2003 VW GTI - Flat Out

A handful of cars really stood out in last month's Waterfest issue, and Mike Olson's '03 VW GTI 1.8T was one of them. It would intimidate anybody with its silver and black color scheme, large FMIC, yellow headlights and cage.

When we first saw the car creeping towards us on the South Leg of Kreuzerfest, we noticed a familiar face and recognized elements from one of our previous feature cars. We recognized the Minnesota license plate with the lettering "VTECTHS" - it could only be the 4/06 feature car we dubbed "Midwest Special".

Bewildered by the new upgrades, we were obliged to showcase this Mk4 once it became embedded in our minds after Waterfest.

After reacquainting with Mike, we learned he originally wanted his car to have a matte finish, but nobody was capable of doing it. "I've been trying to find somebody for three years, but nobody had any ideas," he told us. "Then Autoworks Collision in Rockford, MN started experimenting with matte paint and did a great job. So I dropped off the car in February and picked it up mid-April."

The foundation is a satin silver base coat. Other accents on the body were painted satin black. The next stage included spraying a flex and flat clearcoat, which is what ultimately produces the satin surface.

Prior to painting, there were various body mods to carry out. A Bonrath badgeless grille was already installed, but Mike trimmed and molded it to look OE. He completed the job by filling the bumper notch left by the emblem.

For the R32 front bumper, Mike deleted the coachline that runs across the top of the lower grilles. The markers in the bumper and fenders were also shaved for good measure.

However, there were still distractions in the body lines, so Mike shaved the rub strips, rear emblem and hatch handle. He also molded the rear valance to achieve the smooth appearance.

Having successfully smoothed the shell and covered it in matte silver paint, it screamed out for contrast. So he added a carbon hood. "I bought it from one of my buddies who blew his motor drag racing," he said. "It was painted Reflex silver on the sides so I decided to keep that theme, but painted the center satin black."

The VIS carbon hood required a kevlar filler for the hood notch. Once that was done, it was painted to match the black grille and roof.

To add more depth up front, an OE Seat Cupra R chin spoiler was fitted. The existing Votex hatch spoiler was then painted flat black.

A Denali fuel door was painted matte black and retrofitted so it operates like OEM

One of the most complicated tasks was the fuel door. "Pro Fit made the billet aluminum fuel door," he noted. "Depending on the design, you could personalize them and since my company was a Pro Fit dealer, I used one for a GMC Denali that was never sold. I messed around with it for a month and ended up cutting out the fuel door from a Denali quarter-panel I'd bought. It took a lot of molding and plastic welding to finally graft it to my GTI." Once the door was properly mounted, it was finished in satin black.

The tail lights are also modified to match the new flavor; Mike sanded and finished them in matte so they wouldn't outshine the paint.

A new set of wheels would represent another obstacle in the transformation. Regarded as an emphatic "wheel whore",Mike has gone through 14 different wheels; 15 if you count these AutoArt Type VY wheels.

As a custom wheel salesman, it's not very surprising, but we were sad to see the BBS LMs, which were in the previous feature, disappear. "I wanted something one-off," he responded. "I've always wanted to try flat black with black lips. I've seen it on the West Coast, where people have red or blue anodized lips. But I've not seen the flat black with black chrome lips to match the paint on the car."

The 18" rims measured 8.5" front and 10" rear, and wear Dunlop tires. Mike also obtained OE BMW 7-Series lug bolts because they're satin black and matched the wheel centers.

The first stage of Mike's project from 4/06