t be hidden.
It reminds me of those VW Beetle kits you could get back in the 80’s I think they were called Wizards and it gave you Beetle a Ferrari look but you could still see it was a Beetle only now a much heavier and ugllier one.