The world of content creation is a fickle one. If it’s not new or exciting, generally people don’t want to know. So having concentrated on his Mk3 Golf estate for a few years on his YouTube channel (Project 7), 32-year-old Lewis Fearon found himself at the point of needing a new project. But while your Adam LZs and Cleatus McFarlands might have cash to burn, when you’re an everyday person like the rest of us, you soon come to understand that new projects come with new bills.

“I put up on my story about looking for a project car. I was considering E36s, old Audis, something different” Lewis tells us “However I was offered a Mk1 or a Mk2, and having always remembered the Auto Finesse Mk2 with the BBS kit, I knew the Mk2 was the car to have.”

While the Mk2 was to be the new YouTube channel project and also a platform to show his trimming skills, it still had to perform light daily duties, so the modifications were selective, starting slowly with a de-badged grille and dropping the existing coilovers to a more acceptable height. With the car in his possession, the first thing was to get it road legal. Having been off the road for almost 10 years, surprisingly all it needed was a wheel bearing and a track rod end to keep the testers happy. Suddenly it was obvious that Lewis had found himself a great base to start with. With this in mind, it made the decision to go all in on the car a little bit easier. So naturally, the hunt was on for a BBS body kit, that Auto Finesse car still niggling away at him.

“I found one in London, but the guy was being really awkward with ULEZ and I wanted him to meet me outside of the city, but he wouldn’t, so I passed up on the kit. Then I realised, “What if I don’t find another one?!” and started to panic, so the hunt was back on.” Luckily he remembered someone else had one for sale, so he messaged the guy and drove immediately to collect it so he would not miss another opportunity. Sometimes it’s best just to act fast!

Having the kit was incredibly important to Lewis’ vision, to the point where he told us “Without the kit, this wouldn’t have been the build I wanted, and I probably would have ended up selling the car. I couldn’t give up on it”. With the kit now acquired, it was time to see about having it fitted, and a twist of fate solved that issue. Lewis admits the car’s paint was pretty rough and looked like it had a DIY respray. He knew this was never going to cut it for the vision he had”

“I grew up reading PVW and knew one day I wanted to build a nice show car” claimed Lewis, “So, I thought f**k it and I just ended up doing it. You only live once, money is there to be spent and I’d rather it went on a car that I’m proud of than be wasted!”.

Throughout life, you come to realise that with cars, they always seem to have a funny way of creating a ripple effect. It turned out that the guy who bought Lewis’s old Mk3 estate was a painter. “He bought my Mk3 because of the interior. So without me doing the interior, he wouldn’t have bought the car, which in turn means I wouldn’t have found him to paint my Mk2. It was a weird interaction”. With a plan made and the car now at Lookback Classic and Custom, James was instructed to fit the BBS kit, mount the Corrado rear bench, create a chassis notch, remove the rear wiper and washer nozzle, remove the spare wiper hole in the scuttle panel and give the car a fresh coat of Alpine White.

At this point, you might be thinking the next move for Lewis was to drop the car off to a trimmer to sort the interior, but no. While he might be a time served mechanic, Lewis wanted to pick up another trade that he could use to further the build of the car.

I had six different material samples pinned to the seats just to visualise what I wanted

Painting and fabrication were both ruled out due to needing big areas to work in and coming with large overheads, however trimming popped into his head and the idea stuck. Realising he all he needed was a sewing machine, a spare bedroom and some training, a plan was put in place.

“I booked three weeks off work, went on this insane crash course, spend a thousand pounds on hotels alone and made the three-hour trip each weekend in my LHD Jetta coupe with no heater. It was ropey!”.

While the car was still at the painters, a pair of Recaros from a Mk1 Astra GTE were added to the parts pile along with a Corrado rear bench, a Lupo 3L steering wheel, a Votex centre console and an up! handbrake surround.

“The Recaros were a Facebook marketplace find for £80” Lewis tells us proudly, “They came with all the plastics, perfect badges, they were period correct and just worked. It shows if you look in the right places, do enough research, you’ll be surprised how little you can pay for something”.

Once all the parts were in place, it was time for Lewis to put his skills to the test. But the most difficult part was, where to even begin.

“I took me two months to even finalise a design” he says smiling “Because I had so many ideas, the hardest part was settling on one! I had six material samples pinned to the seats just to visualise what I wanted”. Once locked in though, Lewis got to work, and nothing was safe. The seats, door cards, dash, centre console, headliner, sunvisors, pillar trims, parcel shelf, gear gator boot build and air tank all got treated to a fresh covering of light grey Harris Tweed. While it might read like total overkill on a car, it works so well due to the quality of the work and how it complements the fresh Alpine White body work. While that paragraph might be simple to read, the work itself was far from simple. “I’ve got 200 hours in that interior” laughs Lewis. “Trimming is like paint though, and the finish is in the prep work. It’s so labour intensive!”.

Thinking back to his decision to learn a new trade, “When you go to a show, everyone’s had a change of wheels, everyone’s had a change of suspension of some form, but not everyone has had their interior trimmed. It’s often an overlooked part of the build”. So, with that said, it’s obvious he made the correct choice of trade and used it to stand out. Looking at the interior, as far as making a statement about his work, Lewis is somehow shouting from the roof tops while also remaining classy. Something that is no easy task.

