Nov 17, 2006

By:Katherine Helemtag (AKA: AtomicAlex)

I was preparing my Passat wagon for Midwest Treffen this year when I made a grisly discovery. Well, two, actually. My rear bumper cover was coated with green paint. It matched a car in the parking lot at work. There are only two green cars at work, and one of them is an SHO Taurus. The SHO didn’t hit me, and the front end of the Civic was trashed. This would ordinarily not be noticeable due to the severe damage that area of the car suffered back in Philadelphia, but this was a lot of green paint. That didn’t faze me much. I have been planning to replace the bumper cover for ages. I suppose it was good I waited.

The real problem was up front. As I dragged the rag soaked in Back-to-Black over my grille, it snagged. I gently released it and investigated for the source of the problem. I discovered that not only was my beautiful stock grille cracked in several places, but whoever did it managed to take out a good bit of paint on my front bumper cover, too. It appears that hitting my bumper (or pushing me into another car?) wasn’t enough for them... Full Feature

"I drive a wagon... even if you outrun me, can you brag about it?"

E-mail | For Sale!

Quote, originally posted by vwsr2cool »

If it could be proven that the Civic did the deed, why didn't you make them pay for the repair? Darn ignorant jealous people "I can't afford a VW so I'll just destory someone elses."

Yes, VWs are very exclusive and terribly expensive.

Good job on the grill, entertaining read, Vortex needs more articles like this.

Agreed on all counts.

If is was the Honda (sounds most likely) then it shouldn't be too tough to match the paint... and it most likely has your paint on it as well. Do you know who the person is? I'd imagine that the person didn't do it on purpose, but they didn't want to fess-up after they did.

Nice job, Alex.... errrr Katherine!

Quote, originally posted by patrikman »

A restoration to me is some sort of exorcism/brainwash for a car. /rant.

What does the quote below have to do with you fabbing a grill?

Quote, originally posted by AtomicAlex »

Shows like Overhaulin’ and Pimp My Ride show you the tiny details and the forest level view. They talk about timelines and how long things will take, but they don’t really show you the ugly side of fabrication. You rarely see the welds that went bad or the paint that ran or the carpet that didn’t match up. You hear some blowhard screaming at his abundant staff about meaningless little nitpicking stuff while the big problems are glossed over. You hear an endless stream of personalities bent more on making good drama than on good parts. The end result is usually a nice car, but the path they take to get there is torturous. And even my kids complain about the language.

Modified by Freeride at 4:36 PM 11-17-2006

I used to work at the Pentagon, but now I help get your chicken on.

As far as being the "dumbest ish ghetto mod" ever, well, I've got nothing for you there. Maybe it is.

Passatworld Mrs 1.8T
CarDomain Blog
Bolt. Recaro recovery, bow headliners, Cabriolet fixin's and other misc hard and soft goods for VWs

DCC - Detroit Corrado Club
"Like dogs, Corrados are social catalysts that attract a superior category of people."

Anyway, I reckon you did a great job Katherine. A little bit of DIY and self-fabrication doesn't go astray, and should definitely be something you should take pride in. Nice write-up?

`rayray086

Quote, originally posted by 20v02GTI »

what the hell is a 1.4???????

Quote, originally posted by Freeride »

This is the dumbest ish ghetto mod i've ever read... And i have no idea what this has to do with Foose... It's more like Pimp My Grillz. Modified by Freeride at 4:36 PM 11-17-2006

Congrats on the mod. I am a desiger and welder for many years and would not have had the balls to go beyond tack welding.

"If you ain't rubbing....you ain't dubbin"

Katherine, good for you for taking bad situation and making the best of it.

In my humble opinion, the grille appears to be a little too "open" for my taste, but the main thing is that you like it.

I agree that it'll be a great conversation starter, and I can really appreciate all the work that went into it.

It looks like you did a great job, good for you, and thanks for sharing your story.

-Glenn

Quote, originally posted by Shinny_G60 »

You can get used Kamei Grills for like $20....

Quote, originally posted by drtbmxer »

this is in no way front page vortex news.....chip foose would never put that thing on any car either

I doubt you guys took the time to actually read the article and instead made your brilliant observations based on the pictures in the article. And if you did read it, clearly you missed the point.

Long before Vdubbin' was a "lifestyle" it was a hobby. There is a certain joy that can only be derived from doing something yourself, even if you take the hard way for no particularly good reason. Believe me, I've probably spent more time on making modifications and improvements than some of you have spent driving. Sometimes it was stupid stuff, like the first custom console I fabbed for my '81 Rabbit (20 years ago). Other times it was more significant, like when I reupholstered an entire interior from scratch (no patterns, no kits) or retrimmed my headliner in Alcantara.

These days it's so easy to simply pick up the phone or click to a webpage and buy just about any mod. To some of us, there's no satisfaction in that. Sure, Katherine could have easily done the same, scouring the classifieds for a used Kamei piece. The final results wouldn't have been much different. Instead, she researched and selected the exact material she wanted, used her brain to figure out the process, and learned a little about her welding skills while she crafted a one-of-a-kind piece. She wouldn't have done any of that if she had simply bought one off the shelf.

Her reference to Foose is valid too. Sure, they use a lot of ready-made aftermarket pieces on shows like Overhaulin', but the final product never looks like something out of a catalog. Each of his project cars is a personal expression in some way. Katherine's grille may be a small statement in the grand scheme of things, but she knows that every bit of it was hers.

