2001 VW Jetta 1.8T MK4 - Stroke Of Genius

Shortly after we named Tom MacLachlan's '01 VW Jetta 1.8T our top pick from Waterfest 13 (et 10/07), he made a couple of notable changes to differentiate his car from the rest of the Mk4 community; most notably, the newly-released BBS LM-R wheels, a first in the VW community. So we caught up with Tom again to get the scoop on his mission to build his exceptional Euro-style Jetta.

Our first conversation left us with the impression that he's very kindhearted, thanks to his ultra-friendly personality. We discovered he's a PGA golf pro. "I played golf in school as a kid," he told us. "I never went to college but got to the point where I could make a living out of golf by teaching it. I'm an easy person to talk to and one thing led to another..."

Our next question was predictable enough. "So when are you going to take out Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson?" He responded, "I made a little money playing in tournaments but at my age I'm not in shape to go on tour. It's tough being a teacher and I work 70 hours a week, but it's even tougher being a tour pro."

Tournament player or not, there's no doubt that Tom has the lowest golf handicap of any et reader (or staff).

Similar to golf, his passion for cars started when he was a kid. "My parents have always been into old school cars. My dad has a '54 Chevy Bel-Air on air bags and my mom has a '47 Ford F100 pickup with fat fenders, black pearl paint and a Corvette motor. So I used to go to a lot of shows with them," he said.

During his early show visits, Tom discovered Volkswagen and never looked back. "I remember seeing an old VW Notchback and just loved it. So when I turned 16, my first car was a '77 Rabbit. It was a brown, five-speed, four-door beater. But it was awesome and got me through the early years. Since then, I've owned a couple of Mk2s and Mk3s. I only did minor exterior stuff, nothing to the extent of this car."

Tom purchased his '01 Jetta with only 13 miles on the odometer. It was totally different than his previous projects but he knew it had potential. "I loved how red it was and that it didn't have a sunroof," he reminisced.

After owning it two weeks he went to work, but we should note Tom was also into the mini-truck scene. "I've seen tackiness cars in many areas of the industry and have acquired a taste for something clean and smooth."

He acquired a Votex body kit, updated GLI trunk lid and badgeless Kamei grille to give the car a more confident appearance. He then dropped the car at Steve's Autobody in Islip, NY where his mother got her car to painted.

In addition to fitting the parts, Steve Polis shaved the rub strips from the doors and bumpers, removing the rear emblem and side markers as he went.

Once the custom bodywork was complete, Tom could have stuck with the original Tornado red but he wanted to be different. "One day I saw a red Audi RS6," he remembered. "I was thinking of painting my car Porsche red but the RS6 was mind-blowing. It was so bright and vibrant. The Audi Laser Vibrant III red is more blood-colored than Tornado, which seems to be more orange in comparison."

Following the color change, Tom finished the exterior with European tail lights and HID headlights to complete his European makeover.

The next order of business was wheels. Since buying the car, he'd been through sizes 17-19" but maintained a motorsport mesh theme. His last set was Champion Motorsport's Porsche wheel more commonly seen on a 997 Turbo than a Jetta. However, even these were becoming more common in the VW community, so Tom jumped at the chance to fit the new BBS LM-R wheels that were unveiled at SEMA '06.

The 19x8.5" wheels are 2-3 lbs lighter than the original LMs, and Tom reused the H&R adapters from his Champion wheels to again adapt the Porsche bolt pattern. Wrapped in Nitto NT-555 tires, the wheels were dead solid perfect.