In the automotive enthusiast community, everyone wants to be different than one another. Pushing further and further from the ‘norm’, until you’ve either rendered your self ridiculous, or ultimately, still ending up looking just like everyone else anyway.

What is originality? Doing it before someone else? Pioneering an idea into an industry that hasn’t seen a particular trend?
Pitch that question into the mix of your favorite enthusiast message board and you’ll have discussion for days, people bashing each other over the head with keyboards, feelings getting hurt and all for what? Being original? Pfft. You can have it.

For the most part, trends are trends for a reason. Why do BBS RS’s (or in this case, Rotiforms) never go away, even after everyone and their brother has had a set (mind you, in a few different colors)? Because they’re a timeless classic that accents pretty much any make or model you put them on and bottom line, because they look good.
So what’s this have to do with Erin’s 2007 Volkswagen GTI Fahrenheit Edition?
Everything.

Rather than worry about the coolkid scenepoints, Erin and her husband, Richard, built this piece of Volkswagen perfection specifically to their liking, no Vortex approval necessary.
While you’ll find a few of the commonly seen elements on Erin’s GTI, such as the 3 piece Rotiform ROC wheels. At 18×9 et35 and 18×9.5 et29, these are pretty cliche, right? Oh sorry, lets just throw on some crazy pink or green paint and they’ll fit right in. Right?
Moving on…
Air suspension? Pfft, everyone has that! Even lowly blog photographers that write ranty articles about cookie cutter cars… wait, who?
Anyway, Erin and Richard went with Accuair’s ELevel management, AirLift Slam front struts and Slam Specialties rear bags IDF rear control arms.

Erin decided to keep her tank and control system hidden away, allowing room for her luggage and such, since they drive this car to every show they go to. But rather than fill up the spare tire well, the tank and compressors are mounted beneath the car and the manifold hidden away behind the rear bumper. That leaves the electrical bits, which of course, need to be mounted inside the car, but are stored away in a place you’d probably never know to look.
Since Richard is who drives on those road trips, and you know we manly types aren’t so good at stopping for directions, an RNS-510 was only fitting. For those of you who aren’t familiar with VW lingo, the RNS-510 is Volksagen’s OEM touch screen navigation unit.

The original seats in the Fahrenheit are quite comfortable (I have the jetta version in my car), but the dynamic duo wanted something a little different, but didn’t want to go the fully reupholstered route. After a little searching, they had decided on Euro Golf R seats, fitted with alcantara centers. Fortunately, the bolsters on the new seats matched the remaining interior, so no additional upholstery work was needed, for now anyway.

For any enthusiast, there’s always a speed itch that needs to be scratched, so why not a Revo flash? Because ko4 stage 3 upgrade, that’s why. While its easier to drop your car at a shop and pick it up when its done, there’s a lot to be said about doing it yourself. Richard, feeling the same way, tackled the install himself at home, in their garage, just as most of the work on the car was done, sans paint and body.

Its refreshing to find enthusiasts out there who still build their cars based on their own interests, rather trying to please the rest of the automotive community. While trendy tank tops and skinny jeans have deterred Erin and Richard from making the drive to h2oi this year, keep an eye out for them at the rest of the shows, they won’t be hard to spot.

____________________________________________________________________________
Josh Gilmore