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VW GOLF GTI HISTORY
The Volkswagen Golf GTI redefined the family car. Before the Golf GTI other manufacturers simply fiddled with the basic idea of a dull family car by creating badge-engineered 'sporting' models to appeal to young fathers trading up out of sports cars, VW did it properly. The original Golf GTI was a revelation.
The original Volkswagen Golf GTI created a genre of high performance 'family cars' that continues to this day. It provided sports car performance without compromising family practicality. But how did it do it?
Like many great ideas, the original VW Golf GTI didn't start in a think tank or brain storm. In 1974 a bunch of dedicated Wolfsburg engineers worked after hours to see if they could shoehorn a bored-out version of the new Audi 80 GT engine into the Golf and exploit the latent potential of Volkswagen's perennial md-market family runabout. It was shown at the Frankfurt motorshow and VW gave permission to produce 5,000 vehicles to qualify for motorsport events.
The car went on sale in October 1976 - a very short development period - and was initially only available in left hand drive. RHD versions of the VW Golf GTI were introduced in July 1979. It was an instant success across Europe. Sub-10 second 0-60 acceleration and a whopping 110 bhp on tap made the original Golf a true performance car for the late 1970s. The Volkswagen Golf GTI's combination of scintillating performance and carefully selected aesthetic enhancements such as discreet spoilers and bright seats appealed directly to upwardly mobile family men. Here was a car that was a perfect B-road banzai during the week and ideal for attackin B&Q at the weekend.
The VW Golf GTI remained largely unchanged until late 1982 when Volkswagen introduced the enlarged 1800cc engine, which was a bored out version of the 1.6 fuel injected unit.
The original VW Golf GTI mark 1 was replaced in February 1984 by the Mark 2. During its 5 year UK production run a remarkable 19,000 VW Golf GTIs were sold in the UK.
