The 2025
Watercooled Classic
Wrap-Up

Nov 2

This past Sunday, October 26th, marked the first annual Watercooled classic. Held at Maryville’s own Drive-In theater, this event is a gathering and celebration of automotive culture’s most eclectic group of enthusiasts: the Euro crowd. The Watercooled Classic just so happens to be sponsored by Eurospec LLC, one of the premier European maintenance, repair, and performance shops in East Tennessee, and is put together by Eurospec’s own Jeremy “J’ Munday and longtime friend and collaborator Ryan McMillan. Both of these guys belong to an even more specific subgroup of European auto enthusiasts: classic watercooled Volkswagens.

Before official entrants began rolling into the lot, Ryan’s own near-perfect Mk. 3 Cabriolet convertible and his wildly impressive Mk. 2 Jetta “GLX track build lined the registration tent. This was followed up by some vehicles from the Munday family: Jeremy’s own black & white Mk. 2 Jetta GLI and his Mk. 4 Jetta Wagen GLI conversion (the latter of which was driven by yours truly - I happen to be his brother), followed by Jim Munday’s (our dad) award-winning 1967 VW Beetle - a SEMA-worthy build complete with air-ride suspension, a fully built turbo-charged flat four engine, custom-built American Racing wheels, Brembo brakes, a stunning two-tone paint job, and a slew of other resto-mod touches that make it the subject of a lot of admiration wherever it goes.

Eurospec boss Robert Samar was the first to break the VW chain, with a pair of track-spec Mini Coopers and an LS-swapped BMW E93 M3 that has become one of the shop’s most notable projects.

With the booth cars out of the way, here’s a recap of what we selected as the Top 5 cars in each category. Keep in mind, this is in no particular order, it’s just the 5 favorites in each category. Also keep in mind, some of our info may be incomplete (this is our first time throwing a show like this, we have a bit of book-keeping practice to do).

Top 5 Vintage:

  • 1987 VW Scirocco Wideby owned by Tony Carter

  • 1984 Volvo Wagon owned by Ace Church

  • 1948 Bentley Sedan owned by Roy “Mad Dog” Nelson 

  • 1971 Porsche 914 owned by Mike Lesmerises

  • 1978 VW Scirocco owned by Robert M

Top Modern

  • 2000 Ferrari 360 Modena owned by Wendy Kirchoffer

  • VW Mk. 6 GTI Wagen conversion owned by Jason Guthry

  • Volvo C30 R Design (Owner not recorded)

  • 2018 VW Golf R owned by Ben Harris

Best of Show: Mk.1 VW Jetta Coupe owned by Matt Ford

Eurospec Pick: 1971 Porsche 914 owned by Mike Lesmerises

Misguided Media Pick: LS-Swapped BMW E30 325i owned by Morgan Chambers

On behalf of Jeremy, Ryan, and Outtadate.co, we want to thank everyone who came out to show up to the Watercooled Classic. It’s tricky putting on a show for the first time, especially with shaky weather and other, much more well-established events happening on the same day, so it means a lot to us that you all came out to be a part of this event. Every person here felt like a real enthusiast with a genuine passion for cars and represented the best parts of not just the Euro community, but car culture as a whole. Another huge thank you to our vendors Misguided Media, Lynn Sheely’s Hats, Juan’s Tacos, and oof brand for your work and taking a chance on a new, small show. We couldn’t have done this without any of you, and we hope everyone had a great time hanging out. We’ll be back bigger and better next year, so we’ll see you all in 2026!