Kirk,

Yes, you do need an actual GTI to run one. As far as 'seeing them in the wild', I just sold one for $500, earlier this year, that I had been driving for the past year and a half. It was still a running, rust free car. I bet if I looked on Vortex, I could probably find 3-5 for sale for <$1000.

I've actually still got a halfway decent tub at my house. It's pretty stripped out, but it's a real GTI tub.

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MARRS #25 ITB Rabbit GTI (sold) | MARRS #25 HProd Rabbit
SCCA 279608