Man Of Steele

Daniel Steele has never been one to shy away from building a car that gets people talking. And boy, has his latest build done just that!
Words: Tony Saggu Photos: Steve McCann
The owner of the dark blue Previa who cut me off in traffic last week had run a half marathon, liked Bon Jovi, was married with three kids, had a dog and one of the sprogs was a 'Star Student' allegedly. So how do I know all this (our meeting was all of five seconds, and most of that time I was doing my best Ken Block to avoid mashing my motor into the back of his people mover)? In a word: stickers.
The back of the man's van was a running commentary of his character, unwanted glimpses into a stranger's lifestyle plastered in vinyl; rock band regalia, Jesus fish and a string of matchstick men and matchstick cats and dogs strung across the back window. This decal degeneracy has become something of an epidemic. Believe me, no one really cares about your preference or otherwise for 'fat chicks' or 'boobies' for that matter. We're already fully aware that 'hater's gonna hate' and if you were really sponsored by Red Bull you wouldn't be driving a clapped-out Corsa now would you? Sticker bombing is cool though, so I'm told by those hairy-faced plimsoll-wearing hipsters in the know. My concern, more annoyance really, is that these once venerable vestiges of personal and political freedom of expression have lately lost their value, powerful social comment has given way to.  well, bollocks.
Scots lad Dan Steele's Rallye is a welcome break from the peel-and-stick stupidity sweeping the scene. The car's got plenty to say and Dan's no shrinking violet either, but Dan's Dub is a lesson in sparing the vinyl and letting the talent do the talking. "I'm not one to build a car that blends into the background," explained the 30-something international oil rig worker. "Big power, bright colours.
the cars always get the crowds talking; whether people like them or hate them they can't ignore them." There is no question the latest project has split opinions wherever it's gone, but even the detractors have to confess the quality of this Marmite motor is top shelf.
We wouldn't begrudge the man an 'Old Skool' script on the back window; he's earned it, with almost 20 years as a Dub devotee, Dan's paid his dues. Among the impressive list of motors he's made over are a lairy Nugget yellow Raddo G60, and more recently, a tasty turbo-toting Mk4 Polo. "The Rallye was originally bought as a runabout while the Polo was off the road getting sorted," Dan told us. "It's the old story though, I started simply tinkering with it.  and here we are." The car's been gracing Dan's garage for the better part of seven years now, the one-time temporary transport has kept him busy; this is the car's second major redo. Talking of garages and redos, Dan's Dub dungeon is hardly the average lacklustre lean-to, it's more of a toy box, games room and home away from home (not to mention a pretty perfect photoshoot location). "'Work hard play hard', that's my motto," explained Dan, "I'm on the rigs for six months of the year earning it, and in the garage the other six spending it!"
By all accounts the Rallye was average at best when Dan secured it, not really the iconic legend that had left the factory a couple decades before, but not really a junker either. "I found it down in the south of England somewhere, I can't remember the exact name of the place, but it was a good old drive from here," recalled Dan. The G60 had already been swapped for a 20-valve turbo but the car ran like the proverbial dog. "I drove it back home but it was no fun," Dan told us, "it was coughing and sputtering all the way, the swap was

