Maxxd.com – Modified and Performance Car News

The concept of karma suggests a spiritual cause-and-effect, and with his chameleonic modified Honda S2000, Scott Butler would probably agree with that notion. He doesn’t make life easy for himself, but his hard work is certainly paying off…

Feature taken from Fast Car magazine. Words Daniel Bevis Photography Daniel Pullen

Us humans, as a species, don’t like to make things easy for ourselves. Sure, there are people who are happy to coast through life and put in the minimum amount of effort to scrape on by, but these folk are far outweighed by those who harbour wide-eyed dreams and creative aspirations; the ones who want to create interesting things simply for the fact that it hasn’t been done before. It’s true of authors, painters, sportspeople, poets, sculptors, photographers, engineers, singers, inventors drawing up madcap schemes in draughty sheds… wherever people are found, the crackle of creativity buzzes through the air.

It would, for instance, have been relatively straightforward for Scott Butler to buy a tidy Honda S2000, fit a few simple off-the-shelf mods, and let that be that. But Scott’s brain isn’t wired that way. Instead, he bought quite possibly the worst S2000 in the country, rolled up his sleeves, and set about turning that ugly duckling into the butterfly you see before you.

Wait, no, the ugly duckling turned into a swan, didn’t it? But the metamorphic shift to butterflyhood seems more apposite here, given the quasi-magical nature of the Chromacoat Golden Night paint which Scott’s S2000 proudly wears, seamlessly phasing through bronze, silver, blue and purple like some demented narcotic discotheque freakout. It flutters past your eyes in a flurry of energy, perfectly complementing the outrageous mods of Scott’s magnum opus. You see, this is a car modded in the classic style; think back to the pages of Fast Car in the late-1990s and early-2000s, it’s that kind of vibe – deliberately visually jarring, beautifully crafted, precision-engineered, harnessing the latest technological innovations to create something overtly bizarre. Something other. Something unique. Because there’s never been an S2000 like this before. And Scott certainly has form with this sort of caper.

“Nothing leaves stock,” he grins. “Every car I’ve ever owned has come into my possession standard and left heavily modified! I started modding cars as soon as I could drive at 17, with a 1993 Vauxhall Corsa 1.4 SRi – every penny I earned went into that car. After that I had a 1.6 Astra, then a 2.2 Astra Coupe which I converted to a 2.0 turbo with a full BTCC body kit. That was followed by an S14a Nissan 200SX, then an Astra Coupe 888, a Škoda Fabia vRS, and then an Audi A4 2.0 TDI quattro before I arrived at the S2000.”

And how did this particular Honda present itself? “My mate Dave found it on Facebook Marketplace and sent me the link,” he explains. “It was the cheapest S2000 in the country! It had no history, and was a previously written-off Cat C car; the arches were rusty and it was just in poor condition all over. But I had to take it, as I wanted one and it looked like a challenge.”

There you go, it’s the human spirit of endeavour in action. Scott basically bought this car because it was bad; on an altruistic level, he wanted to save it. Moreover, with such a long history of quality modifying, he knew he could make something of it. But perhaps he didn’t quite envisage in those early days just how far things would go…

“This car has gone through many changes in my two-and-a-half years of ownership,” he says, with an impressively straight face. “At the outset, it was going to be a track day project with BC coilovers, new wheels and better brakes. But then the rear arches were getting worse with rot bubbles showing though, and I decided to add the Circuit Garage overfenders all round, so it was a trip to my mate Tony’s where we cut all the rot out and bolted on the arches all in one day.” Scott did a couple of show-and-shines with the car in this particular phase of evolution, and picked up some trophies. With this testament to the bodywork skills dictating a different path for the build, he decided to turn it into more of a show car… although still being his daily driver, it was vitally important to also keep it practical throughout. Well, practical-ish.

“I wanted more lows, but where I lived I couldn’t make the coilovers lower,” he recalls, “so after a while I realised I needed air in my life. After some research I decided Air Lift was the ideal kit for me; a quick butter-up text to the wife, and the kit was ordered! My mates and I fitted the kit one Friday night after work – beers and pizza ordered, and four hours later it was done. The car was now sitting on the chassis. Much better.”

With this hugely formula-altering step undertaken, it made sense to keep going. After all, if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it properly, right? So it wasn’t long before the car was treated to a brake upgrade, in the form of mighty K-Sport 8-pots, followed by some Buddy Club taillights and a custom boot install made to look like the Jack Daniels distillery – Scott’s dad helped out in lining the boot with oak planks, and then the air tanks were airbrushed to resemble whisky barrels, complete with copper hardlines. The custom mods were coming thick and fast, and Scott was attending more and more shows with the Honda, garnering ever-more attention, and he always had one eye on the next move. Chewing it over with Tony, a change to another colour was suggested, so Scott fired off an email to Joe at Custom Paints to see what they could do, and he suggested a visit to check out what could be achieved. Scott embarked upon an epic 450-mile round trip just to look at paint colours – which was well worth it, as that’s where he fell in love with the Chromacoat Golden Night hue.

