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Two models coming from the same manufacturer have notched up sales of sixty million, just hold it and think about the sheer volume of car’s, Volkswagen’s Beetle and Golf between them have achieved these figures. If one was to add the Passat and Polo how many more vehicles?
Neither the Beetle or the Golf have actually strayed from the original design, of course, they have been continually improved, but stand back and one can see something of the humble beginnings.
The Golf, was not high on my agenda of cars to write about, though in all fairness it should have been, but as usual Casey’s caravan park came into the picture, we were sitting, Eileen and myself enjoying a Sunday morning coffee and reading one of the paper’s, when Eileen said “hey Ted, look at that” pointing down the road, a convertible silver Golf had just pulled up, not any old Golf, but a gleaming classic, I fell out the chair in search of the camera, Eileen handed it to me and I was off to look. Luckily the owner was a well known Tipperary Car repairer so I had no difficulty with pictures, in fact he was very obliging, where would you like the car to get the best picture.
Apart from the fact that convertible versions are considerably dearer this one also had a history, not particularly glamorous but nevertheless it had been owned by the Smurfitts, which is about the nearest you will get to Irish Royalty, in fact Smurfitts had ordered two special identical Golf Convertibles, whilst this one is obviously pampered there is no knowledge of the other one.
The convertible was made between 1980 and 1993, naturally the original was a Mk 1and though a Mk2 Golf saloon appeared Kharman never ever made a Mk2 convertible they carried on making the Mk1, one has to remember that whilst the engine, mechanicals and interior was 100% Volkswagen, Kharman built the car from the stamping to final assembly.
History wise the man behind the Golf was Kurt Lotz he masterminded the need for a replacement to the by now ailing Beetle, it was imperative VW found something that appealed to the public not having had a great deal of success with the 411 and finances were suffering.
The prototype was produced in 1969 code name EA276, design was by our old friends at Ital design studio’s in particular Mr Guigiaro who is well known for designing some well known British cars.
The name was selected to represent wind “The Gulf Stream” hence Golf also a sport, the design was quite simple, a hatchback, which had to be
firmly sprung and damped, using Macpherson strut front suspension which seemed to be all the vogue at that time, give it independent twist beam rear suspension, meant that the car would have a reasonably firm ride, the engine was transverse and coupled to front wheel drive,
I can only find one complaint about the mechanical side, it seems braking in the Right Hand Drive model is not as good as the LHD due to the master cylinder sitting on the wrong side.
So here we have a 3 or 5 door hatchback with a multitude of engines starting at 1.1 litre and going bigger and bigger, on a small car 1.6 was destined to make the Golf a hot hatch, some say it was the first but Renault had beaten VW to that title, though it is of little consequence, 1.5 and 1.6 diesels appeared, making it extremely frugal, you also got a 4 or 5 speed gearbox or 3 speed auto.
Some of the original colours were Atlas White, Ceylon Beige, Black, Diamond or Marino Yellow, Phoenix or Senegal Red, Miami Blue and Cliff or Lofoten Green
The Golf was produced at Wolfsburg in April 1974, with either a 1093cc engine or a 1471cc unit, a 4 or 5 speed gearbox was available.
October of that year a 3 speed auto could be had.
September 75 a Gti of 1588cc was shown at the Frankfurt show, the Golf hot hatch was born.
March 76, the 500,000 Golf came off the assembly line
September 76 Diesel engines could be had
October 76 the one millionth rolled out of wolfs burg
June 78 and VW had produced two million Golfs
Only once has the Golf won the coveted European Car of the year, every year it came in as the runner up.
According to those who know Volkswagen have deleted, most of the Mk1 parts, badges, body panels, interior parts from their catalogue, which means if you need anything for your Mk1 you have got to punt around, having said that there is a problem the number of Mk1’s surviving is minimal, naturally rust is the main protagonist, untreated seams, lack of
under sealing, and sparingly applied paint have not helped the Golf, though I suspect any exported or made in the US and found their way to California may well have withstood the ravages of time.
However there is a very active Mk1 owner’s club who are willing to help
locate obscure and obsolete parts, there is also a firm called Crazy Quiffs who are located at Unit 7 North, Ayres Yard, Station road, Wallingford Oxfordshire, phone number 0044 1491 202054 or Email crazyquiff@golfmk1.co.uk.
Wallingford is frequently on the TV in Midsummer Murders, typical Oxfordshire market town, the river Thames runs through it, making it very picturesque, if you had part s to pick up, it would be an ideal holiday trip, by ignoring the somewhat boring M4, take the A40 from Carmarthen up through Brecon, a real must see place, with the Beacons as a backdrop.
Then to Crickhowell and abergavenny, places you will want to come back to, then on to Ross on Wye, more picture postcard stuff, you pass other tourist places like Bourton on the Water and Broadway and then the City of spires Oxford, then down to Wallingford, makes me want a Mk1 Golf just thinking about it.
Well price wise, be careful a cheap car will be indicative of a problem car, some of the rust spots are difficult to repair, even a moderately priced one could be courting disaster, spend time looking and finally choosing time well spent.
Happy motoring regards Ted tedlay@gmail.com
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