Shady P - It isn't a GTI, it's a GL

[jv]

[Shady Pioneer]

Thank you to JV for putting this up for me.

I will be putting in the process's of what I've done and what has been done to my car since I had it over the coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled. I think this thread will be more relevant to the people who can't have a GTI for one reason or another, so instead settle for a 1.4 - 1.8 CL/GL.

[Shady Pioneer]

I will begin with the start 

I bought my GL with 98K on it, totally standard from a couple in Bath. Had a couple problems with it managing to knock them down to £900 from £1100, the main problem was the dip stick was broken, £200 they cost

Got her home and gave her a nice clean, not the works, just a hose down with some normal shampoo.

Now this is my first car and wanted it to look the shiz too be honest, and that's where this site came in, I needed advice on how and where to get things, as well as what would and wouldn't look good, which you'll find out throughout this thread.






The very first thing I did was change the front grill and rear lights, I opted for a 2 slat GTI grill without the GTI badge, and GTI smoked Hella rear lights:






It's probably worth noting I have a rather special spoiler on the back of my car, it came with it when I bought it but I have a brake light built into, not many of those around

[Shady Pioneer]

New additions to the car not long after included:

- VR front splitter
- GTI smoked rear lights
- Shorter rear wiper arm
- Clear side repeaters
- GolfGTI.co.uk etched window stickers

[Shady Pioneer]

I managed to get hold of a badgeless grill for a good price, and got it colour coded to the car so here are the results:







At the time, I didn't think it looked too bad, but thinking about it now, it's just looks wrong, there's something about it on my car, doesn't look right.

[Shady Pioneer]

Wheel change time! It was about time I got the wheels changed because the standard GL ones weren't doing me any justice. I didn't know what ones to go for as I had a certain amount of money available and wanted to make the right choice. Looking at MK3 Golfs on the forum, I loved the look of the Anni wheels but they were 5 stud not 4 stud like I needed.


Searching for a couple of weeks and came across a set that looked exactly like the Annis on eBay, however they were off a Polo, BBS RXs, (not BBS RXIIs). Anyway, bidded on them, and my max bid was £350, they came with good Continental tires all round. I got outbid a few times at the end and they went for £430 odd. Wasn't happy however, got a message from the seller saying the final bidder didn't buy them in the end, and offered them to me for £350, BARGAIN! Got them couriered over to me, and here's what they looked like when I first put them on:






They set the car off a treat!

[Shady Pioneer]

After a good clean took her for a shooting spree:

[Shady Pioneer]

I wanted to remove the mudflaps, but wasn't sure if I should or not, after some heavy thinking and help from the forum, I decided I would, now it looked alot better, however, one problem, the fact it wasn't lowered really showed through once removing them as you'll see in these pictures 








Next was a change to the headlights. I went through a stage that I though "Angel Eyes! COOL!" so I bought some from a fellow member on here, they are the black versions so not as chavvy as the clear ones, and didn't look....too bad. Along with the Angel Eyes I got some front smoked indicators and blanking plates, this is where I got into doing a smoked theme, which I'm glad I did:






I did however, after much debate, whack the standard grill back on with a black badge:






Not long after, saw that my plates needed changing as they were tacky, so went "scene" and bought some German plates, really set the car off if I'm honest:











Mind you, German plates didn't stay on long as got pulled by the police who told me off for them. However because I played ball he didn't fine me the £30 he could've so long as I changed them, which was nice So because of this, they came off, as did all of this dirt I accumalted after going into a mucky country lane behind a rubbish truck, with it spraying crap all over the car! Just look at the state of it! Also at this point, I got a pair of smoked Hella Twin headlights, which I fitted and really let the car go into it's own, much better than the Angel Eyes (sold onto a friend ) and match the smoked theme perfectly:

[Shady Pioneer]

In the months of October / November, there was a poll running in the MK3 section for the best 12 MK3s on the forum to be featured on a calendar...about MK3s lol! Anywho, the poll ran and I was one of the winners which was quite great considering there were some really good cars involved, and mine hadn't been lowered either, nonetheless I wasn't going to hand over the win so I went and took some nicer photos for the calendar







Another little addition I added not long after was aero wipers to the front. Now many don't like them as they make the arms look like they are sticking out which I guess they do, but they are very very quiet when in use and look quite sexy so I love them

[Shady Pioneer]

This is the point I got it SLAMMED!!!


It took a year but it was worth the wait, and finally, my Golf was riding low in true Volkswagen slamming style. I had it done in time for the Bristol Gordano Meet I organized, and got some good pics from a few that attended









You could say it finished the car off, however that is not the case. I still have to get a backbox on the back, as I was still sporting a pea shooter that came as standard lol! Also paintwork needs a lot of attention.


At this point, I wanted a little subtle mod done which I requested the help of kells from the forum to do, he kindly obliged and did a cracking job, as I have a black and green theme going with the car, the orange on the rear of the light I felt had to go, so kells blacked out the indicators on my smoked lights and ended up with this:







He kindly smoked my rear brake light in the spoiler at this time as well, as that was pure red originally, but it's smoked to match the rest of the rear lights now. Don't have a picture at hand to show however.