1998 VW Jetta GLX
The situation is intimidating. Everybody's scared to approach the '98 VW Jetta GLX. It looks flawless with genuine Euro style. Pulled fenders, smoothed body, aggressive wheels and a white interior as pure as cocaine; the intoxicating red-on-red color doesn't help either. This Mk3 is drop-dead gorgeous. A 6'4", 265 lb man steps out of the drivers door and the crowd goes silent. We whisper to ourselves "please don't hurt us."
Tailored in an all-white outfit to match his leather and suede seats, the owner looks us up-n-down before running at us like a linebacker. Bracing for impact, we're lifted off our feet and hugged like a favorite teddybear.
This is the personality of Volkswagen enthusiast Matt Zinn. If you've never met him, his monstrous stature can be intimidating, but he's always friendly and loves to joke around. "Everybody's first impression is to be scared, but I'll be the first to come up and give you a bear hug," he chuckled.
Matt's personality adds to his resume of skills. He's currently employed as a full-time tech at Euro Auto Source in York, PA --Cory Sterling's shop. By night, Matt's a bartender at a local pub. He's all about having fun and being enthusiastic in his life, and more recently in his passion for European cars.
Cars haven't always been in Matt's blood. He only built an appetite for VWs three years ago with a Mk4 daily driver. Then the "floodgates opened," as he described it, when he purchased Cory's "Flame Proof" Mk3 Golf 2.0L turbo with shaved engine bay, exterior and more (et 8/05).
"After buying that car I became that annoying guy who would hang out at the shop all day. Eventually, Cory needed some help. So I went from me being at the shop part-time answering phones to turning wrenches full-time."
Matt's picked up five other VWs since and his sinful Mk3 Jetta is just the latest.
Supermodel
Matt originally didn't want to molest the car so much it wouldn't be daily-drivable. But that obviously changed... "It lasted three weeks at most as a daily driver. I thought I'd just put wheels on it, do a couple of things and maintain the daily aspect. But before I knew it, Cory suggested we widen the fenders. We then decided we wanted to do something crazy with it, and that's when everything else came into play," he explained.
When Matt started driving the Jetta, he admitted it wasn't anything spectacular. There was normal wear and tear, like rusted rockers, a hail-damaged roof and door dings, so the exterior had to change first.
"From front to back, top to bottom, everything was fixed and painted. The entire body was touched with a piece of sandpaper in some shape or form," he told us. Some rehab was in order for the aged body as well, but Matt saw an opportunity to add his personal Zinn philosophy. Starting up front, the bumper retained a clean appearance with an Abt front lip. He then shaved the vents under the turn signals to create a smoother appearance. The rocker panels were also smoothed, along with windshield washers on the hood.
"I normally wouldn't go to this extent," Matt reiterated, "but I thought I might as well do it all in one go."
The fenders were pulled and smoothed to look original. Matt tells us they're truly insane. "When you see it with factory wheels, you could fit my head between the wheel and fender. But when you put 10" wheels under, it just flows."