“Over last winter I pulled the car off the road and tore it down, ready to paint,” he continues. “But during each process of taking the car apart the plan changed; it went from a colour change just outside and in the door shuts, to removing the engine and then deciding to tuck the bay! Which was one of the most labour-intensive jobs I’ve done, so much time was lost in there welding and sanding… The wings were sent away with the arches bolted on and returned as one-piece fibreglass items, and I then moved on to the spoiler. That was bolted on the bootlid and didn’t like it there any more, so I had a look about on the internet for ideas and ultimately decided that a chassis-mount was the way to go. But I didn’t want an off-the-shelf part – as with everything else on the car I set about making my own! First it was mocked up in cardboard, then on to plywood, and once I was happy with the shape I gave it to my brother who drew it up in CAD and added the designs in the legs. I got it sent away to be laser-cut out from 8mm ally, and when it arrived a mate got it all bent in to shape and I welded the alloy lengths together.”

There’s a real sense of the intrepid with this project, a general feeling of ‘Why not?’ – Scott’s not afraid to get stuck in and try new things, and his obsession with perfection means that none of this is half-arsed, it’s all finished beautifully. With the bodywork finessed by this stage, he then slathered it all in high-build primer, flatted it all down, and towed it the fifty miles to Tony Guest Automotive for its new spangly disco paintwork. Taking some time off work, Scott was there every step of the way to help out however he could, and after a couple of weeks of very late nights, the makeover was complete. “I then had one week to rebuild the car from an empty shell for its first show,” Scott laughs. “Again, it was many late evenings with friends helping out where they could, and we got it finally finished eight hours before I had to leave for the show. And I came away with an award.”

Talk about commitment, huh? Scott’s building this unique S2000 specifically to his own design, there’s no question of that – he’s adamant that the car be impeccably finished, still practical and usable, and like nothing else out there on the scene. But at the same time, the punishing schedule of shows dictates the rapid progress… and it’s clear that he excels under deadlines, as Scott’s S2000 just keeps on winning trophies. Since this latest evolution of the project, he’s attended another ten shows and taken home five awards, which is a pretty damn good hit-rate. Scott certainly doesn’t make life easy for himself, but the rewards here speak for themselves.

TECH SPEC: HONDA S2000

Styling:
Full repaint in Chromacoat Golden Night, custom fibreglass front wings – 45mm wider than stock with rear cut-outs, front bumper widened, Amuse front lip, custom carbon lower splitter (covering whole front underside), custom carbon canards, Circuit Garage 75mm rear overfenders, custom ducktail bootlid, custom chassis-mount rear spoiler with JA Racing 3D wing blade, vented bonnet, Buddy Club taillights, JDM headlights, JDM rear bumper

Tuning:
F20C 2.0-litre VTEC, AEM V2 standalone ECU, custom carbon fibre long-arm air intake with Injen filter, decat exhaust system and rear exhaust bypass mod, Hel thermostatic 19-row oil cooler, Mishimoto twin radiator, full engine bay tuck and shave, all electrics and battery relocated, 240bhp

Chassis:
8x18in (front) and 9x18in (rear) Bola CSR wheels – refinished in custom bronze, 205/35 (f) and 225/40 (r) Nankang tyres, Air Lift Performance suspension with 3P management, twin Viair 444cc compressors, K-Sport 8-pot front calipers with 330mm discs, Ferodo DS2500 pads, EBC rear discs and Yellowstuff pads

Interior:
Flocked dash and doorcard tops, Spoon half-rollcage, seats retrimmed in grey and black leather with matching doorcards, custom carbon centre console, Mugen carbon shifter, twin 2.5-gallon air tanks – airbrushed by Ces Lackenby to look like old Jack Daniel’s whiskey barrels, boot lined in solid oak,
copper hardlines

Thanks:
“Thanks to my bosses at BG Motor Services for letting me do all the work inside and leave the car inside at all times. A big thanks to Tony at Tony Guest Automotive – this has been a labour of love even from him! Joe, Justin and Saj at Custom Paints for getting paint sent out quick to me whenever I needed it, and helping me whenever I needed it too. Thanks to Ben, Ross, Pete, Paul and Adam for helping me get the car ready in such a short time span. Ces for the airbrushing work on the air tanks. And the wife, for putting up with everything.”

