Recent documentaries revealed that George Lucas had originally planned to use "Revenge of the Jedi" as the name for the sequel to Star Wars. However, it was decided that it wouldn't be right for a Jedi to take "revenge", so the blockbuster-to-be was renamed with the more placid "Return." While Hollywood swordsmen may have to adhere to a set of rules, that's not the case with car modifiers, especially when they're competing in America's prestigious Hot Import Nights circuit. Enter Sandra Gandara and her 2000 Jetta. After her German juggernaut was repeatedly beaten to first place at HIN, she decided to take the car to anutha level and exact the "Revenge of the Jetta." "There was a girl at HIN who would beat me every year for best VW," Sandra told us. "One year it was obvious my car should have won and people had to hold me back from taking revenge on the spot."
Anger boiled within Sandra and the stage was set for cold, calculated revenge. The Jetta would be transformed into the most lethal Jetta known to man, or woman.
As with many modified cars, it's been through many stages. The first saw the VR6-powered VW in red with yellow tear-away graphics and a natty set of five-spoke Momos. Second place at HIN is nothing to be ashamed of but Sandra felt the judges were overlooking the car's strengths and wanted to draw more attention to them.
When Sandra's boyfriend crashed the car, T-boning a Lexus, the perfect opportunity arose. A plan was hatched to create one of the most insane show cars to hit the circuit. No expense would be spared. A look at the rear gullwing doors, which ran to $25,000 with R&D, shows they stuck to the plan. At this point readers may wonder, how the hell does a project like this get funded? This reporter likes to assume that basically everybody's a drug dealer or gangster. However, Sandra and her boyfriend are no such hoodlums. They own a restaurant called Papa Poblano's. After being in the business eight years, expanding to other locations across the US, they've accrued enough disposable income to engage in their hobby with a ferocity unmatched by those who might work in a restaurant instead of own one. As Joe Pesci says, "Money can't buy happiness, but at least you can choose your own misery."
One other idiom comes to mind when referring to this burly black Jetta is "revenge is a dish best served cold". The car returned to the show circuit (including HIN Dallas, NOPI and NHRA plus nine other shows) to take home best of show in each event.
To modify a car to this extent it helps if you get a shop and crew involved that is willing to help out in order to promote itself. Enter Kindig-it Design: Dave Kindig and William Lockwood started the business a few years ago with the intention of showing the world that Salt Lake City could build a show car rivaling the best. And this car is doing more than soaring to new heights, it's blowin' up like a seagull with a belly full of Pop Rocks.
Speaking of gulls, the most outrageous addition has to be the rear doors. A four-door body may not be a modder's favorite platform, but where else can you stick a pair of gullwing doors behind a pair of Lambo doors? More on the portals later, let's go back to the beginning...After the car was taken to Kindig-it Designs, it was stripped down to leave the bare shell and wiring. From there, it took the crew 1,300 hours to complete the project. The hours went into body work, including complexities like the doors, custom widebody and flush gas cap.
To craft the fenders they used the standard outer edge and extended it with sheet metal and shaped it with an English roller. The front bumpers are Oettinger pieces, until you get about halfway down where they've been fiberglassed to match the wider arches.
The skirts are also Oettinger but, like a penile implant, they've had extra girth added. The doors needed a feat of engineering to achieve, and the rears have been fiberglassed to match the fenders, while the ducts behind the front wheels serve to both cool the brakes and provide a recess to nestle the front Diablo doors.
The undercarriage of the car is a solid sheet of aluminum. It starts at the front bumper and extends back to the F1-style rear diffuser.
Subtlety is the name of the game again when it comes to dispensing the CO2. The 3.5" tail pipes exit flush with the sides of the aluminum diffuser, which had to be constructed by a chap from Boeing. And a beautiful job he did, too. A closer look reveals the airplane rivets on the sheet metal - a good thing, because this Jetta looks like it could fly away with those crazy doors open.
When you want custom rims there are several options but Sandra chose HRE. Originally she ordered 19" diameter wheels that were 8" wide at the front and 9" on the rear. But when the decision was made to go balls to the wall, they returned the rims and had them widened to 11" front and 13" rear. This then posed the question whether rubber could be found to match. Fortunately, Pirelli had suitable sizes, and the Jetta sits on 305/25 front and 355/25-19 rear P Zeros. Admittedly, it's not functional to have a 19x13" on a front-driver, but cars like this aren't meant to make sense to everybody.