It’s one of the most widely known Golfs in the UK, possibly the world. One picture on a popular social networking site prompts instant responses from all over the planet, but what spurred Mr Matthew Balls to go back in time?

Words & Pics: James Wallace

Crazy yet inspired – just two of the words that sum up this car perfectly. They say there’s a fine line between insanity and genius and few would argue that what we have here is a mixture of both.

Much like Senna with a F1 car, god blessed a select hardcore of grafters with the ability to drop jaws with a MIG welder. Such individuals will probably never admit to being that good at their given niche whilst amongst company, but deep down we’ve all got mates who make things we simply can’t do look all too easy. Swines!

Matt Maitland patiently waited years before kick-starting this show-winning Mk4 Golf project, but having picked up an unexpected cabinet-full of silverware he reckons the wait was worthwhile...

Words: Alex Grant  Pics: Si Gray

When it comes to building cars, there’s a lot to be said for willpower. If you’ve got the patience to do it, the time you put aside picking up ideas, maturing your tastes and saving your cash for that project and parts you’ve always wanted is usually a good way to end up with something epic when you get to the end of the road.

Just ask Matt Maitland. No stranger to the world of car shows, he’s been on the scene for years as part local club Street Legal. But while mates put cash into cars that have come and gone, Maitland bided his time and waited for the right one to come along. And when it did, he knew exactly how he wanted it to turn out.

“I’ve had bits and bobs before,” he says, “Nothing much though, I’ve always thought I wanted to save the cash to do a car properly. I bought the Golf when I graduated from Uni, because I finally had the money from working.”

Ultra rare, ultra shiny custom BBS RS rims are just the icing on the cake with this throttle-bodied valver Mk1

Words: Matt Zollo | Pics: Lennart Dijkstra

If you’ve been to any major European show over the last few years (and why wouldn’t you) and have more than a passing interest in Mk1s (definitely why wouldn’t you) then you might well have drooled over this particular, particularly gorgeous example already. It may live across the sea and over the other side of the Netherlands, in Gescher, Germany, but that hasn’t stopped owner, Dirk Wierczeyko, from showing off the car whenever and wherever the opportunity arises, Edition38 in rarely sunny Northampton included.

This is for a good reason, of course, not simply a flagrant act of automotive ego massaging – Dirk uses the Golf as a promotional tool for his company, Felgenpoliererei Gescher. Felgenpoliererei is a wheel refurb business (Felgen = Rims; Poliererei = Polisher) that breathes new life into any and every kind of wheel (within reason), but anyone who knows Dirk will know that he loves his split-rims, so that’s what the company specialises in and what he uses this Golf to demonstrate. He’s been doing it for six years now and during that time has only ever used Mk1s to exhibit his products.

The 1970s may have given us flares, ugly buildings and some of the worst music ever, but thankfully also something worthwhile in the shape of the B1 Audi 80... Trevor Brady’s reworked his ’73 barn-find to create an absolute stunner

Words: Sarah Harrington-James | Pics: Arkadiusz Szturc 

When I think of barn-finds, the first image that conjures up in my dizzy little head is of rusty 2CVs caked in a thick unsightly layer of dirt, straw and chicken sh*t. Thankfully this barn-find in question had nothing to do with moving the French peasantry on from horse and carts. Instead, it was an ultra rare and totally original 1973 B1 Audi 80 that had been owned and stored for 20 years by an old lady after her husband’s death. It was only when she passed away that her family, on seeing the garage falling down around the Audi, decided to sell it on as a restoration project. The stuff of dreams no less!