As long as I've been around the Euro car scene, I've often wondered what brings people in and keeps them here so long. Sure, the cars are great, but for so many this isn't just about a car. It's about friends and family. Eric Hockman and his '91 GTI G60 are a perfect illustration of this because along the way, it's been as much about friends as the car.
Eric's love for the Mk2 chassis began with a '91 Jetta GL. A VR6 swap followed, and from there Eric was hooked on Mk2s.
The demands of school meant the Jetta had to go, but it was never a question of if, but rather when he was going to get another. And when the time came, his good friend Dan Held was there to back him up all the way.
"I found this car in Utah and actually ignored it because I thought it was too much money. I started emailing people in Arizona, California and Washington saying I'd fly out and drive their car home, but nobody was picking up on it. So I found the guy in Utah," Eric said. "I bought a plane ticket, my buddy Dan flew out with me and we drove it home."
Sounds simple enough, but as you may know, hitting the road with an engine conversion of unknown origins is never simple. "The car needed quite a bit of work but we drove it home on a wing and prayer anyway," Eric added.
A blown fuse for the radiator fan nearly spelled doom before they were out of Utah. "I was driving through Salt Lake and the car started overheating," Eric continued. "Just as I turned it off and popped the hood the coolant bottle blew in half!"
Not a great way to get acquainted with a new car, but luckily they caught the problem before any engine damage occurred. That would have been a tragedy, as this is no run-of-the-mill G60. It is a genuine Golf Rallye engine that came from Steve Brown's Rallye VR6 Turbo (et 7/07).
Eric's Rallye-specific G60 had a ported 'n polished G-lader from Kompressor Kanada, a Techtonics 268/260 cam, SNS chip and a custom 2.5" cat-back exhaust terminating in a Magnaflow muffler. The trick OEM front-mounted Rallye intercooler from Steve's car was enough to make any G60 owner envious. "I was really stoked to see Steve's car [in et] because the person I bought it from didn't really have answers for me as far as the motor went," Eric mentioned.
Although they arrived home at 2 am, Eric and Dan ripped the dash out and set to work cleaning up the wiring. The stock plastic fuel rail had also begun to leak onto the hot exhaust manifold, so a Bahn Brenner billet aluminum item was installed.
Once everything had been cleaned and a starting problem resolved by Hardey's Motorwerks, the car was running quite well. A dyno day at Mac Autosports gave Eric the opportunity to show what the nearly 20 year-old 8v could do. An impressive 172whp and 181 wheel torque was registered, which is quite stout for a G60. But even with such solid numbers, G60 ownership is never without its quirks.
"It's the most temperamental motor I've ever known," Eric confirms. "Because it's an '89, there are no check engine lights, so there's no way to pull codes from it to see what's going on or where to start."
Finicky or not, the motor has what counts at the end of the day. "It's a lot of fun," he enthused. "It's not the fastest car on the road but it definitely shocks a few people as they don't expect it to be so quick. You can't really hear the charger at idle and the exhaust is kind of subtle. It's just a nice, clean GTI."
Speaking of clean, the car's still on its original paint, which is downright amazing for a black VW. The single-stage paint used in '91 didn't take kindly to neglect, so this one's certainly been well kept.
Eric chose to elaborate on the nickname Dan gave the car on the way home. "Dan had bought a '92 Jetta GLI from a guy in Salt Lake City. It's Alpine white; mine's all-black, so he started calling mine Darth Vader, while his is the Storm Trooper. I got the Euro 'Vader' plate and the blacked out tail lights, tinted windows and dark colored wheels with smoked lights to give it the Vader/sleeper/stealthy look."