The Project Begins

All of the trouble started because of my job, since my daily commute took the better part of an hour I was left with a frighteningly long period of time in which to think. Any good dictator will tell you that too much independent thought is dangerous and while I don’t generally seek guidance from the likes of Polpot and Quadafi, in this case it would seem that their philosophy was right on.

	Most days I would find myself pondering questions of great importance such as: “why do I have to be driving so fucking far to work?” or “why are there so many goddamn little old lady’s putting along in the fast lane?” But occasionally my mind would grapple with issues of a more idealistic and altogether more perplexing nature.

Mashing the accelerator in my trusty 16v Scirocco would yield quite satisfactory results, the car would mosey forward at a reasonable pace, by all measures, ample power. But like the fat kid with a single dip ice cream cone I would always think “wouldn’t it be nice if I had twice as much”

		Wicked thoughts began to turn to wicked deeds, I leased a different house with a 2 ½ car garage, borrowed a MIG welder from my good friend Ben Harder, and started the search for the right Scirocco. I already owned a ratty ’86 8V and a clean ’87 16V, the former was unfit for the task because of its poor condition and the latter was far too nice to chop up for such a loony pipe dream as this.

	The project began in earnest when a friend dropped a 1988 16v Scirocco off at my garage in Columbus OH. The idea was to take the engine, suspension, and interior from his rusted out Rocco and plant them into the cleaner body of the ’88.

After closer inspection a considerable amount of rust was located on the “clean” ’88, the planned swap was aborted and I was stuck with a non-running red Rocco in my shop.

	The whole situation was rather like leaving a hungry dog alone with the thanksgiving turkey, bad things were bound to happen. With a head full of twin engine aspirations it was only a matter of time until the Sawzall came out. The cutting began just after Christmas ‘04, my brother Giles was in for the holidays and the usual drunken carousing was in full swing.