Arctic Wind, a 1984 Scirocco, was purchased new from Kingston Volkswagen in December 1983. The price was $12,875.00 (Can$). As Canadian versions were highly appointed from the factory (1.8 litre fuel injected engine, close ratio transmission, anti roll bars, sport seats) , the only option requested was a rear window wiper. At the time it was determined that air conditioning was unnecessary and Joe could not sit comfortably in a car equipped with a factory sunroof. Of course a fairly good Blaupunkt Car Stereo was immediately added.

Once the heat of the summer arrived, it was realized that a grey car with a black interior was a heat magnet. A pop-up sunroof that was installed late spring helped somewhat, but perhaps omitting air conditioning was not such a great idea! As time progressed, many other parts and accessories were tried, sometimes kept, sometimes discarded. These included Bosch fog lamps, Hella European spec headlamps, a front 'bra', and eventually, a MOMO steering wheel.

In July of 1989 we attended our first Volkswagen event, Kingston Bugfest, held in Kingston, Ontario, where we won First Place in the Water-cooled class. At this time the car, yet unnamed, had a Kamei front spoiler and side skirts, Euro headlamps, fog lamps and a "bra". The license plate was relocated to the rear bumper and an inset was placed between the tail lamps that displayed the car’s marque. While at Bugfest, Joe saw what other people had done to customize their air-cooled cars and decided that "if they can do it, so can we, but better". The prevailing attitude at most VW shows of the time was that only Air-cooled cars were true VWs. I took it upon myself to show that a Water-cooled car could show the same level of detail and deserved to be show alongside Beetles et al.

During the winter of 1989/90 we completely revised our car in preparation for attending regional Volkswagen events. Virtually everything was modified, painted, or replaced. All the while, we still used the car everyday as it was our only vehicle.

The exterior received a complete and dramatic revision. We removed the , turn signals, bumpers, rims, tires, rear spoiler, antenna and even the pop-up sunroof.

Original Equipment European specification headlamps, turn signals and bumpers along with a factory European Scirocco GTX body kit were installed and the body parts were colour-coded for the 'Euro Look'.

The suspension, although good from the factory, was improved with the addition of larger anti-roll bars, and lower stress bar. Tokico Illumina adjustable shock absorbers, Eibach progressive rate springs and 14" Momo Aries road wheels completed our suspension modifications.

Interior ventilation was significantly improved by replacing the pop-up sunroof with a Donmar Skyroof, a sliding glass type. A Fuba 16V antenna, along with a larger late model spoiler, rescued from an injured Scirocco, completed the exterior.

Not to be forgotten, the interior was next. The front seats were replaced with Flofit Sport Seats and the rear bench was re-upholstered in matching fabric by Olympic Auto Glass of Kingston, Ontario. A Momo Monte Carlo steering wheel and matching shift knob also helped to improve driving pleasure. Coloured gauge faces added a subtle touch and the stereo was replaced with a simple, yet inspiring, Blaupunkt system.

We drove to five VW events in 1990, winning four First Place and one Second Place trophy in our class. We were honoured when our car was featured in the December 1990 issue of VW & Porsche Magazine. It was for this article that the name "Arctic Wind" was conceived. As Scirocco means a hot dry desert wind, a Canadian Scirocco could only be named Arctic Wind.

Motivated by our successes showing the car in 1990, we decided to improve it still further. Significant upgrades were designed and implemented and we made plans to compete at as many VW events throughout Eastern North America as we could realistically attend.

The winter of 1990/91 was a busy one! Arctic Wind's exterior was smoothed, sanded, cleaned up and had 37 holes filled, in preparation for a factory specification paint job. The rear emblems were removed and the holes filled. The aftermarket insert between the tail lamps along with the black plastic piece behind the license plate were removed, the extra holes filled and the plate returned to its original location.

The factory stone guards ahead of the rear wheel arches were removed, the holes filled and stone guard paint used to provide protection. The factory antenna hole on the front fender also disappeared.

The original pewter grey colour was retained. We had discovered that, along with being an excellent colour, (a lot less noticeable to Police when exceeding speed limits) it was never available on US spec Sciroccos. This makes the car unique when shown south of the 49th parallel. All body work and painting was done by Frontenac Auto Body of Kingston, Ontario.

The engine compartment was cleaned, and parts painted or polished to improve their appearance. Solder Seal and Gunk products helped with the cleaning. PlastiKote Paints and Autosol polish were used to detail and highlight the engine compartment.

We were able to mount two full size batteries in the engine bay, something that we were told was not possible. One battery operated most of the vehicle's basic requirements, while the other is for the stereo and relay operated 600 watt headlamps.

