Change is good
Like most things in life as the years pass certain things tend to change and the car scene is one of them things. Every year certain looks come in and out of fashion and different wheel companies bring out new wheels and everyone decides to change their car’s look for the year ahead. That is just what Emmett the owner of this Polo 6N has done. Now if you have a good memory and can remember all the way back to 2012 you may remember we featured this Polo during the summer of 2012. Although I won’t be surprised if you don’t remember it as it has completely changed over the past three years and the changes made are certainly an improvement.
First thing first is this Polo got a fresh respray in Ibis Audi White just before we shot it in 2012 and similarly just before we shot it the other day it has just had another fresh respray. As you can see from the photo’s it isn’t white any more it is now brown, Impanema brown in fact. Knowing Emmett for ages now and having talked to him a few times about his cars he always said he wanted to change the colour and at the end of last year he decided it was time to do just that.
He dropped the car off at Davy Pickard’s garage who in my books is one of the best sprayers in the country for a bare metal spray paint. When Davy paints something there is no messing about and he always does a top notch job cutting no corners. Emmett asked Davy to do a few little things that are not so noticeable like smoothing the tow points on the skirts and smoothing the exhaust point in the back bumper to look OEM. This just shows the level of detail put into the car.
Let’s turn our attention to the interior for a minute because in each scene everyone has a different opinion on how the inside should look and people normally stick to the norm. But one thing I have noticed over the past few years is how the German scene in taking ideas from the Jap scene. This Polo is a perfect example of this with it having a set of Recaro front seats from a Mitsubishi Evo fitted in the front. Of course the seats needed a change up and he had them retrimmed in Autum colour Bentley leather. Yes I did say Bentley. The door cards and gear stick have also been done in the same leather to match. A tidy and tiny 280mm Momo steering wheel has been fitted and the roof lining and carpet have been changed to black for a more subtle look to finish off the cockpit.
Some of you who are familiar with air suspension will have already figured out he is running some kind of air set up and you’re right. Emmett has stripped out the back seats and with the help of Gazebo Installs built a very tidy boot build to display his air tanks and show off his roll cage. He has chosen to go with Air Lift tanks and bags and both tanks and the cage have been sprayed in the Ipanema brown to match the colour of the car. Cooper hardlines and two 380cc compressors help tie everything together and a V2 controller mounted in the front cubby in the dash controls everything with ease.
Many people have the idea that people in VW scene don’t really care about the engine and very rarely do anything to it. This is not the case here. Emmett got bored of having a small 1.0L engine and soon ripped that out and replaced it with 1.4 16v engine from a gti Polo. I’ve been in the car and let’s just say it certainly isn’t slow no more. He does have an idea for another engine change but we can’t say anything about that just yet so you will just have to wait and see does he do it.
Let talk about these wheels. These one of CCW’s were made in America and shipped over to the little island of Ireland for Emmett to fit on his polo. When shooting the car Emmett told me there are only of a very few set of these wheels in Ireland and he has them and only two sets in the UK so making them pretty rare. Emmett decided to go with a 16 x 8j up front and 16 x 9j on the rear and finished them off by having them fully polished.
One thing that has defiantly come into fashion over the past few years is stance and this little Polo has that. To get the arch sitting on the back wheel he has used camber shims to camber the back wheels the perfect amount. Also the stretched tyres have had a big part to play in how the back sits. Up front the Polo has had a double chassis notch and some front camber bolts to help tuck them 16’s under the arches.
Something I can really appreciate on a car is the little modifications made that you wouldn’t see straight away. This polo is full of them, first off is the 421 manifold decat that flows into the jetex stainless steel exhaust. Not only does it look good it gives off a really nice sound when the car is driving along the road. The A, B and C pillars and the door handles have all been given the hydrographic carbon treatment and this is something that I really like. One more thing is the use of gold washer and bolts used to attach the wings and other parts to the car, something we see a lot of on Japanese cars.
A couple more changes to the exterior like swapping the original bumpers for front and back 16v bumpers and smoothing the front bumper to get rid of the number plate recess help bring things together. Not forgetting the Polo 6n2 gti front splitter along with the powerlook front headlights and LED rear lights.
This Polo is without a doubt one of the best examples in Ireland of how a car should be done up. The passion and the man hours put into this car is incredible to see and it certainly is a credit to the owner. Keep an eye out for this car at shows here in Ireland and across the pond as I know he plans to bring this car over to a few shows in England. We wish Emmett all the best for the future and we know he will take home some prizes at the shows with this car.
Words and photos by Luke West
Engine
1.4 16v Polo Engine
421 manifold decat
Jetex stainless steel exhaust
Wheels/Suspension
CCW’s (16 x 8j and 16 x 9j)
Airlift air suspension controlled with V2
Airlift front and rear struts
Front chamber bolts
Rear chamber shims
Double chassis notch
Exterior
Full colour change (Ipanema brown)
16v 6N Polo front and rear bumpers
Front bumper smoothed
6N2 GTI Polo front splitter
Powerlook front lights
LED rear lights
Clear indicators
Smooth front grill
Interior
Mitsubishi Evo recaro seats (Trimmed in autum colour Bentley leather)
Door card inserts in matching leather
Gear stick in matching leather
280mm Momo steering wheel
Roll cage
Boot build( Two airlift tanks, copper hardlines, two 380cc compressors)
V2 controller mounted in cuddy hole
Ripspeed flip out dvd player
Roof lining black
Carpet black
A B C pillars hydrographic carbon
Door handles hydrograohic