They say that only two things in life are certain: death and taxes. However, we’d like to add a third item to that list: if you are a fan of Wolfsburg’s wares, you will also be a lover of the Mk1 Golf. We refuse to believe there might be a single person out there who loves Dubs, but isn’t a fan of the first-gen Golf. It is the car that launched an icon; it’s so impossibly small, simple and pure when looked at with 2025 motoring eyes. It’s a wonderful car that’s a core part of VW’s history and legacy. It’s got near infinite modding potential, too, and the sky and your imagination are pretty much the limit, but one glance at Jamie Briggs’ (@mustweldmotorsport) eye-popping Mk1, and it’s clear that, for this build, there really were no limits…

Where to even begin with this slippery sideways banana of a Golf? Well, probably by finding out a little about the mind of the man behind the build. For Jamie, cars aren’t just for fun, they’re also his source of funds, as he runs Must Weld Motorsport, building drift, race, and custom cars, and based on how busy he was when we tried to pin him down for a chat, business is clearly booming. And, it goes without saying that Jamie is just a bit keen on VWs.

“I’ve had my Mk2s since I was 19, and my current Mk2 since I was 21 (17 years),” he says with a grin. “My first VW was a Mk2 Golf, and I bought it because I thought they were cool! My Mk2 slowly evolved over the years, from a 1.6 to a 1.8 with a Webber carb etc. to a 20V turbo, and I started going to car meets and a few track days,” Jamie tells us. “As time went on I also fell in love with drifting, so I parked the Golf up and bought a £500 BMW E36 325i with a welded diff. Drifting is the most fun you can have with your pants on!” he laughs. “But although I loved VWs, VW doesn’t make a RWD car. So, I was stuck with BMWs as they were cheap. I then bought a more desirable car for drifting, a Nissan S13. However, I couldn’t afford a nice one, so I bought one that was very rotten.

“I taught myself to weld and restored the whole car in my garage. At the same time, I got fed up with being a heating engineer, so to cut a long story short, I quit my job, got a unit and started a business building drift/race cars and anything in between learning on the fly – thank god for YouTube!” Jamie exclaims, and that’s a fascinating insight into the man, his modding and his business. That S13 went on hold while he established his business and it’s still being built (slowly), but, as you can see, something else ended up catching Jamie’s attention. The funny thing is that as impressive as this Mk1 is, the whole project just happened by chance.

“It was an accident,” laughs Jamie. “My brother-in-law owned it, and when he moved house, he didn’t have room for it, so he offered it to me for £500. It was only a bare shell, but still, I couldn’t say no as I’ve always wanted a Mk1!” he grins. “However, I didn’t know what to do with it, so I built a mezzanine in my shop to store it until I had time to rebuild it,” explains Jamie, and so the Mk1 awaited its fate for three months, until that fateful day when he decided it was time to take action.

“Christmas came around, and I had some time off, so I thought I’d crack on with my S13 (finally),” says Jamie, “but, for some reason, I thought turning my Mk1 into a drift car might be a better idea and a better showcase of my business, plus it meant I could bring back my love for VW again! That was settled!” he exclaims, and so the project began. However, building a Mk1 Golf drift car is no small undertaking, but Jamie had what he needed to make it happen, plus the skills to bring it all together.

“After a few measurements and finding out a Mk1 Golf has the same wheelbase as the iconic drift car, the Toyota AE86, I decided it would work. I already had a BMW just sat outside with a good engine, and I realised the engine would fit(ish), so I got to work building my dream drift car. The deadline was the first round of Drift League GB in mid-April, so just under four months to build a complete car from scratch. I thought it would be impossible, but I had to try, and somehow, I made it to the first round,” grins Jamie.

“I built a full tube chassis within the shell, and the bits of floor are the only original parts left. Everything else was modified. I took all the measurements from the BMW front end and copied it exactly out of tube so the BMW front subframe suspension, arms, hubs etc., would bolt straight in. I used the BMW steering column too, as I wanted it to steer and feel just like an E36,” Jamie explains, which makes perfect sense considering his drifting experience with BMWs.

“I then built a custom front firewall and gearbox tunnel, floor-standing pedal box, hydraulic handbrake, added a cheap digi dash, two Bride bucket seats on custom rails, four-point harnesses, and then, directly behind the driver’s seat, is a full firewall to separate me from the fuel system and radiator. I’ve tried to put as much weight at the back as I could, so the fuel cell, swirl pot, pumps, battery, built-in fire extinguisher and the radiator are squeezed in the back.” Jamie explains. “This gives the Mk1 a 54/46% split, so the car is only slightly heavier on the front than the back, which gives it great handling and great rear-end grip,” both of which are essential elements when building a drift car.

