VW Golf Mk 1: You Know You Want To
No Euro mods, no engine transplant, no power steering. Get back to basics with an old Golf
It's a 1.1-litre Golf. Bear with me. It has manual steering, a choke and wind down windows. There isn't an airbag and the interior is shockingly basic. That's the classic element of it. But as one of the first modern European hatches, would it be completely unfeasible to use it semi-regularly? Of course it will be slow, the very antithesis of today's torque laden turbos, but that should be celebrated and not condemned.
The focus becomes on conserving speed, reading the traffic situation, maintaining flow. But not in something so compromised as to be frustrating because it was once just a family hatchback. You won't be cosseted as in a new car, of course, but that's exactly the point. It's old without being unusable.
Furthermore, with nearly every early Golf being pounced on by those wishing to indulge in a bit of Euro modding (some more successfully than others), finding an unmolested Mk 1 must happen very seldom. And it's a pleasant reminder of just how right the original Giugiaro design was. The dimensions make it look quite delicate amongst modern stuff but the proportions are spot on and even the poverty-spec steel wheels don't look out of place. Don't forget this design is 40 years old now too.
With 114,000 miles, this Golf wouldn't have to be a pristine garage queen either. It's being used regularly by the current owner which is encouraging and maintained to a very high standard (when one of the car's bad points is a CD player that's 'a bit 2001' you sense it's cared for). Moreover, the Golf is being sold to help fund a 996 Turbo purchase which is a genuine reason for sale if ever there was one.
The Golf's MoT has expired now so there could be some negotiating room there. With Mk 1 GTIs rocketing in price, to see an early Golf at £3K is almost surprising even if it's not exactly a bargain. Classic insurance should be cheap, there's not an awful lot to fail and its spartan nature is really rather cool. Anyone else tempted?
VW GOLF 1.1C
Price: £3,450
Why you should: Back to basics driving in style
Why you shouldn't: Slow, probably not that safe, not a GTI
See the original advert here.
Chance of it not getting modded to buggery: slender to zero. Oddly enough that gives me a powerful motive to save it.
Probably not £3.5K powerful though.
I bought a 3 door 1.1C with tax & mot for £106 in circa 2005/6, I went on to chuck some old mk2 golf GTI front seats in, put some bottle top 16v alloys on and gave it a dam good clean. I sold it for £600 thinking I was a smart ass.
Funnily enough my old one went around three or four owners before ending up just up the road from me again now sporting a 2.0 16v conversion!
Great fun the mk1 but it needs updating a bit especially in the brake department to make them more user friendly on a daily basis.
It replaced my blown up Uno Turbo at the time and it took me weeks getting used to carrying more speed through roundabouts just to keep the momentum up!
Ended up p/xing for an Cav SRi 130, felt like i'd just stepped into a Ferrari!
Those were the days...!
As an anoraky aside, there must've been a change between the '82 and '83 interiors, because mine definitely showed the full 145000 miles on the odometer and even had a trip, which the one above doesn't.
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C490974
A bit more poke and a nicer colour.
Coincidentally, when I were a lad, my Dad had a black 1.5 GLS, followed by a GLD in the same colour as this one (so it's a bit of a mash up of the two). Fond memories of both, particularly driving both around car-parks at the age of 9 or 10. The diesel was biblically slow though...
My first car (showing my age) was a yellow 1.3 LS. Rusty, but good fun.
I have to admit, it's nice (and unusual) to see some Golfs of this age that haven't had that 'scene thing' done to them - I'd love one, or a Scirocco but the image really puts me off these days. Can't help thinking that in one with normal ride height / tyres, you just look as if you're on your way to the broken suspension / stupid rims shop. Come to that it puts me off the modern ones too.
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