Let's hear a little bit about the driver - What's your name and where are you from?
My name is Lance Wirth and I’m originally from Oregon now currently living in Las Vegas.
What got you into modifying cars and what kept you in it?
What got me into the VW scene… back in High school, 04-'05 I was hanging out with my best friend at his house one day after school. His older brother came home with his new car he just bought. It happened to be a '92 Tornado Red big bumper 8v GTI. It had the original red stripe quad grille headlights with the red accent tear drop OEM wheels. From that day on, I became OBSESSED with water cooled VWs. Around that time I had become aware of PerformanceVW magazine and my friends and I would drive all over town looking to any and every grocery store or bookstore that would have just one copy of the latest edition. Looking from cover to cover soaking up anything I could and being so envious of all the cars I would see that were being featured. Not having any mechanical skills at that time, I could appreciate and see the extreme attention to detail. I couldn’t even fathom the thought process. I.e. VR6 swaps, 4motion swaps, shaved bays etc.
Fast forward to 2-3 years later my very first car was an 89’ tornado red golf 8v. (I don’t have any photos of it sadly). It came with the early edition/small bumpers that I was not a fan of at that time in my earlier years as an enthusiast. My plan was to buy a big bumper kit & quad grille and find “the coolest” wheels I could find to make it my masterpiece lol.
Shortly then I found out just how hard it was to source these parts I was looking for. But that also gave me that Thrill of the Hunt feeling. Knowing when you did get your hands on rare oem parts, you knew just how much more special these cars were.
After a couple of years of Jonny strong arming the steering wheel due to no power steering and being completely green and impatient. I sold the car to a fellow enthusiast to then buy a black MK3 GTI VR6. The first car I had ever owned with power windows, that had some actual power under the hood. Oh, and power steering. It had Tectonics Tuning 268 cams as well as a performance chip and Borla exhaust. The car absolutely ripped up and down the road while sounding like Chewbacca.
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.
Fast forward to 11’-12’ I stumbled across a 91’ Tornado red Jetta coupe. (I know, another tornado red car) It was a rolling shell and I was able to purchase it for 900 bucks.
I would end up having the VR6 installed into that car, summer of 2013. Only to get into my very first wreck in that car only months after the engine was installed. It was totaled And I literally cried that day.
Bought a very well taken care of 81’ caddy truck in 2015. Originally was a 4 speed but had a 5 speed diesel transmission installed. I daily’d that truck while becoming a first time parent. My infant son and his car seat looked great in it. But, the boss (the wife) said it was time to buy a family car.
I stepped away from the scene for a couple years but I never lost my love and passion for VWs.
Summer 17’ I would find the car that was almost an exact match of the coupe that I had wrecked just a couple years prior. And yes, it too was tornado red.
The wife and I drove from Salem Oregon all the way up to Snoqualmie Washington just to look at this car in person. And it was everything and more when I saw it with my own eyes. The owner at that time had put a lot of TLC into it. With installing a 16v engine that had AC! 5 speed/short shifter conversion. Full cloth Recaro seats front and back without rips. 14” BBS ra’s, small bumpers, 16v front lip and a GLI trunk spoiler.
To me, this car had it all! Between you and me, I didn’t just drive 5 hours to go home empty handed so I made a cash offer on the spot and we made a deal.
While handing me the keys, the owner had said that he had a surprise for me if I wanted it. He opens the trunk of the coupe and pulls out a box. He tells me to open it and what I would find blew me away. It was a NOS Hella Heckblende. It had never been mounted. Never had the backing tape removed.
I couldn’t believe it. I even asked if he was pulling my leg. Because he was literally gifting me this incredibly rare and expensive Grail of the bells and whistles when it came to these cars. And yes, I accepted his offer.
With the windows down, sunroof open and the radio turned off. We embarked on our journey back home. For almost 5 hours I got to shift up and down in gears through the mountains Washington state truly enjoying my passion as a VW enthusiast.
To this day- It was the best road trip I have ever taken.
Exterior/Interior Mods?
Since then:
-Bought and rebuilt my first set of 15” BBS RS's
-NOS chrome trimmed euro small bumpers
-Non ripped Trophy Recaro seats front and back.
-Extremely rare Piranha Louvers from South Africa
-To be continued...
Anything else you'd like to add?
My '97 B5 Audi A4 1.8T AEB Quattro which I purchased in 2018. To my wife’s credit, she is who found this car. Which we bought from the original owner when we purchased the car it had 47,000 miles.
Exterior:
-16” bbs RS that were originally off of a Porsche 964. I had the center lug pattern filled and re-drilled to 5x112 and stepping them up from 16-18” with all new barrels and hardware wrapped in 205/40/R18 Nitto tires.
-Facelift clear/chrome depo headlights
Interior:
-Heated Audi Sport cloth seats
Performance:
-CTS turbo front mounted intercooler
-2.0 r8 coil pack conversion
-Maestro tuning software (Stage 1)
Down the road... 24V VR6 Longitudinal swap and an RS4 wide body conversion
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