Unsurprisingly, it’s the chassis that has undergone the most amount of work, and Jamie has put in so much effort to ensure that this Mk1 is the perfect drift missile. “The BMW E36 rear subframe with the trailing arms was too wide to fit in the Mk1, so I used an MX-5 rear subframe with a welded 3.6 ratio diff and a custom prop. I love this subframe as it gives nice consistent grip, and with the fully adjustable arms from Destroy or Die it has loads of adjustment,” he explains.

“I’m currently running 28mm of rear toe-in and 0.5° of positive camber, so when the car squats, it comes back to 0° of camber. The toe-in gives forward bite. As for the front, I run modified hubs, which effectively shortens the bit where the tie rod connects to the hub, giving more angle. We also bring it in a bit to give more Ackerman. This makes it self-steer a lot better,” Jamie explains. “The bottom front arms are lengthened to give extra clearance on lock and more camber, with 5.5° negative camber. This means when I’m on lock, which is where I spend most of my time, the inside lead wheel is then at 0°, giving me the biggest contact spot,” he says. Reading all that, you get an idea of how much you need to put into a drift car to get it to behave the way you want it to, just how much drift knowledge and expertise Jamie has, and just how much he’s put into the build.

There’s so much more to talk about, though, and this is a build that keeps on giving. The motor that sits beneath the vented bonnet is an M50B25 unit – a 2.5-litre straight-six – and it’s a fine engine in stock form, but with 192hp, not nearly powerful enough for a drift car. Usefully, the M50 loves a bit of boost, and just a few mods are all you need to get it kicking out some far healthier horsepower figures.

“All I’ve done is fitted an upgraded head gasket, not a decompression plate, though, so it’s still stock compression and ARP head studs,” says Jamie. “It has an A M Autos tubular exhaust manifold with a 3” down-pipe and side-exit exhaust. The wastegate is plumbed back into the downpipe to meet noise regulations, and it’s running a Pulsar turbo, uprated injectors, and has a big front-mount intercooler,” and that’s really not a lot of mods to get some boost through this straight-six. The end result is 400hp, sent to the rear wheels via a BMW ZF gearbox. While that might not seem like a whole lot, with such a lightweight body to move around, this Mk1’s got the same sort of power-to-weight ratio as a Ferrari F50…

Of course, while all the tech details on this car are what it’s all about, it’s the visuals that really get you, and it’s a hell of a thing to look at. The banana-yellow paint job means there’s no missing it out on track and ensures this Mk1 is always the centre of attention, while the black decals and details really drive home the sheer banana-ness of this bananas build. Up front sits an eyebrow strip that gives the Golf a permanent scowl, while at the rear there’s a wing, but the star of the show is the arches.

“The car is super wide, but I still wanted the car to look like a Golf, so I made minimal arches for it,” he says, but they give this Mk1 so much presence. They’re subtle from the sides, but viewed from the front or the back, you realise just how much width they add to the car and how purposeful it looks, especially with the BC Racing ZR coilovers getting the arches sitting right down over the wheels. And if you thought you had a lot of wheels in your collection, think again… “Being a drift car, I have 16 wheels, all different. The only similarity is they are all deep-dish 9x15s with a 0 offset,” says Jamie, and they need that to fill out the arches properly, which they absolutely do.

This Mk1 is an absolutely mental machine, a mechanical marvel, and just an insanely fun build all-round. It’s absolutely wild to think that it took Jamie just three months to put it together, and the end result is a car that is a rolling showcase for his skills.

“I’m very proud to say that I haven’t changed anything on the car since I built it other than body panels and had zero teething issues,” grins Jamie. “I’ve now done two full competitive drift seasons plus demo days in it now, and it’s been great, I love the car so much,” he enthuses.

Most importantly, while motorsport is expensive, Jamie’s build allows him to keep the costs down while still having a tonne of fun. “My car is very affordable to run but still very competitive because it only weighs a tonne; these other guys have to run a fully forged engine at 600hp+ to keep up with me,” grins Jamie. “Also, I get away with an MX-5 rear subframe. If I break a shaft (better than a gearbox), which is very rare, it’s £20 for a new one rather than £500 for a Wisefab aftermarket one. If my engine blows, it’s £1000 for a new one, not 10k for a forged one. Drifting costs so much money – £1500-2000 a weekend – so it’s nice having a reliable, more affordable car to drive. Plus, I love having a one-of-one Mk1 Golf drift car!” he smiles. When it comes to modding, knowing that your car is just a bit special is always a nice feeling, and while there are a lot of very nice Mk1s out there, there isn’t another one quite like this, and that’s a feeling quite unlike any other