Peacocking in magnificent shape-shifting paint, Chris McIntosh’s modified VW Mk4 Golf R32 pulls together a world of stylistic influences to create the perfect modded ride for modern Scotland…

Feature taken from Fast Car magazine. Words Joe Partridge Photos Original Persona

First impressions count for a lot, that’s true in all walks of life. Strutting into a room in a crisply tailored suit and owning the floor with steely-eyed charisma and affable charm will permanently file you in everybody’s minds as a good egg, whereas a limp and sweaty handshake or an inadvertent mispronunciation of your own name will forever label you as the forgettable type. We as a species like to think we’re pretty on-point with forming accurate spur-of-the-moment character analyses, although this isn’t always the case. Your first impression of this particular Mk4 Golf might be that, yes, this is the zenith of where the SoCal scene is right now; glinting in the brilliant sunlight, this bagged R32 rocks a slick Stateside vibe that could only have come from the anti-Detroit import culture of hot rod-obsessed California – the disco paintwork, the wheels, the stance, it’s pure aftermarket Americana.

And then you arrive at the rear of the car, and note with a raised eyebrow that it’s actually wearing UK plates. All at once, the pieces fall dramatically into place. The order of the universe realigns itself. Because the ubiquity of social media has shrunken the world, and styles are no longer anchored in geography. This sunlit VeeDub perfection cannot be found cruising the Pacific Coast Highway. No, its owner and creator – Chris McIntosh – actually hails from a windblown corner of rural Scotland.

“I’m just a young lad from a small Scottish town, who has always loved modifying cars with his mates at the weekend – can you think of anything better?” he grins. “This is actually only my third car; my first was a one-litre Polo 6N2, which was the car that started my love of modifying. I would work all week, get paid, then buy mods for it! After a while it was time for change, so I bought a Honda Civic EP3 Type R, and the same thing happened – I spent all my money on it! That was wrapped in yellow and was on air suspension, which really upset a lot of Honda fans…”

And so the most recent stepping stone represented a logical progression: the first car was a 1.0-litre, the second was a 2.0-litre, so three-litres completed the pattern, right? Well, 3.2 is close enough, and as it turned out the Mk4 Golf R32 is a car that Chris had always fancied. The purchase price and the insurance costs had thus far been prohibitive, but when he reached the age of 22 a couple of years ago it all started to come together.

“After a bit of searching, I found this car advertised online,” he recalls. “It was a fair distance away, a fourteen-hour round trip, but I knew it was the one. I had to have it! So I made an early start, and by the time I got home that night I finally had my own R32. It was in very good condition, but of course it’d be needing my personal touches to really make it mine…”

This is an abject lesson in sheer bloody-minded logic for all those people online who come out with comments like ‘I’d love to buy your car, if only you were closer’ – it’s not beyond the wit of man to travel somewhere and then travel home again, particularly given that the car itself is a means of locomotion. (The world may be figuratively shrinking, but despite the geographical massiveness of reality it’s still easy enough to actually travel to other bits of it.) And with the perfect car purchased, it’s encouraging and endearing to note that Chris was viewing it as a starting point rather than a box ticked.

Helpfully Chris is a mechanic by trade, and this growing technological skillset works hand-in-hand with a very particular mindset whereby, as much as humanly possible, he likes to do everything on his cars himself. So this is largely a home-brewed build, he’s got the oily fingernails to prove it, and every step of the makeover was personal.

“It means so much more to me to do all the work myself,” he says. “Like fitting the air-ride system and the boot build, that was all done on my mum’s driveway… there was some struggling as you can imagine, with it being on axle stands on the drive. But that’s all part of the fun!”

The careful and painstaking measurements required to imbue the Golf with the ultimate stance were treated to an additional curveball of complexity when it came time to choose wheels. Because, you see, Chris isn’t the type of guy to simply pluck a set of wheels off the shelf having spied a label reading ‘Mk4 R32 fitment’. No, he chose the design and dimensions he wanted, then created all sorts of headaches for himself making them fit. The rims in question are 3-piece CCW Classics, a staggered set of eighteens measuring 9-inches across at the front and an extra inch out back, and that’s a lot of girth to squeeze under a Mk4. The front end’s been helped out by SRS-TEC wings which are a helpful 25mm wider apiece, but it still took some wrangling. “With most of my parts, I just hunt the internet for something I like or that stands out, and then buy it,” he shrugs. “If it doesn’t fit, I think of a way to make it fit; with the wheels I had to add some camber and smaller tyres, and it all worked out just
as I imagined.”

