91 Cabriolet Etienne Aigner Edition

So I did a thing… this was my valentines present this year. I have a decent bit of auto knowledge, and I'm a real "do it myself" kind of person. I've spent the past few months saving money to build an older Ford F-150, but then I found this thing and I am absolutely in love. It runs pretty good, but the interior and top are shot. I'm gonna get started on it soon and I would like to keep posting progress, but I have a serious question…

I've asked a few people, but none of these people are in the mk1/golf community, but I need to know is it gonna be frowned upon if I totally redo everything custom, or is it worth going for a restore as original as I can. It being the Etienne Aigner edition, would it be sacrilegious to change it entirely, or is this edition treasured or sought after in the community?

Thank you for your time and input!

Welcome along,

Looks like a good car to start with. 

Split decisions on keeping things standard vs custom…. Personally I like standard. There can't be many of those left in good condition can there??? 

welcome to the group mate

A good wet vac will bring those seats up a treat.
The EA is a sought after car.
There was a Mango Green one for sale for $2000
Looked in good shape too.
Your car would of come with a maroon top so it’s been swapped out at some point.


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Those seats are delightfully jazzy! My vote would be keep it original-ish especially as it's a fancy model.

As Chortle says a proper deep clean will work wonders on the interior. If you choose to go custom, definitely try to keep the original parts and any mods reversible in case you want to sell it in the future. As cars get older originality will be worth more.

That said it's your car so you can do what you want

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your new project

Thanks so much for the feedback, I think I will try cleaning the interior first and see how how far I get. Should have a few pics by next week, and we'll go from there.

Haven't done much so far due to work, and also working on another non-VW project. But I've had some time to drive it a bit, and I was getting really "weirded-out". It always seemed to be high RPM on the interstate, but it runs decent other than that. So I decided to do some research and have found out the trans is 3spd? Someone told me its a 3spd, and its fine? That's how it's supposed to be?

But I started looking into engine swaps and I found a 2006 Jetta 2.0t 4dr. I've found plenty of materials describing mk3 swaps, and VR6 swaps, but is that engine technically a VR6?  If not, what exactly is the identity of that engine? I'm not confident enough to cut/create my own mounts, I'd need a kit, but I can't search for one, because I'm unsure of the engine in the Jetta.

I'd also have the entire running donor, so wiring, computer and everything can be used.

Thanks for your time.