Mike Thomas, currently living in Sacramento, CA. I wait tables at Cheesecake factory to pay the bills, hopefully going back to school soon for radiology. It seems like i have too many expensive hobbies. VW’s being the one I enjoy the most, I also love photography and mtn. biking, reading, movies, etc. etc.
How long have you owned this car?
I took delivery of my car on Feb. 23rd, of 2003. So I’ve owned the car for over 7 years. When I first saw the car in the vortex classifieds I thought it was ugly, and thought “why would anyone drive one of those”. then about 2 months later I started looking at it a bit more, and I started to see the potential the car had. At that time no one had really done much with one, and I wanted to see what I could do with it.
Is there anything unique about the history of this car?
This car started off life at Jim Ellis car dealership in Atlanta, GA. Andy, the original owner of the car, is still on the vortex, and I have heard some fun stories about the car. Like how Jim Ellis lent a bunch of the harlequins out during the 1996 Olympic games, so the officials had a way to get around and advertised for the dealership. My car was bought with about 1400 miles on it, after being used during the games.
There are plenty of other stories, the car and I have been through a lot together. Every single panel on the car has been keyed, someone in traffic threw a glass bottle at the car, I drove it from Maine to SoCal. So many good times 
What other cars did you consider?
At the time I was in college and driving an alpine white 91 8v GTI, being a new england car it was rusting out pretty quickly. My parents planted the seed to get a newer car that would be a bit more reliable, after going to waterfest and seeing a few really nice mk3 4door golfs. I did come across a jazz blue 98 cabrio with black leather interior and a 5speed, I really considered buying that car, but the price tag was more than twice what I paid for the harlequin.
What was your objective with this car?
My main goal with this car was to keep it clean, and tasteful while making it my own and honoring the history of the car.
What tuning style would you describe this car as?
I would consider the car OEM+
Who helped you build this car?
It would take a very very long time to list the people that helped me build the car. I don’t claim to be anything close to a mechanic. Sure, I pulled the motor by myself and I can turn a wrench or two. At this point I didn’t really trust myself to put everything back together on my own, so I enlisted the help of friends to help get things back together. Mostly my friend Andrew and I put the motor back together and got the car running (me doing most of the cosmetic work hehe). A few years ago, a long time friend of the family did the body work and paint, a machine shop in Huntington beach helped relocate the alternator, engine shop freshened up the head and installed the cams. Many different people from the vortex have helped out along the way. Its one thing I really love about the VW community, there are always people willing to hang out and help.
What makes your car special?
Its one of 264 harlequin edition golfs ever made. Obviously the color scheme makes it a bit of an attention whore.
What is your favorite part/feature/function?
I’m not sure what my favorite thing about this car is. It’s hard to describe how much fun it is to drive, sure it has a VR under the hood which is a lot of fun. It’s not the fastest thing out there by any means. Most of the fun comes from the reaction you get from people on the road, I would say my favorite function is actually driving it.
Who or what inspired the direction of modifications on this car?
There are a few old school mk3s that inspired some of the modifications and my taste in mk3s. DerTurtle (mk3 people should know this car) being one of them for the fender work. The wheels were picked up from a member on vortex, I also still remember the car that got me into mk3s. I was at one of the waterfest car shows back in the day, probably 2002 or so, and saw a sequoia green 4door golf with a jetta front end dumped on OZ volcano wheels. I would say the rest just came from wanting to keep the car as clean as possible, while still having an OEM feel to it, and honoring the history of the car. These cars were only offered in the north american market, so I kept the NA bumper covers with side markers. The harlequins are base model Golf GLs so I kept the GL tails, and recently switched to single chamber e-codes took keep the look of the GL front end. I also kept the drum brakes in the rear because the golf GLs never got disc brakes out back.
What don’t you like about this car?
There isn’t much I don’t like about the car, I would say one major negative is the fact that it tends to attract the wrong kind of attention sometimes. So far its been keyed twice, had a glass bottle thrown at it, gum spit on it, etc. etc. etc.
What was your biggest obstacle in building this car?
Probably the biggest thing holding back progress is the lack of funds in my bank account hahahaha
On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with the outcome of this project?
Right now i’m at about an 8, but I’m also aware that I’m nowhere near done with the car.
What would you do to the car if money were no object?
If money were no object, the car would probably get torn down to the bare shell for a full respray/undercoating, turbo R32 drive train etc. etc. etc.
Who has been your biggest critic of this project?
There have been a lot of input on what I should do with this car. I can’t count the number of “dude, you should do this” type comments. I really think I’ve been the biggest critic though. I was a studio art major in college, and have thought very carefully about what the car should look like, and the balance of colors.
Who gets to drive this car?
Every once in a while I’ll let close friends drive the car, but only people I really trust and have ridden with to know they are good drivers.
If your car had a motto, what would it be?
LOOK AT ME!
If you had to name your car, what would you name it?
This is a funny question because I have named the car. Her name is Haley. When I was in school, there was a girl in my art history class named Haley, she was a redhead and drop dead gorgeous. To me, redheads that good looking are super rare, the car being pretty rare it seemed to fit at the time.
What one word best describes your car?
Clown
Vehicle Information:
Engine/Trans:
Full OBD2 VR6 swap.
Removed AC, power steering, and SAI
Relocated alternator.
Autotech 262 cams
Autotech HD valve springs, new light weight lifters, guides, etc.
MK4 headgasket
42dd SAI plug
Turn 2 cold air intake
TT chip
Bosal header
TT high flow cat
Magnaflow exhaust system
BFI stage .5 engine mounts with corrado G60 solid rubber trans mount
Freshly rebuilt 02A trans with Peloquin LSD
Autotech billet steel light weight flywheel
Competition stage 4 clutch/pressure plate with 6 puck sprung disc.
Body:
Full respray in factory colors with clearcoat
Rolled and pulled fenders.
Color matched door handles
Shaved washer nozzles on hood
Shaved rear wiper and lock cylinder
Euro rebar and rad support
Euro single chamber golf e-codes
Suspension/Brakes:
Weitec coilovers (sans helper springs)
Corrado G60 rotors
Audi dual piston calipers with mintex redbox pads
fresh shoes/drums in the rear
New control arms with R32 bushings
New ball joints
MK2 manual steering rack, with correct rubber boot from a Canadian golf CL
Neuspeed strut bar.
Interior/Stereo:
Momo Benetton edition steering wheel with matching shift knob.
Black headliner and black passat dome light
Black upper glove box
Sony CDX-GT700HD head unit
JL Audio J2 250.1 amplifier
Infinity Reference speakers
Infinity 1040w 10″ sub in a JL audio stealth box for mk3 golfs