Those wider front wings form just part of the exterior artwork, as there’s been a huge amount of upheaval to create this sun-shiney Californian vibe. The paint is the key lure here, a Jaguar shade by the name of Caviar Pearl, and it’s a brilliant choice which harnesses 21st-century paint technologies to evoke a 1990s colour-shifting aesthetic – it’s halfway between a Global Hypercolour t-shirt and a flip-painted TVR. The eagle-eyed will have spotted a whole world of smoothing: the bumpers, roof aerial, rubstrips, boot handle, it’s all been shaved and perfected in the old-school style, with the look then brought right up to date with a smattering of carbon fibre embellishment. The front grille, wiper arms, mirror surrounds, they gleam with the glossy weave, and it creates a motorsport chic that’s mirrored in the high-end interior treatment. Porsche 996 seats wear sumptuous cream trim, courtesy of Del at Optimus Automotive Trimmers, and the feel speaks of luxury-infused track menace. If it weren’t prowling around Scotland, it’d be ready for playtime at Laguna Seca.

While we’re on the subject of power, just take a look at what’s lurking under the bonnet. VW’s celebrated VR6 in full-fat R32 spec is a formidable thing even in showroom form, but when you shove in a set of Schrick cams and bolt on a custom and completely unsilenced straight-through exhaust system (which, believe us, sounds like the enraged bellowing of the devil himself), you’re just a robust remap away from 289bhp – a situation with which the plucky 24-year-old is understandably pretty chuffed. All of this holistic modding prowess feeds into an intercontinental sharing of ideas that’s been bubbling away for generations: the phrase ‘global village’ has been circulating since the 1960s, when Canadian professor Marshall McLuhan outlined the idea that the instant transfer of information from electrical devices had effectively shrunk the world.

It all came true, his work basically predicted the internet; nowadays it mightn’t occur to you to write a letter to someone in Australia or Japan and send it by air mail instead of just emailing them, or even to look something up in a weighty paper encyclopedia in the local library when the job can be done with two seconds of Googling. The world has never been smaller. And while this state of affairs may seem a little bleak in terms of heritage and tradition, it does at least offer certain benefits to the automotive scene: it’s easier than it’s ever been to connect with like-minded enthusiasts from around the globe and share ideas, source parts, compare and contrast. We live in a hivemind that makes things better for us all.

Don’t go thinking that this is an out-and-out show car, though. Despite the top-flight specs and the flawless finish, this hasn’t simply been a case of Chris absorbing global trends and redirecting them through his own Scottish prism. “Believe it or not, I daily the car,” he assures us. “I do also have a Jeep for carrying parts and that, but most of the time I’m driving the Golf. People are always staring at it when I’m out and about, and when it’s aired out at my work people don’t understand how it works – ‘How do you get over speed bumps?’ and ‘That looks broken’, they’re the two I get most often!” Yep, that’s a human constant which is true the world over. From Arbroath to Adelaide, Los Angeles to Londonderry and Minsk to Micronesia, we’re united in a common pursuit. A SoCal-style Golf in Scotland? Hell, maybe the Californians have been stealing ideas from the British Isles all along…

TECH SPEC: MODIFIED VW MK4 GOLF R32

Styling:
Jaguar Caviar Pearl paint, smoothed bumpers, smoothed roof aerial, smoothed boot handle, smoothed rub strips, SRS-TEC 25mm-wider front wings with smoothed indicators, blacked-out US-spec headlights with twin amber running lights, carbon fibre front grille, carbon mirror surrounds, carbon wiper arms, US-spec mirrors and glass, Euro-spec taillights, Triple R Composites front splitter and sideskirt extensions, VW Sharan 90mm boot badge, gloss black bumper grilles

Tuning:
3.2-litre VR6, Schrick cams, stainless decat manifold, stainless straight-through cat-back exhaust system (no silencers), BMC CDA carbon induction kit, Porsche oil and coolant caps, billet washer cap, painted valve covers and fusebox covers, remap, 6-speed manual, Forge short-shift

Power:
289bhp

Chassis:
9x18in (front) and 10x18in (rear) CCW Classic 3-piece split-rims – with pearl grey centres, polished lips and polished centre caps, 215/35 (f) and 225/40 (r) Achilles tyres, Air Lift Slam Series bags and struts with Air Lift 3P management, Only Charged Dubs camber top mounts, adjustable rear camber arms, chassis notch, OEM-size Brembo pads and uprated discs

Interior:
Porsche 996 front seats, R32 rear bench with centre headrest deleted, seats and gaiters retrimmed in cream with grey stitch by Optimus Automotive Trimmers, home-made air install and boot build with candy apple red air tank, polished hard pipes and OEM carpeting

Thanks:
“Thanks to my girlfriend Sian for putting up with my moods when things don’t go to plan! And my mates for helping me at weekends.”