Owner: Sam Wood | Words: Joe Allard | Photography: Alex Farrance

That’s not us brown-nosing but Sam’s Instagram handle. We've known about Sam and his MK2 Jetta for some time through the social media pages and have passed comments over the years. We’ve watched the Jetta evolve to what you see today and it is definitely a firm favourite in the RH stable.

Sam’s love for the Jetta first came around when flicking through PVW way back in '08 which featured Mike McCoy’s still stunning, MK2 Jetta Coupe which to this day would still put a lot of cars to shame. Fast forward 6 years to 2014 and a blossoming friendship with then owner of Sam’s Jetta, Chet Lopez (@chetflix) decided it was time to sell up to pursue the purchase of a lifelong dream of owning an R32 GTR. With Sam moving across the pond to New York in 2014, the purchase was a match made in heaven. 

Now, why this MK2 Jetta? Well, the car is pretty cool as is, but this particular car was a special run produced in Germany for the Canadian market to commemorate the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. We love a bizarre special edition. With only 3 owners from new and meticulous history, there wasn’t going to be any other Jetta to fit the bill. 

With a few chosen mods from Chet’s ownership, Sam set to make the car his own. An initial check over found the car to near as damn it rust-free and a good standardish base to set to work. The details of this car are endless and will leave me with bleeding fingers by the time I’ve typed them out so here’s a quick breakdown of the stand out modifications which we should mention that Sam has carried out by himself and close friends.

Exterior:

Resprayed in factory colour - Orly Blue (Original paint colour)

BBS RS001

NOS front and rear bumpers

NOS Westmoreland front grill

NOS Hella headlights which have been modified to take Morimoto bixenon projects

Carbon Heckblende 

Interior:

Standard Slalom Edition Grey trim

Retro Momo boss that is machine polished along with a Momo Prototipo steering wheel which came off the previously mentioned Mike McCoy’s Jetta.

Custom made interior trims

NOS Dash with VW motorsport dials

The Rest:

The engine had previously been fitted with some period parts (Schrick 272 cam, Techtonics adjustable cam pulley, Twin port exhaust manifold, Bonrath power roar intake tube, and a few other mods.

Partly smoothed bay and wire tuck

Custom made exhaust from a good friend Jon Young

BC coilovers with solid adjustable top mounts

Shortened rear beam.

Future plans:

Sam wants to finish smoothing the bay and then overhaul the underside of the car by powder coating various parts and brakes. The interior is also on the hit list by refreshing a few parts and a general clean up. 

Long term plans are to repaint the car again and fit euro spec wings for less fettling. 

What we haven’t mentioned yet is that the majority of the build was carried out at Sam’s old house in New York until moving back over to the UK and shipping the car with him. The car has definitely been on a journey built in Germany, sold in Canada, imported to New York then imported to the UK. It has actually been more countries than Sam!

The Jetta is a prime example of what we pride ourselves on, building a car with your own bare hands, drafting in friends to assist where experience may surpass your talents, enjoying it along the way (not always), and making memories and that’s why 'Sam Woods Is Awesome'. We look forward to bringing you future updates on Sam’s build.

Stay safe everyone.