We have to warn you: By the end of this story you might hate the man you're reading about!

Six years ago, Efrain Cruz totaled his first Jetta in an accident. He spent the next two years walking to work. Luckily, it was only a few blocks away and he would regularly pass a local junkyard. One day, he spotted a Jetta and made some inquiries.

The Best Of Waterfest 2008
1992 VW Corrado SLC
When Cory Schnupp set out to build his'92 Corrado SLC, he wanted to make it more powerful than pretty. After fitting a tire-screeching turbocharger to the built 2.9 liter VR6, his Corrado seemed to take on a dark, evil personality. It didn't want to make any friends, but murder them on the open road. With a relatively light curb weight of 2800 lb and 325whp, 356 lb-ft on tap, the Corrado meant business.

There are many parallels between being in the performance auto industry and being a chef; both bring their own unique twists to the table. Just as two chefs can take the same ingredients and come up with two different dishes, two enthusiasts can come up with completely different cars when given the same stock vehicle.

I can already see the all-too-common scenario: The cocky driver in a Nissan 350Z is slowing down as he approaches a traffic light. He notices what appears to be a modified 3-Series waiting in the next lane. He notices the wider aftermarket wheels and the M3 badging; his heart starts pounding. Oh, it's on.

It's a growing trend we can't continue to ignore as more and more ladies are getting their hands dirty. The days of worrying about broken nails and imperfect makeup are over for these car-crazy ladies, who've even taken their passion a step further. Take Melissa Welsh of South Hampton, PA for example. She became a licensed auto technician to pursue her hobby.

Meet 20 year-old (are we allowed to say that?) Becca Guiney from San Francisco, CA. This student of hospitality management bought her 2000 B5 Audi A4 a little over a year ago and got straight into modifying it.

If you can't tell from the car already, I love attention," Christina Tran of Cleveland, OH began. "People automatically assume a guy owns my car. So when they find out it's mine, they're in shock."

Meet our two girls from Florida. One just started college and bartends near home in West Palm Beach, while the other lives in Orlando and works in financial services. Both girls had never met until we brought them together because they share a common interest. Their unrivaled passion for VWs and shared learning experience wrenching on cars created common ground and led to one of the most fascinating articles to hit these pages.

It pays to know people. As much as your college wants you to think that getting an MBA is what will give you an edge in the world, at the end of the day it's all about who you know. This counts for everything in the business world, but when it comes to your personal life, it's a little different. Who you're friends with determines who helps you move, who you BBQ with and who helps you wrench on your car.

2002 BMW M3
Almost two years ago, Jeff Nguyen told us he'd built his car to be mild. "Mild meant trying to heavily modify the car yet not have it appear over the top with crazy bodywork or bright paint," he said at the time.

2004 VW GTI 1.8T
There's something wrong with this picture. The '04 VW GTI 1.8T you see here is styled seriously Euro, incorporating several parts direct from Germany. It also sits extremely low on wide wheels with stretched tires, and boasts a big turbo under the hood. But let's take a look at the surroundings. Notice the mountains: snow in the distance; dark, gloomy clouds. This US-built GTI isn't from your typical West or East Coast location. Instead it hails from its "no-coast" home of Colorado.

For anybody unfamiliar with the term, twincharging refers to the use of both a turbo and supercharger to boost an engine. The technique is also known as turbo compounding and was developed during and after WW2 for aircraft applications. It was subsequently adopted by the heavy truck industry but most famously saw service in the frantic days of Group B rally competition.

Ten years ago Jeff Gerner was heavily involved with the SCCA at the regional and national levels, racing front-wheel drive Civics and CRXs in autocross and road course events. It wasn't until he noticed how more much fun the Audi folks were having at these events that thoughts of an automotive affair crept in.

It's a little known fact that I learned to drive in a Lotus (and a Nissan Bluebird, but don't tell). Over the course of six years, my father owned a couple of Lotus Elite and an Eclat. I'm ashamed to admit the Eclat was one of the few with an autobox, but to this day, I cannot explain why. Even more inexplicable was his decision to allow his 17 year-old offspring to get behind the wheel of such a righteous automobile. Still, I wasn't going to discourage him!

Like Scirocco and Corrado owners, the drivers of BMW's Z4 M Coupe are a quirky bunch. They seek out the unusual and gain immense satisfaction knowing that not everybody "gets" their choice of transport.

When BMW released the E30 M3 over 20 years ago, the world saw what BMW's Motorsport division was capable of. Compared to the standard 3-Series, the M3 was faster and more nimble. And it got a widebody and aerodynamic treatment so that anybody could spot one.

Respect is due to the owner of this '03 Audi TT 1.8T quattro. Sonny Chan is a software developer from Chicago, IL, who had never touched a car until he came across this topless TT. He had also never had any friends who were into Euros - his buddies come from an old-school Japanese import club called 935 Draggers, and many of them couldn't tell the Audi rings from the Olympic rings if their life depended on it.

Let's talk about kids. For most of us, a new baby usually means the end of our tuning days. Mod money turns into mommy money for the baby's crib, food and toys. This can force us to trade in our precious project car for a more spacious vehicle, like the dreaded minivan. Oh, the horror!

Thankfully, uniformity is a quality that's lacking in our sport, and the reasons we have for creating our projects are as diverse as the cars and their owners. Some stem from well-planned, long-standing goals, while others find their inspiration more spontaneously.

Q-Ships: decoy boats used by the British in World War I to defeat German submarines. They were disguised as merchant vessels to entice enemy subs to the surface but once the enemy took the bait, the Q-Ships would unleash hell with a barrage of gunfire.

Doing what you love for a living is the ultimate goal for many people. Whether it's saving lives, creating art or owning your own business, it's what most of us strive for. It can be a double-edged sword since it's possible to forget what made you love it in the first place when it becomes the daily grind.

When we saw 20 year-old Ben Jernigan's Jetta at last year's H2Oi (et 1/08), we instantly knew it would be perfect for the Mk2 issue we were planning. We liked it because the car has a great stance, it runs on diesel and the owner did most of the work himself. What more could you want?

We planned to feature this E92 M3 in the last issue but it didn't quite fit into our BMW 335i theme, so we delayed it for a month. The reason we want to include it is because this car represents the first modified version of the new V8-powered M3s that we've been able to get behind the wheel and drive.

"It started out as my daily driver when I was 17, then became my summer car when I installed the turbo and repainted it. Now that everything's polished, I only take it out when it's nice. But don't think I'm afraid to drive it hard!" Those were young Andy Dixon's words before laying a 12-foot black line on a deserted country road the morning before H2O International.