Poloaded

''Everything in moderation, including moderation'' - a quote by Oscar Wilde that rings so true when it comes to car modification. Too often have I seen guys purchasing goods left, right and centre and doing mods all at once. While this is all good if you have put some thought into it and did your homework, but (yeah there is a but) at time's I feel going about it this way loses all the excitement of modifying your pride and joy. I for one would've been bored if I did all the changes at once, so from one car guy to another, I say to you...''Always leave room for improvement so you don’t grow stagnant with your car''

Now that the sermon is out the way, let’s get back to our latest feature. As mentioned earlier, this is exactly how Romeo Barends approached his ’99 Volkswagen Polo 6N, gradually doing things over the last 7 years but at the same time keeping his goal in sight. As you can tell from the exterior, lot of inspiration was drawn from our European counter parts; clean and arrow straight looking body lines with small tweaks that will go unnoticed at first glance. Take the front bumper for instance; I didn’t notice it at first, but it underwent some plastic surgery. It’s been shaved and flushed to rid it of its fog vents, a very nice “face-lift” I might add. A pair of angel eyes replaced the stock headlights and got the ever popular HID treatment as well. The obligatory tilt and slide sunroof is in play too and a dash of red laminex on the tail lights to finish off the exterior. Like I said, clean and simple.

You might have noticed the WheelWhores sticker located on the rear bumper, it’s there for a reason. Romeo is somewhat of a wheel junky, having quite a few sets he scoots around on. Just the past couple of months he went through 4 or 5 different wheels ranging from Schmidt’s, BBS's and Helios just to mention a few. I was surprised to see him at VW Campfest this year where he mentioned a new set in the works; those would be his current offering. A pair of HRE 454's Vintage Series coming in at 17x7 et 30, which are tightly wrapped in a set of 185/35 Nankang rubber, sort of reminds me of the ones the Lamborghini Countach sported a while back. As far as the suspension goes, he had a pair of JOM Blueline coilovers ordered and fitted by Amish Raga from Euroworx, and that brought the entire package together to give the car an almost floating effect as it screams pass you on the streets of P.E...and by scream, I literally mean just that...SCREAM!!!

The sound this car emanates is all thanks to what's hidden under the hood. As I mentioned previously, Romeo owns the car for roughly 7 years, strategically improving on it as he went along, nothing out of the ordinary just something to keep him smiling along the way. Thanks to the work of Abdul Davids, it started out as a 1.6i, but then went a step further and had a 2.0 short block chucked in. That step was short lived as the bottom end saw some mods in the form of 82.5mm 2.6 Caravelle pistons along with a forged steel crank borrowed from a 16v. An upgraded oil pump and a sport Windage tray was added for peace of mind and at the time it still ran the stock U-flow head together with the stock mp9 setup, but when boredom struck not long afterwards, a plan was hatched to ditch the U-flow in favour of its crossflow equivalent borrowed from an Mk4. It got flowed and ported for the 288 Estas cam and Vernier pulley that was about to be dropped in. A Rowland intake was sourced and also got some love in the flowing department. Being a crossflow head, I don’t think there's anything better suited for it than a pair of ITB's, the sound they make always put the most evil smile on my face whenever I hear them. Romeo’s choice was spot on with a pair of Toyota 20v ITB's with 100mm trumpets that's ready to suck in ample amounts of fresh air when his foot stomps the pedal, and spent gasses make their way out into the atmosphere via a 57mm TNT branch and exhaust system. The last piece of the puzzle ties everything together in the form of a dictator management.

His mods sound very minimal, something you'll often hear at a drag meet, but it's when you pop the hood that it dawns on you how much thought was put into it. You see, Romeo is part of Xtreme Vdubs down in the Bay and from my personal experience with them in the past one thing is clear, these chaps like neat and tidy engine bays, with more chromed and polished parts to blind Stevie Wonder. It was only fair on Romeo’s part to follow in his crews’ footsteps and get a few (a lot) parts polished and chromed from a fellow member called Lennie. With all these sparkly bits in place, it makes for a real treat on show days when the hood gets popped and you get stared down by those trumpets looking as if they might have been pulled off an old battleship. The engine bay received its fair share of presentation points on the day of the shoot, as everything was neatly tidied up by doing a semi wire tuck. What amazed me the most was how much the crossflow conversion opened up the engine bay, giving you the freedom to have a good look at what’s crackin’. Battery covers, oil catch cans, tappet cover and all other ancillaries beautifully polished or chromed. With the new rage of having smoothed out engine bays and wire tucks, I find it refreshing as to how this engine bay looks, it still keeps its identity to some extent, in that you can clearly identify parts and can clearly see the work that went into it...semi hardcore...semi posh, with still room left for improvement if the need arises.

For a car I’ve seen at numerous shows and events, I never really took note of his interior, maybe it was a case of always being overwhelmed by his exterior or motor or even his wheel choice at any particular time. Whatever the case, that changed on the night of the shoot when he asked me to start up the motor. Usually I’ll just stick my hand through the window and turn the key, but not this time around. As I turned the key I was greeted with a little cool blue gauge and audio equipment that lit up the interior. Being the curious person I am, I immediately popped the door open to get a better look inside. Yip...I was sitting in neatly upholstered tan leather seats, while the engine was dancing to its off-beat rhythm produced by the cam. In front of me was a sporty little racing steering wheel with a Momo emblem on it, ''nice piloting tool for this little monster'' I thought. To my left, a stock shifter for grabbing those gears when your foot is planted on the OEM VW accelerator. ‘‘Function over form''...spot on. Just above the shifter is the auto gauge I mentioned that monitors the oil pressure. The longer I sat the more I liked being in the driver seat, everything was so simplistic, yet performed its duties perfectly. As for the audio, this car was loaded up good and proper; upfront is a Pioneer in-dash DVD head unit with matching pioneer splits in the front doors. To get the bass notes going in the back are 2x12'' pioneer subwoofers with 2x8'' limpids just above them, all the gear gets amplified via 2 Star Sound amplifiers...again nothing fancy, just enough to keep the man smiling.

Just like that the fun came to an end. A very straight and simple polo, loaded with a ton of attitude. As said in the opening paragraph, everything in moderation, and I think we all can take a chapter from Romeo’s build. I for one took in a lot from this feature; it constantly evolves, growing from strength to strength. What’s next for the polo we surely don't know, but whatever gets done to it, will definitely be a step up from its current state. So I’ll end off with another quote ''Rome wasn’t built in a day''...or should I say ''Romeo's polo wasn’t built in a day''?  

Photos: Sherwin Hambridge

Words: Cheslyn Bellairs

Video: Duane Baatjes