I love a good mystery. Like most car guys, I also love hanging around a junkyard. The possibility of finding a good part brings me joy, but plenty of trips can give me the “why is this here” thought. I’ve seen everything from clapped-out Porsches to an SR20 that still ran in a 240SX. Someone else, however, found something… quite unique.

These yards are paying scrap prices for these cars. I’m active on a lot of junkyard Facebook groups, and a recent post caught my attention. This is a Mk3 Volkswagen Jetta that someone had turned into a coupe!

Volkswagen made a Mk1 and Mk2 Jetta two door. The Mk3? Nope. A handful were built by enthusiasts, and last month a fellow VW fan up in Massachusetts stumbled across this gem on the bottom of a sad stack. They tossed a picture of it up on the Facebook page, shocked over their find because you never see one of these.

I then reposted the pictures on a VW Mk3 page, looking for answers. From the pics, you can tell it was a well built car. Note the roof not buckling. Also, this one even had a TDI engine in it at one point. It’s odd that someone put so much work into this car for it to just get junked.

The VW community is a pretty tight group of people who have been brand fans for decades and the old heads were heavy in the Vortex forum, yet this mystery car has lots of people scratching their heads. Sadly, the car has since been crushed before the Internet could figure out its past, but I’m still intrigued by its mystery.