Let's hear a little bit about the driver - What's your name and where are you from?
Jimmy Sines. Bel Air, Maryland.
What got you into modifying cars and what kept you in it? First Car or First Mod/Wrenching job?
I’ve been around cars my whole life. My father was a car painter, then a body man, I would spend evenings in the garage watching him craft, repair, restore and modify cars while I was a child all the way til now. And I can say I’m lucky enough to have picked up the trade and I work alongside him as an automotive refinish tech at the same body shop for the last 23 years.
As far as modifying my own cars, I was big into off-roading, specifically Jeeps. I built and modified all my Jeeps that I owned. Lifts, tires, wheels, body armor, gears, axle swaps, etc. Anything that made it more capable offroad.
Unfortunately as the Jeeps grew more expensive and the demographic of owners changed, so did the community as a whole, it became harder to find people to take their $50K newly purchased rig and beat it up on the rocks, so if I was gonna be stuck on the pavement with like minded individuals, I’d rather it be with another community that I have all the passion in the world for, the VAG community.
Tell us about your ride, what is it? Feel free to tell us about any current or previous cars/vehicles if you feel it is relevant!
So my current car is a 1997 VW Cabrio Highline. I also own a 2001 Audi TT Roadster 225 (with a laundry list of mods in boxes in my basement that I’ll eventually get too!)
Exterior Mods?
So anyone that follows me on Instagram since I picked the car up in 2021 has watched the evolution of it going from Tornado Red, to the short lived Harlequin paint job, to the Ultraviolet Pearl paint job, to where we are now with Basic White that it is now. (Which it’s staying!)
The car is fitted with a Kamei grill, Hella projector headlights, euro front and rear bumpers (originally textured, but I smoothed them) I have a full Votex style body kit that was made by Switch Happy UK. I have RL Projects bumper ducts. I’m running Airlift slam series struts with Feelair digital management. And the frame rails have been notched to get down low-low.
I guess the coolest and most head scratching mod (to people outside of the early water-cooled VWs) is my Votex roof rack, which I fit with various attachments for events, such as bike racks, roof box, ya know, anything that looks cool up there!
And I guess I’ll add that I redid the top last summer and changed it from black to burgundy for a little pop of color. As well as the Porsche script decals down the lower fenders, doors, and quarters.
I guess in whole, my styling aspirations would be, I wanted to build a VW that would’ve been my ideal ride in high school. I wanted that 2002 H2O vibes. Body kits, loud exhaust, cool audio, underglow, the works ya know. And I didn’t have the money as a struggling high school student then, so why not do it now, especially since I have the “know how” of how to do it, and I’m lucky to say that I’ve personally turned every wrench, and tightened every bolt on the car other than the interior.
Interior Mods?
The interior contains headrest deleted front seats with a gothic black floral/lace embossed patterned centers, with black vinyl sides and red stitching. Rear seats and door cards to match as well. GTI mk3 Drivers Edition steering with red stitching. BFI GS2 Shift Knob.
Anything special under the hood?
The car has been 12v AAA VR6 swapped. It’s been fitted with a SwoopsBUILT hidden MAF. SwoopsBUILT crankcase vent. Techtonics Tuning downpipe. MSD ignition coils and plug wires. Techtonics Tuning Stage 1 ecu chip.
I do have aspirations of installing Techtonics 276 cams, but that’ll have to be a winter 2025-2026 project.
What are some things you've done to your car that others might not notice?
I guess I would say the head unit in the car, that pays homage to my high school days. It was the “it” head unit that everyone had to have, the Pioneer DEH-P6400 (which was famous for the dolphins swimming on the screen)
And also my cheesy Nokia brick phone with cigarette lighter charger, just another cool add on to pay homage to the era.
One other thing people may not notice is the shave trunk emblems and quarter seams that give the rear a nice tidy smoothed look.
Anything else you'd like to add?
I just want to thank you, GDHfilms (he took the photos you're looking at now), and every single person in the VW community for just being who you all are. Thank you for the inspiration, the camaraderie, and the passion that we all share together.
Building this car has been a blast, I’ve built lasting friendships with some of the most awesome people. And I wouldn’t change any of it for the world. The cars are what brought us together but the community is what keeps us coming back!
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