I didn't pick her from a brochure.
My TT is a 2002 coupé. I found her through a classified ad. The owner had kept her for years and was only selling because he'd run out of space. He walked me round the car pointing out every scratch, a bit like introducing a member of the family.
The day I brought her home, I took the long way for no reason, just to drive a bit longer. Since then she has been sleeping in the family garage, and I spend more time next to her than I'd like to admit.
She isn't perfect. The air con has a mind of its own and the head unit has seen better days. I still have no wish to swap her for anything else.
I wanted a bit of modern comfort without wrecking anything.
After a while I wanted simple things, like playing music from my phone or seeing a message on the instrument cluster. Almost every solution I found meant cutting, removing, re-soldering, changing what the car is.
I saw interiors redone with a big tablet in the middle of the dashboard. Fair enough, but it wouldn't be my car any more. I wanted to be able to take everything out one day and get her back as she was.
So I decided to try doing it myself. I thought it would take a few weekends. I underestimated it a little.
Lots of evenings, and quite a few failures.
I spent a lot of evenings in the garage, with the head unit taken apart. I read everything I could find and wrote it all down in a notebook that now looks like a maths rough draft.
Some nights nothing worked.
Then, bit by bit, I worked out how the radio talks to the instrument cluster. That's when the idea for Nova-FIS really took shape.
The evening the cluster showed something new.
On my TT there's a small screen between the two dials. Normally it shows the name of the radio station. One evening, I managed to write my own text on it.
The first word was “SALUT”, French for “hi”. Nothing amazing, but I called my brother to come and see. He stared at the screen for a long moment before asking: “Right… and what's it for?” Good question. I'm still working on it.
I hadn't cut or soldered anything in the car: unplug my setup and everything went back to how it was. Since then I hold every EyKa box to the same rule: you must be able to remove it and get the original car back.
So, what now?
Today, Nova-FIS runs as a prototype in my TT. I have other ideas in the pipeline, mainly for sound and lighting. Nothing is on sale yet: I'd rather take the time to get it right.
If you also have a car you plan to keep, your opinion really helps me decide what comes next. The survey takes about three minutes. And if you just want to talk cars, you can write to me too.
and owner of a 2002 TT