As we all know though, none of this works without having the complete package, and having the car sitting right is a must. The old coilovers that came with the car weren’t cutting it for Lewis so “There was a guy on Marketplace selling a full Mk2 Airlift kit for a great price. It wasn’t the right time to buy it however I knew if it didn’t buy it now, it would cost me more money in the long run”. So naturally it was added to the ever-growing list of parts for the car. With literally days to spare before Ultimate Dubs 2024, the Mk2 made it back to Lewis. However, being overjoyed with the new look of the car was short lived with the realisation that the car still had no interior fitted and the show was just around the corner.

I’ve got 200 hours in the interior. Trimming is like paint – it’s all in the prep work!

Cue some obligatory late nights that always seem to be part and parcel of these builds, and the car was ready for the show.

“I was putting the seats into the car at 10:30 the night before Ultimate Dubs” remembers Lewis, “I was working full time too, so it was a mad rush to do it all!” Now sitting tight over some 90s style BWA wheels in white thanks to the help of that bargain Airlift kit, Lewis and the Mk2 were ready for the big reveal at UD 2024.

Standing back listening to people talk about the interior had to be a highlight for Lewis after all the work. He tells us “It doesn’t validate you, but it’s so nice to hear people compliment it, point it out and photograph it. I still feel like I’m lucky to be accepted for shows yet I’m coming away with awards so it’s nice to help fight off the imposter syndrome”. In our eyes, if this car doesn’t fight off his imposter syndrome, then nothing will!

With the car starting out as a daily driver, you might think that it has become a trailer queen or something of an ornament to clean and only take out to shows but thankfully that isn’t the case. “I use the car anytime I possibly can” he says “After it came out of paint, I was actually still daily driving it but I had to think about the fact that something could happen to it and if I want a respectable show car, I can’t use it every day, but I do still use it and enjoy it. Just not over winter!” With 2024 ending, Lewis knew it was time to add a little more to the recipe. Which leads us to what he is confident was the most difficult part of the build.

“I bought a set of Lincoln Town car wheels in 2015. They were 30 minutes from my house, so it was perfect. They had already been redrilled to 5×100, however, even owning two 5×100 cars, they didn’t fit on either. I was so stubborn though that I decided because they’re so rare in the UK, I wasn’t going to sell them” The wheels survived multiple house moves and whatever life threw at them, so it was almost as if they were waiting for the right car.

“As soon as I bought this car, I knew the wheels were going on it no matter what” But this was not going to be a simple bolt on process. Remember they’re 5×100 and that was not going to work with the Mk2.

“I didn’t want to redrill them twice, so like the BBS kit, I somehow managed to find another set!”

It was a very long process to get them on, but I was so proud in the end of how they looked

To make them work, the wheels went through so many pairs of hands. The inserts were machined by an engineering shop, another person welded them in, they went back to the engineering shop to be redrilled, then they had the backs of them welded up which were then machined down again to the desired dimensions and then finally they could go off to get powder coated. After so much work, the refurb of the wheels should have been the simple part of the process, however…

“I gave the wheels to a guy with a really good reputation for refinishing wheels. It turns out he farms out his powder coating, and when they did it, one of the wheels came back with a finish like rice pudding!”

After an argument, Lewis cut his losses, and the next move was to find a single replacement wheel and start the welding, machining and drilling process all over again! Clearly Lewis is made of tough stuff because that is enough hassle to put anyone off!

“It was a very, very long process to get them on, but I was so proud in the end of how they looked. It had been a 10 year idea and I had the self-belief to not give up on them!” beams Lewis. To back up this proud moment, the first show with the new wheels fitted was Ultimate Dubs 2025 where he ended up winning Best Wheels. Talk about a moment of validation for all the work!

While the wheels might have been the most difficult part of the build, we pressed Lewis on what his favourite part of the build is. With a rare body kit, an insane custom interior, wheels that you’re unlikely to see sit so well on another Mk2 and OEM+ details like Mk4 rear brakes and an up! cupholder inside, there is a lot to choose from. “I can’t say!” he laughs after a long debate of every mod “I can’t do it; I just can’t do it!”. Unsurprisingly, Lewis’s Mk2 is far from finished, however he tells us he does know when to call things finished.

“I have an engine swap idea, I want to shave the bay and change the steering wheel, but that’s about it” he says confidently. With how the rest of the car currently looks, we reckon these modifications will top it off nicely.

Finishing up, Lewis tells us about his overall thoughts on modding a Mk2 “With the Mk2 having been around for 40 odd years, it’s very difficult to be unique nowadays. That was why I was so stubborn with the wheels and stuck with them, to complete the brief of doing something different with the car and complete that 10-year-old idea”.

And honestly, we think he’s nailed that brief! Well done Lewis!

Appreciation for the missus for tolerating the disappearing weekends, the late night returns and me walking in absolutely reeking of exhaust fumes. You deserve a medal! All the lads and ladies that have helped out with spannering on my cars, especially Ben. Big props to SGS for powder coating and rebuilding my G60 brakes FOC! Salute to my sister for the unconditional support.