So what was my first mod?

By Clinton HulleyVW Polo Classic Project Car
TSW Imola Rim
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My first project car started out to be just a car a bought for transport. I didn’t have any thoughts of modifying the car….maybe one or two small things crossed my mind.

This was my 1.4-liter 1997 Volkswagen Polo classic. I got it for a good price and it was in great condition. I loved this car and I had it for approx 10 years when I eventually sold it. The first thing I fitted was a set of 15″ Imola Tiger Sports Wheels. The standard rims and tires on the car were biscuits. I also fitted a set of 40 millimeter lowering springs. It wasn’t the best or the most expensive. I just felt it was a better option than cutting the standard springs.


The issue I had after I fitted the lowering springs was the car was sitting on it stop rubbers. The lowering of this car made it a really hard drive. Wearing a kidney belt as well in order on a bad road.

After discovering that the car was sitting on the stopping rubber in front. I thought I was clever, and I cut the stopping runners out. This was a big mistake! Every time I went through a dip the front shocks bottomed out. The sound it made sounded like hitting the car with a hammer. It felt like the shocks were going to be ripped out of the body. It was really uncomfortable to drive. After the first test drive, I drove straight to a Volkswagen dealer. I bought a new set of stopping rubbers. I almost fell down when the salesman told me what the new stop rubbers cost.

So what to do now?

Now I was back at the point of the car sitting on the stopping rubbers. I did some research and found that you get a shorter shock for the front. It was developed for the Polo Cup race cars as they were not allowed to run over coil suspension. They ran really low on the ground. I got in touch with the guy who supplied the shock to the Polo Cup owners and bought a set from him. After the shocks were fitted the car felt firm on the road and handled really well. I was really impressed. By now the bug of changing and modifying has started to bite me.


So what was next?

The next mod was the exhaust. I went to one of your local performance exhaust dealers, POWERFLOW, and had a Brospeed 2 into 1 downpipe and 50mm “Free flow” exhaust fitted to the car. They also modified the rear bumper so that I could fit a nice 76mm Stainless tailpipe. This really complimented the car. The last thing I did, before this daily driver spiraled into a full-on project car was a K&N cone filter. The Polo had a really nice sound to it, It sounded faster than it was. I drove the car for a few months and then my thoughts started to wonder….”What will I do next??”



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