- What happens when one of
Europe's largest automakers does the unthinkable
and decides to listen to their fans?
(upbeat music)
You get this.
This isn't a custom paint job.
This is from the factory.
My question is, why?
We're going ginster yellow hood to
pistachio green hatch, chagail blue rocker panel
to tornado red side mirrors,
bumper to bumper on this Polo Harlekin.
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Unless you're a die hard VW fan
and French language enthusiast like moi self,
you might not even know
about the Golf's little brother, the Polo.
- [Man] The Polo has been around since 1975,
spanning six generations.
Built to be an entry level vehicle
just below the Golf,
it started off as a re-badged Audi 50
that eventually morphed into it's own unique model
creating a cult following in Europe
all along the way.
(upbeat music)
The beginning of the multi-colored Polo
dates all the way back to the 60s.
The VW advertising team released a print ad of a Beetle.
It was their way of saying that the Beetle
has loads of interchangeable parts from previous years.
Not sure why you'd want to advertise that.
Fast-forward to 1995
when VW executives were re-using their old
advertising playbook.
Ferdinand Piech, then chairman of Volkswagen group
came across that old Beetle ad
and decided to use a similar concept
with their new Polo.
VW painted up some of their all new baby Golf's
using the various shades the car would be available in.
Internally they gave them the nick-name harlekin.
(upbeat music)
- [Man] Now, the only harlekin I know
is Harley Quinn
from that movie 'Wolf of Wall street'.
- [Man] But, besides psychopathic clown chicks,
a harlekin is also a (definition in foreign language)
from olden times, like when kings and queens
actually ruled countries.
They were jokers if you will.
They wore fluffy costumes adorned
with multi-colored diamond patterns.
Those colors were green, red, blue and yellow.
That's where the name came from.
- [Man] If you care about spelling at all
harlequin is spelled with a k in German,
we in the states spell it with a q.
The Polo Harlekin was surprisingly a hit.
They built about 20 of the original cars
from various auto-shows
and advertising purposes.
But, in a strange turn of events
the public's response from the car was so welcomed
that VW decided to do a limited production run
of 1,000 cars.
What's even more surprising is those sold out.
So they built an addition 2800 of them.
After a little digging on a German VW Polo forum,
I found out that McDonald's gave away 500 Polo Harlekins'.
The only thing I've ever won from McDonald's is indigestion.
(stomach gurgling noise)
(crowd laughing)
(upbeat music)
If you're wondering what kind of person
buys a car like this?
Well let me introduce you to the man behind this build,
Jamie Orr.
If he looks like a familiar face,
maybe you've seen him on Instagram.
He's been building and restoring all sorts of
VWs' and driving them across the country
to raise money for various charities.
Pretty awesome.
Also James bought his Golf from him.
In the USA we never got the POLO,
but VW did test the waters with the paint job,
on the Golf.
But, they weren't very successful.
Only 264 of them were made.
And they had a tough time getting them sold.
Dealers had so much trouble unloading them
that they would piece together multiple Harlekins'
to sell as a single color.
Some of them even got repainted.
Of the 264 cars built,
Jamie has owned 4 of them.
He's has about a 2% share
in the Golf Harlekin production run.
That's the same percentage of milk I drink.
(female laugh off screen)
So when Jamie got the opportunity
to build a Polo for a show
in the Netherlands,
he jumped at it.
Even better, STC suspension asked to
have the car shipped to the USA
and driven after the SEMA show.
If you're curious how a car that's not 25 years old
is able to come over and not get seized
and crushed.
It's on a one year visitor visa.
Yeah, that's a thing, I didn't know either.
(upbeat music continues)
Now this isn't your typical run-of-the-mill
six-end Polo Harlekin.
It's got some pretty trick little goodies underneath.
- [Man] But, before we get into that
let's talk about the most obvious feature,
the paint.
(upbeat techno music)
What seems like random colored body panels
thrown together here and there
is really controlled chaos.
Using this paint scheme matrix,
you can break down how each car should look.
There are four different base color models
that can be identified by looking at the roof.
The roof color will also be the same as the C-pillars
and the rocker panels.
These were all welded together
before being painted so they will
always be the same on a true Harlekin.
(upbeat techno music)
- [Man] If you were one of the few people to go to
a VW dealer and order a Harlekin
there is no way to specify which color you wanted.
You just got the one you got.
Production process didn't allow
for ordering specific base colors,
and honestly, why would you.
This Polo got a restoration paint job
but it stayed true to the original specific color scheme.