The Blaupunkt stereo was improved dramatically by increasing power and incorporating centre channel effects. The trunk was boxed in and sub-woofers were added.

The suspension was not changed as the components previously installed had been found to work as well they should. The brakes, though, were improved by cross-drilling the front discs and utilizing Autotech stainless steel brake lines.

After the 1991 show season was over, we had driven 17,555 kilometres to attend 16 events. In the various Water-cooled classes we entered, we had won 13 First Place, three Second Place trophies, a Best of Show, a Best of Show Water-cooled, three Best Engines, as well as trophies for Best Paint, Interior, Display and Longest Distance - a total of 28 trophies. To say we had a successful year was an understatement!

The Best of Show was especially important to us because it was won at the largest VW event ever held in Canada, the Great Canadian Bug Show. Nearly 200 cars had entered and judging was done by expert employees of Volkswagen Canada. It was the first time that a Water-cooled powered car had won a Best of Show at a major East Coast event.

Our plan had been to retire the car at the end of that year. We had finally acquired a second VW in August, a 1986 Golf, and another 1984 Scirocco for Joe in December. However, a high compression 1.9 litre European Audi engine was made available to us if we wanted it. We had no logical reason to refuse it, so we were off again, another Canadian winter toiling in a unheated garage!

To properly utilize the engine with its 11:1 compression ratio, we needed a knock sensor system. We had two choices; retrofitting a factory system with its myriad of wires and complexities, or a J"S Electronics Safe Guard. We were finally able to take our time working on the car that winter because we did not have to drive it daily and so we took full advantage of this luxury.

The old motor was removed, the engine bay had its undercoating stripped off and Joe detailed everything possible. The new motor had all the external components from the old one bolted to it, a new Luk clutch was fitted and the transmission attached.

The sold lifter head had a European GTi camshaft installed and the intake manifold was ported, polished and matched to an Audi large bore throttle body. Spent gases are routed through a Supersprint header and exhaust system.

An external, thermostatically controlled, 10 row oil cooler keeps the Pennzoil at safe temperatures and the sump has been baffled to prevent loss of pressure during spirited driving. An extra 1/2 litre of oil capacity was realized by using a Passat G60 engine's metal oil pan gasket. The pistons are cooled by oil squirters positioned below.

After installing the motor, we tuned it by ear so we could drive the car to our mechanic and have the engine hooked to an analyzer. It was discovered that we had driven the car to the workshop with 24 degrees of initial advance! (There was no discernible roughness to the engine - the Safe Guard had worked as it was designed to.) The engine is now set with the distributor advanced 12 degrees.

There is no chassis dyno available locally so our only way of testing has been through timed runs and by comparing against other vehicles. We are now as fast as a 2.0 litre 16V GTi. Comparing our car's times against data recorded prior to the engine change shows a reduction of over three seconds on our 0 to 100 kmp/h (0-62mph) times.

An engineer at Volkswagen Canada Remanufacturing (the people who assembled our motor) estimates power at the crankshaft to be somewhere between 135 and 140 hp, a minimum 40 per cent increase from stock configuration. Fuel mixture has been set and constantly monitored using the Safe Guard's optional oxygen sensor readout.

Now that our car had significantly more power, we needed a commensurate improvement in braking. After searching out the options available to us, we found an honest auto wrecker who was interested in helping us. At Shelly's Foreign Auto Parts, Sewickly, PA, we obtained a complete 16V Scirocco four wheel disc brake system from a donor car.

When we say complete, we mean complete. Excluding the hard lines everything was transferred. Master cylinder, brake reservoir, brake booster, proportioning valves, calipers, discs, pads, backing plates, bearings, stub axles, handbrake lines, brake light switch and even the clutch/brake pedal assembly were replaced by the 16V parts that were reconditioned (by us) or with new parts when required. Four new discs were cross-drilled in left and right patterns.

We felt that the suspension, as good as it was, needed updating as well. Autotech Sport Tuning Components front (19mm) and rear (25mm) anti-roll bars coupled with front upper, lower subframe and rear stress bars replaced the previously installed upgrades. The Tokico Shocks (normally set at No. 2 front, No. 3, rear) and the Eibach springs are giving no indication that we will need to use their lifetime warranty.

Continental (195/50-15) are mounted on Momo IDEA wheels (7 X 15"). With the advances in tire technology in recent years, it is now possible for us to use 15" rims and tires even with the cratered roads to be found in this part of North America. Keeping the occupants tied safely to the seats are Schroth Rallye 3 harness belts.

Arctic Wind handles amazingly. It is now possible to take certain highway on or off ramps at four times the recommended speed (although no one never exceeds speed limits, do they?)

