The story behind this car is one of thrift, imagination, ingenuity and perseverance. It's one of those stories that is often requested by readers but rarely exists in the real world. It's where somebody takes a car (their first car in this instance) and builds it on a budget; first making it reliable for daily use, then shifting up a gear to convert it into a show-stopper. A determined kid built it with a great deal of help from his dad, brothers and friends. It's a Sunday afternoon movie on TBS. It has plenty of feel-good factor.
The first scene opens with a curly-haired 15 year-old James Cathers in his sophomore year in high school in Jackson, NJ. He's looking for his first car to get to school and finds one just around the corner. A neighbor is selling a tatty '84 Rabbit GTI for $300. Who could resist?
His dad, Chris, runs Team Autobody and an employee encourages the youngster to get the car and fix it up. But when they get it home, they discover the car won't start. Just when it appears to be turning into a disaster movie, Dad suggests they take the motor out of a '94 Jetta 2.0 he'd taken in return for some work.
With help from his dad, brothers and Sean Bellus at the bodyshop, the team spent evenings and weekends to get the kid on the road.
The task took about three months in total, but it didn't matter since he was too young to drive. They swapped the engine and tranny mounts so the ABA motor and transmission simply dropped in. Getting it to run was more complicated, requiring the Jetta wiring harness and ECU to be spliced into the Rabbit.
2.0 ABA swap allowed James...
2.0 ABA swap allowed James to get to school
The Jetta tranny required the Rabbit knuckles and driveshafts to be swapped over, but after that it was straightforward. The exhaust was a combination of a Rabbit diesel manifold, plus a Techtonics two-into-one downpipe and exhaust system. The inlet retained the stock Jetta tubing, but required a K&N air filter because there was no room for an air box.
Once new fuel lines were run to the relocated fuel distributor, the motor ran reliably. "I just wanted the car to drive and I'd leave the mods until later," James said, "and it's still at that stage!" Apart from a Techtonics chip that was recommended along with the exhaust system, the motor remains untouched.
With access to his father's bodyshop and an army of willing helpers, the exterior didn't remain stock for long. Lowering springs were fitted to improve the stance, and they decided it was easy to paint the car since it needed rust and dent repairs.
Before the new black paint was loaded in the paint gun, they swapped in a round headlight grille and rad support. It also got Cabrio front fenders and tail lights. The latter are shorter than stock, so the resulting holes needed to be filled and smoothed. The badges were also removed and Euro bumpers fitted.
"Dad had a vision for the hatch at this point," James explained. "He wanted to create lips above and below the rear glass and just went for it. He did it in plastic and it's all molded by hand." This unique feature is one of many that sets the car apart but in a subtle way, and that was part of James' plan: "I didn't have my license at this point but I wanted to get into the VW scene by modifying the Rabbit tastefully. I needed to renovate the car, and worked out how I could improve it in the process," he explained.
Over the next year, James began using the black Rabbit GTI 2.0 as his daily driver, slowly overhauling the interior and adding some audio parts. After a year the transmission developed a small fluid leak and eventually melted the fifth and reverse gears.
The solution turned out to be simple: refit the original gearbox. So the car was taken to Hodi's Performance in Old Bridge, NJ. It was coming up to Christmas and as a surprise, his father asked them to also convert the Rabbit to five-lug Corrado discs all round and fit the Corrado's BBS wheels.