Keyne on MK2s

Mk2 Golf’s have always been pretty popular whether you are new to VWs or a die hard enthusiast. These two small bumper creations are owned by a couple of guys from the Keyne on Dubs club based in you guessed it Milton Keynes.

      

Josh has owned his Pearl Grey MK2 for just over a year and in that time it has changed considerably. The paint was not great so it was treated to virtually a full respray carried out by a local company. The car already had a 2.0 16V conversion carried out by the previous owner which was a solid job so that was left untouched apart from a new stainless exhaust supplied by another friend.

 

 Most noticeable change since taking ownership of the car has to be the wheels, BBS RS’s, which adds to the overall presence of the car. Some say that the RS’s are played out but you can’t argue the fact these classic wheels suit the MK2 very well.

 

 Josh’s main aim was to create a clean, classic looking MK2 that he could be proud of. His main plans for 2012 are to replace most of the trims on the car and sound deaden the cabin along with lowering it a little more.

 

RM: What made you go for a MK2 Golf?
Josh:I have always been into VWs and after driving over to the 2010 MIVW event with Drew and seeing lots of other MK2s at the even made me want one. I also wanted something with a little bit more power and soul, it is true what they say, old cars to have more character.

RM: What’s it like using the MK2 as a daily driver?
Josh: I don’t mind it however it can get annoying at times especially when you get into a newer car with no rattles and noises! But a quick blast in the MK2 makes you forget about all of that.

RM: Did you do much of the work yourself on the car?
Josh: When I bought the car it was already a pretty tidy, solid base however I still had most of it painted by Retro Classica. Apart from that most things have been done by myself or friends.


Now taking a look at Drew’s Mk2 you can instantly see that he has taken his car down a different route. Coming up to 2 years of ownership this car has come a long way. It was featured in Performance VW magazine about 5 years ago with the previous owner.
  
Drew bought it as just a shell and set about swapping everything over from his previous MK2. Initially running a mildly tuned 16V built in his garage; Drew then had the urge for more power. A 20VT AUQ was sourced and he set about installing this over the 2010/2011 winter along with having all the holes filled and bay resprayed, the plan was to have the car ready to drive over to the 2011 MIVW event held in Holland.

 Going for more of a motorsport theme, this MK2 now sports a 6 point weld in cage along with a pair of fixed bucket seats and 4 point harnesses.

 
The cars sits so well over these Porsche wheels, Drew is considering buying them as they were only on loan from his brother for an event that he attended at Ace Café.
 

 

RM: What made you go for a MK2 Golf?
Drew: When I turned 21 I could finally insure a 16V GTI so I bought myself the best birthday present. It has kind of just escalated from there.

RM: What’s it like using the MK2 as a daily driver?
Drew: It is less practical these days with the seats and harnesses but with the 20V in it is so much fun!

RM: Did you do much of the work yourself on the car?
Drew: Yeah pretty much all build at home on my drive. GM bodycraft helped with welding the cage in and painting the bay. Mark Jarvis painted the car around about 5 years ago now as well.

RM: What’s your future plans?
Drew: Get the exterior painted and the bay tidied up further as well as some more chassis mods.
  

SEPTEMBER 2011 - PLAYERS 5.0

Now in its 5^th year Players went from being a VW show to a show that now attracts the best of the best from each marque. The gates for the show opens later than most shows at 10am however being hugely popular, both the hangers were pretty much full by 10:30 with the area outside filling up very quickly.        

            

You will pretty much be guaranteed to see some high end exotica at the Players show.

 The bigger of the 2 hangers was filled with almost every brand of car you could imagine.

 With the show’s roots being VW, these guys were there in force as well.

The smaller of the 2 hangers was occupied mainly by some awesome air cooled metal along with a couple of Hondas and some of the Westside VW crew keeping them company.

The weather during the week on the run up to the show was pretty grim; however the sun did come out on the Sunday which made it an ever better show. This meant that the show and shine area outside the hangers were full of amazing cars.

 

 Check out this MK2, it was featured on the cover of Performance VW about 5 years ago. The current owner Andy Russel, bought the shell and has been building it back up to something a little different to when it was on the cover.

 A couple other MK2s that grabbed our attention was this grey one on some flocked Schmidts. Also not forgetting the one of my favourite cars that has been around many years which is Hiten’s 5door VR6.

