Paving the Way: Dan Allard’s Trendsetting Vauxhall Corsa

With every new model release comes new potential. Every year, car enthusiasts watch new vehicles hit the show floors across the world at shows in Detroit, Las Vegas and Tokyo and the first thing that comes to mind is how much better that car would look if _______________ was done to it. Seeing commercials, show coverage and photoshopped pictures of the new models exponentially increases the anticipation of how it can be modified. Whether it’s a certain set of wheels, a slight or dramatic drop, or specific exterior modifications, we can all picture it and build a full show car in our minds (with those imaginary, unlimited funds we also possess) before we even see it in person. After the car hits the showroom floor and goes up for sale, everyone anxiously awaits the first person to start modifying it. It’s a heavy weight Dan Allard has once carried on his shoulders but when he started modifying his Vauxhall Corsa, all eyes were on him and he did anything but disappoint…

When Dan picked up his little red beauty four years ago, the Corsa model was as fresh on the market as he was. At the spry age of 19, this was only his second car and since he couldn’t get insurance approved on a 350Z or S2000, he decided to go the “reliable and cheap” route. As the old saying goes, however: “The best laid plans often go awry” and that they did. Many of Dan’s “mates” were Volkwagen guys and after going to a few shows with them, he quickly caught The Bug. We all know The Bug and chances are if you’re reading this, you’ve still got the fever. Dan caught it hard and fast and began searching for ways to modify his new ride. He could’ve done the easy thing and sold his Corsa for a Volkswagen but since he had grown to love his new car, he opted to stick with it, borrow the VW styling he had become fond of and blaze new trails.

With this model being so new, it was tough to find anything aftermarket for it. After talking with a couple of companies, he ended up with the FIRST set of coilovers in the United Kingdom. A friend of his came over and one weekend later, they had the helper springs out and the coils dialed all the way down. He rolled around static for a while until he came to the realization that he wants to roll low all the time but have the convenience of parking LOWER. Not to mention, the streets in England aren’t the best so the next stage became clear: air ride. Once again, with not much in the way of modifications, Dan went with a bag over Weitec coil setup and Accuair E-level, the best management on the market. After finding a set of RH ZW1’s in 17x8s/9s, he color-matched the centers to the car and aired his creation out for the first time. I can only imagine the smile on his face as he saw it laid out for the first time because the first time I saw these pictures, I probably had the same smile on my face.

Although Dan didn’t do much aesthetically to the car, his reasoning is sound: “I liked the way it looked so much the first time around that I didn’t see a point in changing it.” Fair enough. Si did a great job of capturing the simple elegance of Dan’s Vauxhall and displaying what we probably would’ve pictured in our minds before actually seeing one in person. Needless to say, Dan boldly went where no man had gone before and showed us that he has what it takes to blaze trails into new frontiers, thus paving the way for those who follow.