John Boycheck, owner of this '03 VW GTI 1.8T, described his car best: "If you didn't know about VWs, you could walk past my car and not think anything of it. But people in the community would know. And that's why I like my car - a person can sit there and see all the fine points in it."
This Mk4 has something for all tastes. On the extreme side, the bser hood is in yer face and the bold wheels draw your attention immediately. But on the subtle side, the door handles are shaved and the front bumper has gone through hours of bodywork.
For being his first project car, John did a phenomenal job. He didn't build it gaudy or over-the-top, but designed a VW to complement the North American tuning community.
John's story began when he attended local VW GTGs in his hometown of Baltimore, MD. "I loved the people and everything about the scene," he told us. "The VW community was really cool and I got deeper into it and went from there."
John's interest in the Wolfsburg brand grew even though he still drove a dying Ford Probe. Eventually, he began searching for his first real car and while he originally wanted a Mk3 VR6, he couldn't refuse a new Mk4 after visiting a dealership.
It was quickly dismembered of its OE parts. "I was all over the place," he remembered. "Then I started to see things I liked and decided to go for a smoother look. I wanted the car to stand out, yet look clean."
Progress accelerated after he was involved in a minor traffic accident. Since his car was going to be repaired, he decided to "go all out on the car and have everything done at once."
He took the GTI to Arbutus Autobody in Baltimore, where the exterior was transformed. First, the Golf front-end was ditched for the Jetta nose. John also sourced an R32-look front bumper for the Jetta and modified it. "I had the brake vents filled and the lines shaved so it just has the center vent now." The front was completed with the pissed-off bser hood extension that gives the JTI its scowl.
Making his way to the sides of the car, John added Dubtechnik side skirts. He also deleted the door handles, moldings, side markers and rain rails. This made the sides seamless and glossy, and he continued to the rear, where the Dubtechnik Euro bumper allows for a European license plate. A Mattig hatch blend was then molded to the hatch and flows into the bumper.
More clean-up entailed the rear wiper, emblem and handle deleted from the hatch.
Finally, he shaved the antenna, tinted the windows, added Hella smoked tail lights and retrofitted HID headlights from an Acura TSX.
Our biggest surprise was the door handles. Can he drive it regularly? "It's my daily driver," he replied. "With the shaved handles, I use a KVC door and window controller - the windows roll down so I can open the car. It took some time getting used to and the police don't bother me but I can't take it on the track, unfortunately."
To complement the new body, John needed the right set of wheels. "This is my third set," he noted. "I didn't want a spoke design, but was looking for something I hadn't seen on very many cars."
He opted for 18x8.5" front and 18x9.5" rear MAM MT1 wheels. They have machined faces and polished lips, plus stretched BFG tires. "There are perhaps three cars in the US with these wheels. They match the smoothness of the car, flat and full, like the smooth sides."
To lower the car, John fitted B&G coilovers, then reduced body roll with 22mm front and 28mm rear H&R sway bars.
With his aggressive stance, John needed more grunt under the bser hood so installed nearly every bolt-on available for the 1.8T. He was also concerned about how his engine bay looks, so most of the parts are polished.
The first mod was the APR software. Eurojet then supplied a front-mount intercooler and a Samco Sport turbo inlet pipe improves airflow from the Injen intake. ECS Tuning underdrive pulleys reduce load on the accessories while a GHL exhaust with downpipe lowers back pressure and liberates more power.