February 2005

Volkswagen's best seller in North America is a pretty simple concept: put a trunk on a Golf hatchback. While the hatchbacks are big sellers everywhere else in the world, North Americans overwhelmingly prefer to have a separate lockable trunk. When Fred Fox purchased his 1997 Jetta at an auction for a whopping $2500usd, he did not know at the time what he was getting himself into.

What started off as a badly beaten Jetta, blossomed into a high performance beast. Fred was able to nurse the Jetta to what you see now all by himself sparing no detail. He was determined to clean up the Jetta with the motivation to build the car in an oem-plus European style. With the motor being the primary concern, as it should be, being that the economic 2.0L 8V motor putting down a fiery 115bhp and 122lb ft of torque, lets not kid ourselves, this is nothing to get worked up about. However, Fred has taken care of that and slapped on a beefy T3 super 60 turbocharger pushing 15 pounds of heart throbbing boost. In order to keep intake air at a manageable temperature, a massive front mount intercooler was put in place. When the throttle slams shut, the Greddy Type S blow off valve sings like a tribal call to let everyone know the madness has ended…for now. With the added heat, a three inch downpipe mated to a two and a half inch exhaust expels the unwanted gases. A custom chip and larger injectors have enabled Fred to more than double the factory power of the 2.0L motor which is very impressive no matter how you slice it.

Fred decided to keep the exterior very tame looking to keep competitive onlookers in suspense as the FMIC is a tease of what’s inside. A set of Inpro projector headlights with angel eyes illuminate the path of things to come, while the euro VR6 chin lip just barely scrapes the ground. Fred sports a set of 16x7.5 RH Cuprads with sticky Dunlop FM901 tires. Any VW enthusiast knows what RH rims are because of their desirable European looks and their hefty price tag. It is also worth to note that Fred seals the European theme he has been chasing with a “Vento” badge on the rear keeping people guessing if this truly is the European version?

Moving on, a set of MK4 GTI leather seats furnish the interior, while the Eclipse head unit prepare anyone around for the Alpine Type R speakers and the Alpine Type R subwoofer in the trunk. Since Alpine was founded in 1967, they have been at the forefront as one of the top mobile electronics manufacturer, creating high-quality products that deliver excellent in-car sound worldwide. To keep things in check, a pair of Autometer gauges let Fred know that everything is operational while the Greddy boost controller taunts him.

Behind the radical RH rims, sit Wilwood 4 piston mono-block calipers tightly holding the 11’’ rotor. From its birth in 1977, Wilwood Engineering has been at the forefront of high performance disc brake technology as it originated in stock car racing on short tracks. Wilwood was known for their reliability and by the early 1980's Wilwood had become a major supplier of high performance racing disc brakes to the industry. Sitting behind the stop-on-a-dime brakes we see FK Silverline Plus coilovers which are both height and dampening adjustable. With the coilovers set to what they are, we can’t quite understand how the front bumper still remains in one piece.

Even though Fred’s MK3 Jetta has been the first MK3 feature on Generationdub.com, it sets the bar high for future features as it holds true to the saying that sometimes less is more. This very cleanly done Jetta is not over the top, but is enough for the onlooker wanting more, which Fred shall provide as the sound of his blow off valve keeps things interesting. Fred would like to give shout-outs to his wife, his son, his brothers, and the Volkschnell crew.

Article By: Luke Niebylski
Editor: Demetrios Manos
Pictures: Fred Fox