And the reason we ran this article is not because Katherine had created something unique or out of the ordinary, but because she found inspiration in tackling a project on her own, and she hoped to inspire others who allegedly share her enthusiasm for this hobby. VWvortex would benefit from more true enthusiasts like her.

'Nuff said.

Very true. And based on the responses here, there are very few like her left and the prospect of gaining folks like her is not very promising.

2006 GLI .:. 2008 Rabbit S

MkV Forum New User Information :: MkV FAQ & DIY Guide

For doing it yourself and all the time you put into it, can get alot of accomplishment for doing something yourself.

I don't like the look of it, but that's just me and I'm not going to give you a for it, it's what you like, it's your car, and that's all that matters. And one more thing, to go and say "Foose wouldn't do that" would be wrong, only he knows what he would do and it depends more on who the owner of the car is. Yes, he throws in his personal touches, but it's still about the owner being happy with their car. If he did a mesh grille, sure it might turn out better, he has more experiance doing that type of stuff and also he would have the time etc to make sure it's perfect to his opinion.

P.S. Pimp My Ride and Overhaulin' are geared torwards two different types of people/drivers, Pimp My Ride focuses on the Bling Bling Ghetto crowd (read: people who don't care if it's done right, as long as it gets attention), where Overhaulin' is more for the classic, clean lines type of people (read: people who want things done right.)

"I drive a wagon... even if you outrun me, can you brag about it?"

E-mail | For Sale!

I thing welding up this grill is similar to all of those "home-brew" mods that people are doing these days such as gauge pods in the sunroof access panel and recovering the interior with new materials. It is the fact the some person took the time and the resources and did a job themselves that they alone can take pride in. Why can't other people see this???

Doing something yourself (no matter how small) can be gratifying. Sure, we all can go buy ready made parts and put them in, but how many of us actually take the time to make something from "nothing" and put it in/on our cars.

Now if I only had the time, the money and were 6000 miles closer to my car, I would be golden.

I am glad you mentioned the airflow potential of certain grille designs. My Scirocco tended to overheat on lengthy runs at the track and I bet its because my grille is not as cool as the one you made. Although I am not inspired to go build one myself, I am inspired to go remove what I have.

Used Kamei in the classifieds, $20 j/k

Modified by GTIMan82 at 7:21 AM 11-20-2006

Fixed it for ya!

I've never posted one of these, but this deserved it!

Some of you lunkheads need to really rethink what you're saying. You know who you are.

to Katherine for doing it well... even if it doesn't please everyone here. I do think that alot of people have forgotten (or more accurately, never have learned) how to do things for themselves. Fabricating parts comes right after engine building and 'coming up with a grand scheme for a car' as my favorite pastime. I, unfortunately, don't have time in my life right now. When the kids are a bit older I will be taking this road again. I will be taking "the path less traveled" as well. Perhaps my daughters will help daddy in the garage. I certainly hope so. again for teaching the kids, Katherine!

Quote, originally posted by patrikman »

A restoration to me is some sort of exorcism/brainwash for a car. /rant.

It's not the cheapest or easiest route to a new panel, but it was fun. The boys were pretty wide-eyed when I mounted it up for the first time.

Ron - more pics will require washing the car. I will try to get to that today.

Passatworld Mrs 1.8T
CarDomain Blog
Bolt. Recaro recovery, bow headliners, Cabriolet fixin's and other misc hard and soft goods for VWs

maybe we feel that it isn't worthy of home page news.

"Foose it" ?? taking chicken fence-like wire and making up a grill is far from Chip Foose as you can get in the automotive realm.

It was an entertaining read, ( "My car debadged itself" ) but I am wondering why this wasn't placed in the Passat forum rather than the Home page.
IMO-- Get rid of that ghetto chicken wire Honda performance mod and go for you "50% open" afermarket grill.

The writing prose here isn't so bad, though. I can see this type of writing in a local newspaper,so keep up the writing. It will get better with experience

With all due respect, I think you're missing the point here. These guest editorials are not to be considered news, necessarily - rather they are slices of insight into the thoughts/preferences/actions of various VWvortex members.

This site caters to VW enthusiasts and as such Vortex should be expected to celebrate all the different aspects of what it means to be a VW enthusiast.

Understand that within a site as incredibly large as this you are bound to experience opinions much different than your own and you'll be that much less inclined to question the worthiness of seeing in print something you don't exactly appreciate.

Katherine, you will alway be one of those faces I can put with a screenname and an opinion I will always respect. My time in my B5 was better because of you and people like you.

"If one does not fail at times, one has not challenged himself." - Ferdinand Porsche

Sorry, but Foose started somewhere, too. He's about as far along the continuum as you can get, and he's marked out one path that gets you there. It's not the only path. My path will be different, and it will have a start somewhere - here.

Telling people it's not worth it to even try is about as far from being an enthusiast as you can get in the automotive realm.

Passatworld Mrs 1.8T
CarDomain Blog
Bolt. Recaro recovery, bow headliners, Cabriolet fixin's and other misc hard and soft goods for VWs

kingmotorcar click it ...

Good Job Katherine, I think it came out great.

Lewis Hamilton
2010 comeback tour.

Congratulations Ben Spies. US WORLD superbike champion