A Solid Start: Jason Morabito’s Daily Driven S4
Hindsight is always 20/20 and at some point all of us have probably looked back at a decision we have made or a part we have purchased for a current or past car and wondered “What was I thinking?” We live, we learn, and life goes on… While some of us continue to learn by trial and error, others seem to have a vision. After taking ques from from past and present builds, countless hours of research, and sifting through photos they know exactly what they want and what they have to do to achieve the end result before they even start wrenchin’. Or in Jason Marabito’s case, long before he even purchased his new daily driver!
I know its just an S4 on BLQs… not necessarily the most innovative or fully modded car we’ve featured, but there’s a reason for everything which you’ll find out as you read.
Jason’s been a staple in the VW scene for quite some time now. Some might recall his bagged pearl white widebody mk5 GTI tucking some of the most ridiculous chromed out RS’ the world has ever seen. Other’s might recall his black BMW 545i sitting flawlessly on KW coils and superconcave Rotiform SNA’s cruising the strip at last year’s H2Oi event.
As a perfectionist, whatever it is he owns, he works meticulously to ensure that attention to detail is the number one ingredient. That’s rings true for his new daily driver, the 2004 B6 S4 you see before you. Jason claims that he fell in love with German V8′s and started hunting for the right car to transform into the ultimate daily driver months ago. With B6 S4′s being rather plentiful, you’d think this would be an easy task… but not with Jason’s criteria.
The car needed to be black on black leather, 6 speed manual, accident free with proper maintenance records. This narrowed things down quite a bit. Jason finally found this particular one-owner specimen at auction in Michigan and snatched it up quick sight unseen. After waiting weeks and weeks for delivery… he was more than amazed at the condition of the car. “It was literally showroom new in, out and underneath” says Jason “No one can believe it”. Mind you, this car is 8 years old with 130,000 miles on the clock… and yes only one previous owner!
Jason being Jason already had done countless hours of research online, knew exactly what to order to make his daily driving dreams a reality and started pulling triggers. Being that New York winters aren’t particularly kind and neither are the roads, Jason knew the suspension had to be top notch and stainless. Holding up each corner are KW Variant 3 adjustables which he installed with his friend John Frame mere day’s after the package arrived. Leaving out the helper springs and rear perches was a must to attain the right height he desired.
Being static was also a must for Jason who says “Its on coils that rival the cost of most peoples air setups because anything other than doing it right the first time isn’t an option for me”. Jason, usually known for his over the top wheels builds decided that for this application, being practical and budget conscious (for the first time in his life) meant finding a set of cast wheels that were both strong and looked the part.
As he has so many times before, Jason dialed up the boys at Rotiform and ordered a set of 19×9.5 et25 BLQ’s that he had milled to et30 before shipping to ensure exact fitment. Lightly stretching a 225/35/19 tire was the way to go. With this 340 HP Quattro, he knew he’d want to keep as much contact patch as possible while simultaneously not rubbing fender on his daily commutes.
Being that the car begs to be driven, Jason replaced the clutch and added a lightweight flywheel before heading out to Stratmosphere for a decibel enhancement. Strat worked their magic adding catless down pipes and a non-resonated Milltek catback exhaust. “The car sounds like Armageddon and has already made me quite popular with local law enforcement” Jason stated. With the actual registration card not even in his mailbox yet, Jason has once again achieved purpose built euro perfection. Now let’s see how long he can actually keep it this subtle!
We want to thank Jason for allowing us to be the first to share his beautiful S4, and Evano for the amazing work as always on the photos! We hope see more from both of them in the near future, but in the mean time checkout more of Evano’s work here!
Editor: Dave Tormey