Curbside Find: 1975-1977 Volkswagen Scirocco – Left Behind, But Not Forgotten

An early VW Scirocco! One of those pretty cars from my childhood that I hadn’t seen in… decades! Even before I was aware of CC (August 2015), the 1975-1981 Scirocco had been among those cars I had been hunting for ages. Was there still one out there in the streets? Had they all fallen to the tin worm? Evidence on the roads of San Salvador seemed to suggest that was just the case.

And what a moment to come across one, walking with my wife’s family in their neighborhood, all on our way to do some grocery shopping. Sorry family! Slow down, or whatever, while I take some pics! Or keep going, I’ll catch up!

As with most markets with VWs, the arrival in the mid 1970s of the boxy Italdesign Golf-Scirocco combo proved to be quite a shake-up in the local scene. Their sharp straight-edge styling was a complete turnaround from the company’s roundish past; VW had gone modern!  And the pair’s shapes were incredibly distinctive in local traffic. Since I first laid eyes on the Golf’s sporty coupe companion back in the 1970s, I found them pretty, attractive, and very alluring.

Even though this one was a halfway-done project car, my impression as an adult was just the same; missing pieces and all, my heart fluttered. Yes, the wheels are too big for my liking, but I still find the shape taut and agile looking. And against today’s traffic, it looks cute and purposely close to the ground. I mean, look at the way that compact Mitsu G4 seems to tower over it!

Of course, there were plenty of teething issues with those early water-cooled VWs, a matter which is well documented –all sorted soon enough, but never to Toyota-reliable degrees. But well, I would think that the ones that made it to our days were the non-lemon ones.

While a few Mk1 Golfs are still found, Sciroccos have basically disappeared. No surprise, from day one it sold in lesser numbers in accordance with its lower-volume specialty model mission. And about this one’s badge, the fuel-injected GTi version showed up as early as 1976. But this is a project car; the question is, is this badge original? Or a later one?

Nothing against my wife’s family neighbors, but I know they fall within low-middle-class ranks, and the idea of reviving a Scirocco in that hood seemed, well, ambitious to me. A 1970s VW is an “affordable” classic, particularly if you know your way around tools, but still, it ain’t really that cheap. I feared it was going to sit there, for ages, aging before my eyes on each visit.

Then, a few days later, the car came for sale on my FB Marketplace feed, for a price low enough that it sounded worth the trouble. Like in my opening photo, additional images showed there are plenty of parts already in there, just waiting to go into place… and where was my tool kit?

The car had clearly undergone quite a bit of work already, with paint that was new and fairly well applied. Much of the hardware was already in place, too, but not quite ready to go just yet.  Good thing is that most of what’s missing is generally available, even here. I see, however, a carburetor sticking out. Was the badge a later add-on? Or is it getting a workaround to deal with hard to source fuel injection parts? Or a new powerplant altogether?

Whichever the case, in the US, these came with a 1.7L version of VW’s AE inline 4s. Over here, they were generally offered with a 1.6L or 1.5L displacement. Just about everything else in the powertrain is Golf fare, and once sorted, it’s a tossable package with friendly ergonomics and a perky feeling when pushed hard. (Yes, I’m biased. I owned a 1980 Rabbit and to this day it remains a pain/pleasure memory.)

Unsurprisingly, the car was soon gone after the ad appeared. In the 1.6L to 2L displacement wars, our nation is generally split into VW-Team and Honda-Team, and it looks like a VW-Team person bought this one to get it in running order. Whoever it was, I hope there’s success in that mission.

Good thing it also disappeared from the Marketplace, or who knows if I would have fallen to this one’s call for help.

… Oh wait, just now a similar vintage one has appeared on my feed for sale in a nearby town, with a price that’s just about right… and with little to be done. An online case of the CC effect?

And it only takes a minute ot get the mind going, doesn’t it? I would get rid of those halogens upfront, and its wiper missing?  Easy peasy. And… and… (Yes, I could go on.)

Related CC reading:

VW Scirocco MK1 – Irreplaceable, Though VW Keeps Trying

Vintage Review: Volkswagen Scirocco 5-Speed