Yesterday I got my Votex basket and load bars installed on the car and went out for a quick photoshoot.

See more from this shoot in my photo set on Flickr. Also, don’t forget to join our Flickr group and add your own.

As for my Mk3, I’ve still got a few parts laying around that need to go on soon:

• in.pro smoked ecodes
• Euroswitch
• upper glovebox
• Mk3.5 Cabrio sunvisors
• Samco hose kit
• BFI Stage .5 mount mounts
• Thule 555 fairing

Stay tuned with what’s happening on my car by watching my build thread in the forum.

I did these chops this past Sunday morning. It feels good to dream.

The base chop (added Thule 555 fairing, smoked e-code headlights, Vento rear bumper, Vento VR6 front lip):

base + Votex rack:

base + cargo for rack:

base + badgeless grill:

base + Borbet Type-As:

Thoughts?

Several days ago I ordered a set of e-code headlight plug conversion harnesses from EuroWires. Total cost was about $45 shipped. These harnesses will convert my stock 9004 headlight plugs over to the Mk3 Euro style plugs.

I’ll post more info once I receive the parts. Expect a full review to appear in the Resource section.

Yesterday my second box of parts from Dimitri arrived. No photos yet as I just picked the box up this morning.

Contents include:

• (2) Mk2 Jetta Euro rear plateholders BUY THEM HERE SOLD
• (1) set of Mk2 Jetta Hella euro taillights [red/smoked] BUY THEM HERE SOLD
• (1) set of Mk3 Vento OEM taillights [red/orange]
• (1) set of Mk3 Vento in.pro smoked e-code headlights
• (1) Mk3 Vento trunk badge

This wave went very smoothly and now I’m getting ready to send a box of parts back over to him.

Keep me posted if there is anything you want from Europe.

So, last weekend I made a 430 mile round trip journey to St. Peter, MN to pick up some free Mk3 parts. The drive was nice, the weather was a bit chilly and a I had a great burger and fries for lunch from a local restaurant called Ruttles. Below are a couple photos.

Mk3s are 1337!

With the new (used) hood installed. Now I’ve got my spare so I can eventually get my shaved hood to the painters.

In the past couple of days I’ve also ordered a few new parts for the Vento. Both things came from GoingFast on eBay and include choices from my earlier dilemna of what to get next. I ended up ordering both their smoked Euro turns/dummies and a set of hood lift struts.

I can’t wait for everything to arrive!

Now that I have my car all put back together (complete with Euro Vento bumper), I’m looking towards the future and what to do next. Here are some ideas in a photochop:

Vento VR6 lip, smoked turns/dummies, smoked c-code headlights, resprayed hood and some window tint.

The original.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Yesterday my Vento bumper finally arrived! I was amazed at how fast it got here since Dimitri had only shipped it on Friday. Along with the bumper, Dimitri sent me all of the other parts he had already replaced with my US pieces.

My box of Belgian goodness included:

• Vento textured top bumper
• Vento CL front lip
• Vento bumper grills
• Vento FER dummy lenses
• Vento FER turn signals
• Vento passenger side mirror
• Vento rear plate holder

I’m planning on selling the rear plate holder since I’ve already got one on my car from GoingFast. $90 shipped. Here’s the link to my Vortex FS thread SOLD.

And here’s one shot of the car all put together and sitting in the old garage. If you’re wondering about the hood, it has been sanded down to bare metal and the washer nozzles have been shaved. I plan on getting it painted sometime in the near future. Look for another post soon about the nozzle shaving process.

I need to look at some of my old photos and try to go out and take comparison pictures with the new euro bumper. I still need to get the Vento mirror bolted on, but that will be another day. I think I’m finally growing tired of my ill-fitting mirror blank I bought on Vortex.

So, earlier tonight I got a call from OrangeDUB about a new post in the Official Midwest FS Thread on Vortex. A Vortexer from Minnesota was posting up several black Mk3 parts that he was willing to give away for free. He didn’t need them anymore and was just going to throw them away if nobody wanted them.

I shot the guy an email and got a call about 30 minutes later. We talked for a bit, confirmed that the parts were still available and now I’m going to make a trip to St. Peter, MN this weekend, about 200 miles north.

I’m headed up there to pick up:

• black rear bumper (great shape)
• black fuel door
• black hood (golf ball-style dent near center of hood)
• 75% of a rear tail setup

I’ll probably end up throwing him a couple twenties for his generosity. Now I’m in search of a copilot from my local German car club.

I just got an email that made my week! Hell, it made my month!

You may remember my recent post about all the delays with shipping the bumper. This is what just came in from my pal Dimitri:

Goodmorning Mike,

so there is some news for you!
If everything goes well the box will be shipped out TODAY !!!!!!!!!!!
That company told me it would take about 3-5 days
I guess it should be at your adress before the end of next week
I hope this is some GOOD NEWS for a change ! ??
We really want to apollagy that it took that long (redface) but still it costs us 287,02 euro…
But I really want you to get the bumper before the winter !!

About the rear-bumper, we have to find a way for that before anyone sends one.
I had to re-build the box to some smaller one (max 1,50 m!)
Be carefull when you open the box !!!!

That’s it for now , we are going to that right NOW !
I let you know when we’re back

Cheers

Dimitr

I am SO excited! FINALLY! The bumper should be here by the end of next week and I’ll be rolling around with the only Vento bumper in the entire state of Iowa. So say goodbye to my sad-faced car. Soon it will be sporting a sleek new European facelift.

…to me. Yesterday I turned 22. The best part of my birthday is that my wife bought me a new camera! I’ve been aching to replace my five year old digi that I got back in high school. The replacement is a Fujifilm FinePix S700. It has all kinds of crazy features that I need to learn about. This camera actually has the ability to adjust aperture, shutter speed, lighting and lots of other things, which means I can now take some much snazzier pictures.

I’ve also gotten a few birthday cards and am planning on making some sort of purchase for the car. Haven’t decided exactly what yet.

Here are some options:

• smoked turns/dummies from GoingFast
• hood lift struts from GoingFast
• Eurosport short shift kit

Thoughts? Opinions? Other suggestions?