Verity is 26 years old and lives in Christchurch New Zealand but is originally from the UK. She’s a veritable ball of positivity and energy and is mad about cars, Volkswagens in particular. I got to know her through Wookies in the Wild (more about that later) and her relationship with her car is exactly the type of story I want to tell here.
The majority of her early car history was spent in a brand new 2012 Suzuki Swift. After a few years, she wanted to change to something more powerful and satisfying to drive, and when she did, the car became the gateway to something much more than a daily drive.
Growing up, Verity’s family were into motor racing, going as a family to the speedway, family motorsport days, V8 races and demolition derby events. Her brother raced go-karts at a national level. Verity developed an early passion and respect for cars and remembers enjoying washing her mum and dad’s cars from a very young age.
In 2018 Verity bought her Mk5 Golf GTi - her first independent car purchase. She had always believed that European cars would be too expensive, but a friend encouraged her to test drive his Mk4 Volkswagen Golf. Ten minutes behind the wheel convinced Verity that a Volkswagen was the only choice. The Golf had a solid, sturdy, and safe feeling about it. An added bonus was that the German car seemed to be several years ahead of the Swift in features and technology. And of course, V for Volkswagen, V for Verity seemed a match made in heaven!
The search began for a silver Volkswagen Golf. After a couple of months, a 2008 Mk5 Golf GTi was located. It had plenty of power, and more importantly a manual transmission. The comfort and power fit the bill as a daily driver, but Verity also planned to make the Golf her personal project car, little realising that this car would soon become an extension of Verity herself!
The Golf opened up a world of unknowns and new experiences for Verity. Shortly after it was purchased, both Verity’s boyfriend at the time, and her flatmate also bought mk5 Golfs. They were into the VASK forum online and through that, discovered Wookies in the Wild. WITW is a sub-tribe of VW enthusiasts dedicated to the Golf R32. The Wookies part of its name comes from the very distinctive exhaust note from the R32’s VR6 engine. On full throttle, it makes a sound very much like Chewbacca from Star Wars.
Verity didn’t have high hopes for her first WITW meet. She expected it to be lame and to find a load of guys revving the living daylights out of their highly modified cars. But to her surprise and delight, upon arrival, she was greeted by Natalie Ng one of the Wookies organisers and founders. What she found was a group of people with well cared-for and mostly stock-looking cars. No overt modifications but lots of subtle things that emphasised and highlighted the OEM vehicle.
Natalie and the others made her feel a sense of belonging and Nat was really happy that Verity had come in her own car rather than just tagging along with a partner. For Verity it was a bit of an eye-opener – meeting people with similar interests and a similar way of looking at, and caring for their cars. A real bonus was when Nat gave Verity a Wookies sticker – a sure-fire way to win a car enthusiast’s heart. That sticker felt like a key to a lock, membership to a club, and a new tribe to belong to.
This meet was in December, and shortly afterwards the invites went out to the annual WITW national meet in May the following year. National meets are the reason WITW was formed. The founders are based all around the country so the plan was to have a meetup “in the wild” in a place where everyone had to travel to get there. Then they could enjoy driving their cars as well as socialising and admiring everyone’s modifications and cleaning skills.
Verity immediately signed up for the May meet, and it was at that meet where Baby Wook’s name came about. Verity asked why the name Wookies? And one of the WITW founders, Jay explained about the VR6 noise, and said technically the GTi was a baby Wookie, having two fewer cylinders. This quickly got shortened to Baby Wook, and Verity’s car became the Baby Wook.
It was also on the first Wookies meet that, much to everyone’s amusement, Verity managed to lock her keys in the car. The AA came to the rescue, and their locksmith spent close to an hour picking the lock and making a temporary key to get in.
This was where the merge between Verity and her car started. It’s a bit of a thing with car people – “Do you know Verity?” “Not sure…” “She drives Baby Wook, the Silver GTi” “Oh yes I know her!”.
For a while, life events took priority over Baby Wook, but even during this time she bought new wheels for the Golf, and maintained a level of OCD about cleaning her car that few others do. Vacuuming and cleaning parts most people don’t know exist.
What she had initially told herself would be a bit of project car, quickly became the evolution of Baby Wook, and Verity started to learn more and more about her car. With no mechanical background, every modification was a first. Taking the car apart seemed daunting but Verity learned how to do things herself.
One big job was changing the GTi plaid cloth interior to leather. A set of leather seats was tracked down, and the swap required a wiring loom adapter from Germany before the job of removing the factory seats could begin. The plastic trim clips made awful cracking sounds when they were removed and it almost sounded like the car was dying. But Verity persisted and the job was completed.
Further modifications followed, including a steering wheel from a newer Golf and an aftermarket gear knob. All of these were undertaken with a perfectionism and attention to detail.
Verity’s partner Doug says a car is a tin box to get you where you need to go, but Verity knows it’s more than that. Her car became her hobby, her educator, social connector and something that was entirely for herself. The enjoyment she experienced when she checked out her black leather seats knowing how carefully she bolted them in was deeply satisfying.
A stand-out experience for Verity and Baby Wook was her recent drive from Auckland to Christchurch to move into her new house. A drive of over a thousand kilometres, plus a ferry crossing in the middle, and with her dog Logan along for the ride. She loved every moment of that trip, and it felt really special. To be able to enjoy the car, just to cruise along, but having the power when she wanted, was really satisfying.
Another treasured memory was on the Desert Road in New Zealand’s central North Island, on the third Wookies in the Wild meet. Everyone just cruising in their Volkswagens, not out to go fast but just to enjoy the drive, the camaraderie, and the satisfaction of driving in convoy with friends. Parking up on the sandy central plain to take photos and chat, taking it in turns to get photos with the glorious Mount Ruapehu as a backdrop.
Baby Wook meant a lot to Verity and she never thought she’d sell her, however a flare-up of an inflammation disease affected the nerve in Verity’s left leg and hip, making it painful or even impossible to drive a manual car. Even a car that means so much is pointless if it’s unusable. So eventually, reluctantly, Baby Wook was sold. But something new has arrived to continue the story, and Verity has big plans…
Have you had a vehicle that was more than just transport? Something that took you places you didn’t expect, or became something special? I’d love to tell your story. Comment below or email inoneear@substack.com and I’ll get in touch.