Check out a 43-year-old VW Golf running a dual-engine setup

Few would still remember the Volkswagen Golf Mk1 – after all, the model is going through its eighth iteration now – but a car enthusiast named Willem Jacobus gave us a solid reason to dust off that nameplate when he powered it with not one, but two VR6 engines.

The process was gradual. At first, the talented man simply replaced the stock engine with a slightly more powerful one and sold the result to his nephew. He did the same thing, putting a VR6 mill under the hood this time around, and persuaded his uncle to buy the car back. Without much thinking, Jacobus designed a robust steel subframe for the rear end of the Golf and put another VR6 inside it, linking it with the rear wheels.

Unwilling to stop there, he turbocharged both mills to get a combined 544 PS (536 hp / 400 kW) and 800 Nm (590 lb-ft) of torque going to all four wheels. The transmission, the gearbox, the clutch and the gauges all had to be duplicated, which took quite some time and effort. In the end, however, the car is perfectly drivable and can start its engines either at the same time (although they are not synchronized in any way) or separately.

The brakes had to be strengthened to withstand the added power and weight, and the tuner admits that the inside of the car can get hot on warmer days, forcing him to drive with the windows down. On the upside, the noise levels are quite acceptable.

Watch the video for a full review of this bizarre and fascinating project.