While the stereo was more than adequate, we nevertheless replaced it. The new system was designed around current top of the line Blaupunkt components. The head unit, tuner/cassette/CD controller (Washington SQR 49) was linked to the boot-mounted CD changer (CDC M1) via a fibre optic link.

Two amplifiers were used. The first, a BMA 5350B, used in five channel mode (4 X 50W + 1 X 150W) to drive a pair of 4 X 6" plate speakers (CL 4665P) mounted in the doors, a pair of 4 X 6" co-axial speakers (RL 4625) mounted at the rear and a pair of 10" subwoofers (ACS 1021) mounted in a custom made isobaric enclosure.

The second amplifier (BPA 230B) is used in 60W mono mode for centre channel information derived from an Audio Control ESP-3 image amplifier. Controls for the ESP-3 are mounted in the C-Box cassette holder mou8nted in the lower console.

The centre speaker (also a CL 4665P) is mounted where the main dashboard vent was. The entire system was designed for listening to music in the car, not to impress people walking down the street (tuned for jazz, not for boom) and sounded amazing.

Another significant feature of the installation was that Joe moved the head unit up in the console from its stock location and placed a three gauge layout below. Not only can the stereo be accessed easier, but it is less likely to be hit during aggressive gearshifting maneuvers.

All components were displayed in the boxed trunk compartment, along with a fire extinguisher, first aid kit and visible spare.

Other interior modifications included a velour headliner, dash cover, a new Momo Corse steering wheel with matching shift knob and colour matched Hettel 100 handbrake lock and shift boot.

Vehicle security was not forgotten. The car is protected by an alarm with voice module, multiple pin switches, shock, motion, current, glass breakage, and microwave modules. Armor Door Plates protect against pry-in attempts and the handbrake lock keeps the rear wheels stationary to prevent towing. Secure Roues wheel locks protect the wheels and tires.

At the conclusion of the 1992 show season, Arctic Wind had been driven to 17 shows. We won 16 First Place class awards, one Best of Show (Overall), three Best of Show (Water-cooled) awards, three Best Engine (Overall), four Best Engine (Water-cooled), and two Best Interior - a total of 35 awards!

We were also awarded a gold medal for accumulating the most points overall and Water-cooled Division Champion in the 1992 Ontario Points Series For Show Volkswagens. To cap a perfect season, we were honoured with a feature article in the February 1993 issue of VW TRENDS Magazine. Following closely was another feature article in the April ’93 issue of VW Motoring, a British publication.

Without a doubt, Arctic Wind can be described as one of the premier water-cooled cars in the North East of North America. This is especially true since we continue to drive it to all the shows we attend and all of the work was done by us except paint, upholstery and assembling the engine. We are very proud of our efforts and results.

Most people would have been satisfied and stopped there. Joe, however, felt that there was room for improvement. One noticeable effect of showing Arctic Wind was that many other water-cooled enthusiasts were adopting many o0f the changes he had accomplished to their cars. The greatest compliment came when a entrant at one show appeared with a virtual carbon copy of Arctic Wind down to the same detailing concepts. Keeping ahead meant drastic changes.

The engine was again removed and every aluminum part was hand polished to a chrome like appearance. A new G60 engine valve cover was also polished and installed. A custom made throttle linkage mount was fabricated. The plastic air inlet tube was replace with a custom fabricated 2" aluminum piece. Created from three pieces it replicates the original configuration. Arctic Wind had been trimmed with red as the primary accent colour. This was changed to blue. Easy you say? Every piece bolted to the chassis was removed to be painted. This included the entire front suspension, the rear axle etc. A lot of work but work equals results.

The Flofit seats were pulled, the centre portions reupholstered in grey velour as were the rear seats. The console and many other items were given the velour treatment as well. This included the shift boot and the hand brake boot.

The results were as seen in the January '94 European Car magazine.

The stereo needed upgrading, partly due to the fact that our garage had been broken into and the Washington had been stolen. A new Blaupunkt Tucson head unit and new changer installed. The trunk was completely redone with a pair of new Blaupunkt Velocity 10" subs in a new enclosure (one side made from ¾" Plexiglass).

The show schedule in ’94 was not as hectic, in fact in most cases, the car was shown in non judged classes or as part of manufacturer’s displays. After winning nearly 100 trophies, it was fun to attend shows and act as an expert judge instead.

Arctic Wind has been semi-retired for a few years now, but who knows what the future may hold. You may just see it blowing by you on a highway.

While Joe has handled the majority of the work himself, credit must be given to Rick Hamady. His advice, assistance and friendship has helped to make Arctic Wind what it is today.