Really from an old lady
You never forget your first love. That’s why we look back on their first car together with enthusiastic car owners. According to Dad, a Volkswagen Golf GTI was out of the question for the novice driver, so Jerome bought an almost as fast 1.8i without the badges.
You had a poster above your bed of a Ferrari F40 and as a child you were already polishing your father’s Volvo. That love of cars started early?
“From my first breath I was addicted to everything with four wheels and a steering wheel. So when I got my first part-time job at fourteen, I was determined that a car had to come once I was eighteen and finally had that driver’s license. It had to be a Volkswagen Golf.”
Of course you were after a GTI, but Paumen senior didn’t like that? “He thought I was too young and inexperienced to start with a fast Golf, so he put a stop to that. Then I went looking for the best alternative and that was a regular 1.8 with injection. That was the ideal Old Men’s Golf with a little less power and without the frills of a GTI. Nice and inconspicuous and my father could live with it. At the Honda dealer in Maastricht there was a nice example with the right engine, tucked away in a corner of the showroom. According to the seller, it really belonged to an old lady. The TJ-98-ZV, or Very Affordable Until Year 98, went home with me. From that moment on I could start paying for insurance, petrol, road tax and maintenance.”
We’re talking about the 90s, so you’re not going to tell us that Golf was left original.
“No of course not. All the money I earned went directly to the Golf to keep it running. That was quite a challenge in combination with school and a part-time job. When I visited the GTI Treffen in Baarlo for the first time with a too tame and standard Golf, I realized that it could and should be different. Then the party really started. Of course it had to be lowered, got thick bumpers and other rims, a spoiler on the tailgate and a new metallic burgundy red paint. That was it at the time.”
Letting go is difficult, because the Golf has never left?
“That’s right! When I started living together, something practical had to come and in 2005 I bought an Audi A4. The Golf remained suspended in the garage under a cloth and was gradually buried under numerous boxes. But when children came along, it started to itch again after ten years of suspension. I installed rear seat belts and a new battery and after all those years it started as if it had never been away. After a thorough cleaning, the Golf is ready to be pulled through a ring again and only the lowering set, ATS Cup Rims and the sports steering wheel are scars from its fairly rough past. I still think it’s a beautiful car. I am an architect by profession and the squarer the car, the better I like it. I think it’s beautiful that every line and shape has a certain purpose or function. A kind of minimalism in car design. As long as the car doesn’t get in our way, I’ll never get rid of it again. The few cents that the Golf still yields do not outweigh all the memories I have built up with it. The sentiment I get in return is priceless to me. When I go out on a beautiful Sunday, thumbs are pointed up left and right. The VW not only brings back youth memories for me, but for many people. That is wonderful to see.”