(upbeat techno music)
This thing is sitting on some serious candy
and I'm talking Spree's over here
and not the chewy ones.
We have some BBS RF 009 three piece wheels.
The center caps are custom made in England.
And of course each wheel
is color matched
to one of the four primary base colors,
I love that.
Hiding behind those wheels are
color matched ST suspension coil over springs
and the disc brakes
got updated at all four corners as well.
The wheels also have some nitrogen valve stems
with pistachio green caps on them.
That's attention to detail.
(upbeat techno music)
In the back, Jamie installed a Votex rear wing
that's pure and correct, very cool.
Housed inside the wing is a third brake light.
But the stock rear window
already had a third brake light from the factory
and double third brake lights are a serious faux pas
that's a dead giveaway, my guy.
So the rear window was replaced
with a band new OEM piece of glass
with the brake light deleted.
Some other cool touches include these door handles.
The OG black handles just wouldn't do.
And these period correct narrow cup-side mirrors.
What do you say we check out what's powering
this little pup ster?
(fading in techno upbeat music)
The Polo Harlekin originally came
with a 99 horsepower, 1.6 liter in-line 4.
Jamie thought, it needed a little bit more power baby.
So he took a 1.8T out of a Mark 4 Golf
and squeezed it into the smaller super mini.
The bigger 4-banger got a unitronic stage two
plus tune with a K-O4 turbo
and bigger fuel injectors.
A 3 inch downpipe from the Mark 4
goes into a 2 and a half exhaust
from a TDI
and it does not run a catalytic converter.
(upbeat music)
To make way for the inter cooler,
the power steering had to be taken out
which in a car this small,
I don't think it's actually a big deal.
All and all the engine puts out roughly
60 horsepower per color
or roughly about 250 horsepower.
Not bad for a car that weighs 2,000 pounds
or 1.5 James'.
- [Man] Engine swaps come with all sorts
of engineering challenges
that make builds interesting.
Things like engine mounts.
Lucky for Jamie a guy in Germany
had already figured out all the detailed measurements
for making a set of 1.8T motor mounts that fit in the Polo
about 15 years ago.
Wanting to give credit where credit is due
they engraved the German guy's name
on the mount.
Nice work Paul Michael.
Also, totally unrelated to that generous German fellow
BFI put a (beeped put word) on there.
Gotta love a good (beep) butt.
I have one on my butt.
Let's see that Photoshop Max.
(voice of random guy yelling)
Once the motor was buttoned up
with a BFI lightweight fly wheel
and upgraded clutch.
A freshly powdered coated yellow oil-pan
and an Audi S3 intake,
the engine was ready to be tested.
A week before the car needed to be on the road to Vegas,
it was clear the transmission Jamie had
wouldn't bolt up.
He needed one from a Mark 4, Golf or Jetta.
In true car building spirit he asked for help
in an Instagram post and a follower came though.
Thank you very much.
What does a 1.8T sound like in a Polo?
Let's go inside and find out.
(techno music)
The inside of this car
reminds me of one of those buses
we took on filed trips in high school.
These are the original joker-styled seats,
speckled gray with colored blocks.
They look amazing
and are pretty comfortable too.
- [Man] It's even got some custom made Harlekin floor mats
to match.
The steering wheel is a brand new
old stock Styrro, color matching of course.
It's got a hand-made black forest shift knob
with OEM shift boot and hand brake.
The head unit is a Blakupunkt blue.
And it has a fisher cassette box,
you know, to play piano by candle light
when you're rolling down the street.
I'm exited to start this thing,
let's crank it up.
(engine idling)
(engine revving)
(man laughing)
(engine revving)
I did not know Volkswagen's could sound like that.
(engine revving)
So choice.
Turn it off so you can hear me.
I was not expecting that from this tiny little car.
That's probably one
of the best 4-bangers I've ever heard.
That sounds amazing.
(techno music)
It took Jamie 5 days to restore the car in Europe
before it made its way up to the States.
It then took another eight days
to finish the build just in time for SEMA.
I respect the hell out of this build.
The Harlekin already stands out of the crowd.
But what Jamie has done is built a car
that stands out in a crowd of cars that stand out in a crowd
not many people can say that.
Follow Jamie's rush to SEMA
on his YouTube channel Jamie Orr
or for more pics @XJamieXOE on Instagram.
Follow us, @donutmedia.
Follow me on @NolonJSykes.
And follow James @JamesPumphrey.
We miss you dude, be nice.
See you next time.
(upbeat techno music)