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Canadian engineer Derek Spratt has fond memories of the 1983 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI he bought new in college. When nostalgia began knocking on his door decades later, he sourced a nearly identical example and spent seven years turning it into his dream hot hatch instead of settling for putting a photo of it on his desk.
Spratt was 21 when he purchased his GTI, one of the later first-generation models with the 90-horsepower engine and the firmer suspension, and he quickly took it on a scenic road trip from Vancouver, Canada, to San Francisco and back. He sold the car but never forgot about it, and he started looking for another one in the early 2010s.
Finding the exact car he drove in college was easier said than done. For all we know, it might have been crashed and scrapped long ago. He instead located a very similar one with the same build date and began the process of resto-modding it. “I wanted the car to be versatile and flawless with its mannerisms and behaviors,” he said.
After fixing the inevitable rust, he installed a 220-horsepower engine he used his engineering knowledge to design, and retro-fitted several creature comforts like power windows, heated seats, a push-button ignition, and a digital instrument cluster. He didn’t forget about performance; brake and suspension modifications made his GTI a force to reckon with on the track, while a new cooling system kept the extra horsepower in check. For context, the eighth-generation model making its debut at the 2020 Geneva Motor Show is expected to pack 240 horses.
The final numbers are jaw-dropping. Spratt spent about 12,000 hours working on his GTI, and he documented the process through no less than 180 videos posted on various social media platforms, including YouTube. His build thread on enthusiast forum VW Vortex is 30 pages long. Buckle up for this one: He estimates the project cost him $140,000, which is enough to buy a like-new original GTI, a brand-new 2020 example, and a heated garage to keep them both in. And yet, after taking another 6,200-mile trip down the Pacific coast, he sold the GTI for far less than it cost to build. The car now lives with a Volkswagen-obsessed couple in Vancouver, Canada.
“If you get into restoration and modifications for the money, you should find a new hobby. The purpose of the project was fulfilled for me. I made the car faster and better than before and pursued my passion for seven years,” he explained. “I can take it for a drive or a tune-up. I’m happy they have it and love it. And, I’m glad I can see it now and again,” he added. We assume maintaining a relatively close relationship with Spratt is key to keeping the GTI in running and driving condition. After all, he built it.
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