Sometimes a little vision goes a long
way
Plenty of cars are built with passion, but
some just have more emotion infused into them. This VW Cabriolet, owned and
built by Chris Little, is one of those examples. This is a story with more
history than your average bagged VW. Coming from Montreal, Canada, Chris
decided he needed a change of pace from his cover-featured VR6 Golf. Out of the
blue, he parted out the VR6 and his VR Corrado project vehicle, and made plans
to head west to British Columbia. After selling almost everything, he had to
find an inexpensive vehicle to drive all the way to BC. After some searching,
he ended up buying his mom's black, slightly- rusted VW Cabriolet. This is
where things start to get interesting.
1998
Volkswagen Cabriolet front
Being the car guy he is, Little couldn't
leave this Cabby stock. Using some leftover parts from his previous builds, he
swapped in a manual transmission, a set of Bilstein P559 coil-overs and did a
five-bolt conversion with four discs so he could run his black Schimdt TH-Line
wheels from his Golf. Other quick mods include e-code headlights, a Badgeless
grille and fancy wood MOMO steering wheel. Fast forward, Chris decided to return
back to Montreal. His cabby ran great over the thousands of miles during his
trip, but once he was home it was time to get serious. Not even two weeks
later, Little pulled the stock 2.0L four-banger and threw in a VR6. In typical
style, the VR6 didn't stay stock for long either. A GIAC chip, C2 Motorsports
intake and 2.5-inch MagnaFlow exhaust were thrown on to add a bit of engine
pep.
Sometimes
a little vision goes a long way
The next step was air. Little installed an
Air Lift Slam Series bag setup to get the car sitting how he wanted and looking
good. Little is a body and paint guy, so he went to work repairing all the
rust, dents and poor body work from years gone by. When done working his magic
here, the car was painted Hummer H2 Sage Green with a custom flake clear coat
for added sparkle before focusing his attention on the engine bay.
1998
Volkswagen Cabriolet back
Almost everything under the hood is either
chromed or polished, and all unnecessary parts removed to give the engine bay a
clean shaved look. During this time he also redid his wheels to match his car,
using the same paint for the center of the wheel, which works well with the
polished lips. The car was looking and running great until a mechanical issue
caused the VR6 to overheat and blow blue smoke like a two-stroke dirt bike.
Without missing a beat, Little threw in another VR6 engine, this time adding
some more spice to it in the form of a T3/T4 turbo and a few other go-fast
upgrades that put his Cabriolet in the 300 to 350 horsepower range.
The
car was looking and running great until a mechanical issue caused the VR6 to
overheat and blow blue smoke like a two-stroke dirt bike
With his passion for perfection, the
evolution of his VW Cabriolet is never ending. With bigger plans for this ride,
it seems we’ll be seeing more of it in the future.
