Now That’s A Proper Introduction
Discovered a MODE button, and as you can probably guess, I found the Sport Mode. It might just be the placebo effect, but the exhaust note got a touch louder, and the throttle pedal mapping changed so that the car felt quicker, win-win.
Golf – Golf GTI Owners Manual
The next step was to search for it, hoping that a VW Golf enthusiast site might have a copy. I found a Reddit thread that led me to www.carmans.net/. Bingo. A PDF of the manual. I asked for 2020, and this is what I got. I went back and asked for the 2019 version; I got the same 2021 version. Probably only store the ones that apply to model years that are the same.
The first thing I had to figure out was how do you open the hatch. I didn’t see a button on the dash anywhere, so I hit the button of the remote that had the standard icon on it. Nothing happened. I unlocked all the doors and hit the button again; still nothing. Found the section about the hatch in the manual and discovered that that button just unlocked it, and to open the hatch, you push on the VW logo, and it swivels out so you can grab and pull. I was expecting the key button to pop it up (or out) so you could grab an edge and lift.
I found out how to change the “Driver 1” welcome when you start up the car; it now says “Brian.” Hitting the Unlock button on the fob now opens all four doors. Also in the settings was the ability to adjust the rain-sensing range of the automatic wipers. I didn’t know I had them because the stalk icons were decidedly not the Japanese standard I’m used to.
Two Black Cars
On a post 2 weeks ago I asked people to talk me out of wrapping the NB Miata in green. I said I was going to get a sample of the green vinyl, and boy was my mock-up nowhere near the color I got. I said it looked chrome in my rendition, and that was correct. I got one comment on Instagram, a no. I got one text, and it was also a no. And me laying that sample on the car and my own comment to myself was no.
So, I think the Miata will stay black. I mean, I do like it black; it just goes against my philosophy that small cars should be brightly colored so they catch attention despite their size. So maybe I should wrap the black Golf GTI in that green or maybe another color. Here are a set of my wicked ugly mock-ups:
Some internet sleuthing helped me find this image of a GTI wrapped in that Avery color, click on it and you’ll be taken to the Instagram post with more angles.
Gloss Dark Green GTI
I think I’m liking this.
East Salish Pond
This is not the first time I’ve put stickers on the trunk lid. I started doing it in the late 90s, as evidenced by the photo to the right. This is from 2001, and by the time I traded in the ’95 on a brand new ’03, the trunk lid looked more like the one above. Thing is the dealer left the stickers on there when they resold the car. A year or so later the 2nd owner showed up, by happenstance, at a Miata Club event at the local car drive-in. She said that she really liked the stickers and had started adding some of her own.
Back when I was stationed in Meridian, MS, in the early 80s, I was the 2nd shift supervisor for the Avionics Shop. I befriended the supervisor that was in charge of all of AIMD (Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department), and one day he asked if I golfed. I, of course, replied, “Does miniature golf count?”
He was an avid golfer, and the fellow who he used to play with, the Hydraulics Shop supervisor, had rotated out, and he needed someone to replace him. I said, “That sounds like fun, but I don’t have any clubs.” This was not a problem; he still had his first starter set of clubs gathering dust in his garage, and he offered to sell them to me for $25. I went out and bought a golf glove and a dozen balls.
The base had its own 9-hole course that was free for those of us stationed there. The two of us would play a quick round on Wednesdays after lunch and finish up in time to get to work at 3:30. We played for the spring and summer, and then he got promoted and moved to 1st shift. By the end of it I got so I only lost one ball per 9 holes, and it really was fun, but after that the clubs just sat in the closet. When I shipped out the following year, I donated them to Goodwill.
And if you think this post is about me taking up golf, you are sorely mistaken. Look at the photo at the top. It’s not of golf clubs…
The first attempt, just the custom faces, seemed a bit too dark. Next one, just white needles and metal bezel, went too far the other way; it was a bit too light. I got it right this time.
I Got It Right This Time
Completely Custom Revlimeter Gauge Faces – $$$
Used 1999-2000 Complete Gauge Cluster – $$
Jass Stainless Steel Gauge Cluster Bezel – $$
IL Motorsport Chrome Needle Caps – $$
Polished Aluminum Gauge Rings – $$