pretty amateurish and the car obviously hadn't been properly mapped and tuned."
The interior and bodywork also got a tick in the barely acceptable box: "I paid way too much for the car considering," he lamented. Job one, not surprisingly, was to get the thing running properly - a day spent on the rolling road with a laptop improved things no end, a little additional tweaking had the dyno plotting a graph north of 300 ticks with torque to match. The healthy power curve from the ex-S3 lump put Dan on the motorsport tip; the Rallye was covered in carbon and given all the right track terror touches. "The Polo was coming on and at the time, probably around 2011, I was thinking I was done with the Rallye and seriously thought about selling it." Parting with the car proved to be easier said than done - there was no pressing need to out the car and besides having a rare Rallye sitting about couldn't hurt.
"You know when you get an idea in your head and it won't go away? That's probably why I kept the car if I'm honest," explained Dan. "It was unfinished business, I knew I could build a better car out of it and that niggled me." Ideas for a classic old-skool custom Rallye had taken up residence in Dan's head, and they weren't going away until something got done. Ideas soon became plans, and in late 2011 plans became action.
"I dropped the car off at Touch Ups bodyshop in Glasgow for a full going over," recalled Dan. The bodywork on the car was by Dan's estimation "typical of Rallyes"; the panel fit was poor, the sills showed some rot, rust was beginning to appear around the windows and tailgate and the paint was long past its prime. The exterior teardown and restoration took about four months of full time work, aside from dealing with rust issues the shop laid on a little custom work to put the Dan Steele stamp on the project. The front bumper was smoothed along with the tailgate, while a lot of the carbon exited at this stage, a few parts were retained to give the exterior treatment a little edge. "We had the engine out too to shave the bay," revealed Dan. "I'm an engineer by trade so dealing with the wiring was not that big an issue, it's just the amount of work and the detail involved that really makes that job difficult."
The original factory graphite grey colour was retained, which Dan reckons works well with the carbon accents and smoked lights. Talking of lights, perhaps the trickiest touch on the outside makeover were the headlights. "I've got over 30 hours of work in those headlights," announced Dan with a mixture of pride and anguish. "It's no secret that the standard Rallye headlights are next to useless, so an upgrade to Xenons was a must. I ended up going with Polo 6N2 GTI ones." What sounded like a quick cut and shut operation soon morphed into a full scale project. "Cutting the backs of the lights and physically moving the lenses out wasn't the hardest part, making a new loom and wiring them took longer." Throwing in HID bulbs and ballasts would have worked but Dan wanted something a little different. "I know it sounds like a small detail, but I wanted the high beam to stay on with the dip beam; just achieving that took some doing." Dan admits he was floundering a little before he roped in his brother Eddie to lend a hand: "He's an electrical wizard," laughed Dan, "and he saved my bacon."
Shiny bodywork and fancy lights, even a tuned turbo aren't the

car's biggest draw though, that Oscar goes to the interior. "It's Jaffa orange," confirmed the Scotsman without a hint of spin. Not light Naranja or deep Arancione or even soft Oranje, this interior is an undeniable homage to that two-and-half-inch timeless McVitie's masterpiece. "I wanted to do something really crazy with the interior," laughed Dan, "I was thinking of going with a deep purple at first but saw this colour in the sample book at the retrimmers."
Richard at Wizzard Interiors in Leeds was the man who stitched up the deal. Dan told us he was over the moon with the job the firm had done on the Polo so trusting the team again on the Rallye was a no-brainer. "I took everything out of the car and threw into the back of a Transit. It's an eight-hour round trip from south west Scotland where I am to Wizzard Interiors, but the quality of Rich's work made it all worthwhile."
The orange hide is spread over Edition One Recaros, with matching rear seats and door panels. Black stitching was chosen to bring out the full effect of the Bentley-style diamond pattern, and it does a good job of tying together the myriad of carbon detailing peppered throughout the cabin too. Subtle it's not, but with just the right balance of shock and snore the whole package is surprisingly stylish; an orange dash would have been too much yet retrimmed sill plates look perfect.
The classic old timey '90s custom look demanded BBS splits and Dan didn't disappoint: "The wheels are actually from that Westside Mk2 with the fluorescent interior and the big arches," revealed Dan. "I ended up using the front wheels on the back of the Rallye and just resized the rears." The RS rollers needed a strip and polish and Dan reports bolting them on was no walk in the park either: "First off they were 5x130 from a Porsche," he explained, "and on top of that I have big brakes which didn't help. I got on to Richard at Venom for some adaptors and he was nice enough to send me a couple of sets in different widths, he told me just to post back the ones I didn't use." The missing link was now the suspension and that's where another familiar face stepped up to save the day. "I always liked the look of Norm Shum's burgundy Rallye, Porsche Arena red I think it was - he had that car on air-ride and it looked spot on." As luck would have it the famous Dub meister and latterly purveyor of portly Porsches was selling up, the red Rallye was being parted and Dan bagged the bags.
By rights Mr Steele's ride should be decked out in decals but Dan's chosen to forget the vinyl nonsense and express himself through his art instead; every nut and bolt makes a statement that no mere sticker can match. That's not to say the glass area is all clear however: "Detailed is a club I'm in, and there is another sticker in relation to it on the rear: 'SW Scotland race tracks' which shows the main roads around here that we terrorise - the police don't think it's very amusing though!" Dan told us.
We had to ask what was next for the Tangoed turbo Rallye: "I've got another project on the boil at the moment so the Rallye is up for sale," Dan informed us. So if you fancy one the world's most talked-about Rallyes give the man a shout... If you think you can afford the sticker price.