  This year the guys from Honda Culture were asked to sponsor the show with a trophy, and also to spread the word and bring over some of the UKs best Hondas. Although Players was held on the same day as JapShow Finale many decided to make the trip to Players instead.

The HC guys chose their car of the show to be a pretty special MK1 Golf G60.

  (Photo courtesy of Adam Ivell)

 That pretty much wraps up our Players feature, have a look at the rest of the photos and the short film.

            

       

September 2011 - Japanese Auto Extravaganza

JAE is arguably the biggest Japanese car show in the UK calendar. It was held at Wicksteed park in Northampton for the third year running, access to the venue was easy from north and south with the speedbumps being the only downside on the way in!

There was a lot of this...

The turnout was good, the weather held out for the most part with only one downfall on Saturday.

The show is a full weekender held on the 9th, 10th, 11th of September which gives you the opportunity to relax and check out all the cars on show.

The best bit of this show is the friendly nature of the event and having all the car clubs in one huge venue displaying the best examples from each of the Japaese manufacturers.

Check out this pristine classic Toyota Celica

Down at the trade area there were the usual suspects selling their wears. Sumo Power's S15 is simply stunning

Santapod raceway had sent along this drag spec R32

Whereas this was the Kleers take on the R32, it was spotless

Plenty of stickers for sale at the event

There was also a tonne of entertainment laid on by the event organisers which included:

• Tug Of War Battles
  

• Five-a-side football tournament
  

• Endurance competition
  

• Japanese Food and Drink eating competition
  

• Car Pull

• Bungee Challenge

• Inflatable Jousting

• Time Attack Go Karting

• JAE Relay Race (including free drinks!)

Club stands

Checkout the rear wheel steer on this old Prelude

There were even a couple of club members that had come all the way from europe for the event, this red hatch was one of my favorites.

Slammed Del Sol Turbo

DC5 on 18's

And this was the last show for Stoo's epic Supercharged DC5

And a little video of it in action

SUPERCHARGED - Honda Integra DC5 from David Crowe on Vimeo.

See you there next year

Edition38 Show & Shine 2011

The Edition28 Show & Shine is probably the most eagerly anticipated show of the year for UK dubbers. It always promises to be a good weekend come rain or shine, and this year was no exception! The rain held out for most of the weekend however the heavens did open on Sunday morning. A little rain did not put anyone off though as the show field was filled to the brim.

As one of the main guys behind Honda Culture, most of my time in recent years has been spent in the Honda show scene. Although there are many nice Hondas, there are only a hand full that can come close to the extend some of these guys take their VAGs to. Totally complete cars, not one area left untouched from the bay to the interior, it’s all in the details

This year there seemed to be a really good mix of cars, everything from decked old skool Beetles to Nu Wave stuff like the Audis on air ride.

Plush Automotive in the last couple of years has had a hand in one way or another when it came to building some of the best cars in the UK. There speciality seems to be air ride and funky interiors.

As my current daily driver is a MK5 Golf, I was particularly interested in those that were at the show. Lots of inspiration. One that really appealed to me was Simon Sweetland’s stillstatic Edition30 tucking 20” Maybachs.

Greg Howel’s R32 is another that amazed, most probably due to the simple styling touches and the supercharger good for over 320 hp

You can’t have a VW event and not talk about the Players Crew. These guys never disappoint, and always think outside of the box when it comes to building their cars.

Where there is Players there will be Rotiform. This Scirocco owned by one of the Edition38 crew was a bit marmite with the colours, but worked well in my opinion.

Tucked bays, these guys have got them down to a tee.

Just like previous Edition38 shows, the European guys came out in force with some amazing cars. The vision and engineering that has gone into some of these cars is mind blowing. How often do you see a MK3 Golf with Gull Wing doors? The guys from DSP in France have mastered these.

Personally my car of the show had to be the MK2 Golf that had everything transferred over from a MK5 Golf Gti. This was an awesome car, so understated!

All I can say is if this is the standard in 2011, I cannot wait to see what 2012 brings. Roll on Edition38 2012

August 2011 - Honda Culture and Friends

Here are a couple of pics from the recent Honda Culture & Friends meet at Ace Cafe London.

Video of the event:

Keep up to date with the progress & news on twitter.

Couple of pics from the event:

Here are some of the pics from the after-meet:

More to follow...