Again with the VW Golf? Well yes, it’s been a while since I brought one to the table from the Land of the Rising Rabbit. CC’s had so many of these, of course, but just look at this one. It’s in absolutely stunning like-new condition, just turned 50 years old and it’s a Japanese market variant. Plus, it’s the most period-correct shade of pea green one could imagine.
The challenge, then, is going to be about what can be written about the iconic Golf/Rabbit that hasn’t been regurgitated several times on these pages already. Easier said than done… I suppose I’ll give any technical considerations a miss, as it was all covered by Paul and Aaron (links at the end of this post). And the historical background was pretty well recounted by them and Rich, too. What else is there to say?
The Mk1 Golf saloon (1974-83 in West Germany, though the Cabriolet lasted a decade longer) was the game-changer that VW needed. The antithesis of the Beetle, and just when said Beetle was finally ready for retirement in South America. Though the far cheaper Polo and its upmarket predecessor the Audi 50 were the true Beetle replacement in Western Europe, Wolfsburg’s new FWD world car was the Golf.
The overwhelming impression was that it was a clean and unfussy design, but far from boring. Beauty is obviously subjective, but there’s no denying that the Golf was a milestone for its category. Its direct influence was felt globally for a good decade and a half, right to the early ‘90s. The Golf was an innovator for its time: hatchbacks were still a fairly new thing in the early ‘70s. Even modern fastback designs like the Alfasud, the Peugeot 104, the Citroën GS or the Austin Allegro were born without a fifth door.
When they contracted Italdesign to work on the new VWs and Audis, the folks in Wolfsburg didn’t pick that outfit at random. They had toured the 1969 Turin Motor Show and made a list of the six cars they thought most highly of, and it turned out that four of those had the same designer, Giorgetto Giugiaro. By the middle of 1970, the Italian maestro had defined the Passat and the Golf. The future of VW would be origami-shaped and hatch-backed.
It seems Giugiaro himself autographed this very car back in 2023. He always said the Golf was one of the designs he was proudest of, given how successful and influential the car ended up being. And of the Mk1 Golf variants, the five-door was also his favourite, compared to the three-door or the drop-top.
I’m not sure whether Italdesign also did the interior. It has aged a lot more than the rest of the car. Just adds to the nostalgia.
As far as I can tell, this is not what a Golf LS was upholstered back in 1976. But it’s perfectly suited to the car and era all the same.
I’m assuming this car was sold new in Japan; those mirrors and the turn signal repeaters are a dead give-away. Imports started in 1975, but only one model was available – the 5-door LS, initially with the 1.5 litre petrol engine. This would have changed to the 1588cc block for MY 1976, providing 75hp (DIN). At least, that’s what that engine produced in EU-spec. Things might have been different in Japan, the “fuel injection” script on the tail certainly might indicate that.
In the US, the Golf (sorry, the Rabbit) ended up being the best-selling small Diesel hatch. In Europe, where it was positioned a little higher up in the food chain, it became the family car for city dwellers. I doubt it had a large following in mid-‘70s Japan, beyond a few hundred die-hard Germanophiles. The Golfs that made an impact over here were the GTI and especially the Mk2.
According to Giugiaro himself, the Golf was supposed to have come out with square headlights, as some later US market cars did. VW switched to round ones purely for cost reasons. That’s a happy accident if there ever was one.
Just like this particular car’s survival to the present day, I guess. Well-built and reliable as it may have been, fifty years is still a rather tall order for a Golf. Giving one a full restoration, as is the case here I assume, is quite the vote of confidence in the model’s future value. Mind you, given how many of these have fallen victim to the tin worm, their main cause of death, scarcity and the design’s iconic status makes that a pretty wise bet. Time flies, the Golf remains.
Related CC Reading
Curbside Classic: 1975 VW Golf Mk1/Rabbit – The Most Influential Modern Global Compact Car, by PN
Curbside Classics: 1967 Datsun 2000 (Cedric) and VW Golf Mk1 – Atypical Partners, by Rich Baron
CC Tech: How The Nimble 1975 Volkswagen Golf, Rabbit, And Scirocco Raised The Standards Of FWD Chassis Design, by Aaron Severson
I’m not sure, but I think the fuel injection badge might not be original to this car. The cars that definitely did have factory fuel injection had that as part of the model badge, not the Volkswagen badge. This car has other weird things with the badging, the hatch VW is not original, and the grill badge I believe is larger than original
So firmly etched in my mind is a Rabbit’s tail with an American license plate that the slightly but in this context very noticeably larger Japanese one threw me off to the point I didn’t see how the badging’s been personalized.
The Golf was not available with fuel injection in 1975-1976, in any country, so this is an add-on. It’s quite possible they updated the engine to FI and wanted the world to know that.
FWIW, the US Rabbit did get FI in 1977, but other than the GTI, I don’t think Euro-spec Golfs had FI for quite some time, if ever? I might be forgetting something, but that’s my memory of it.
Thank you. That’s my recollection as well; although the cursory research I did earlier today did nothing to dispel my confusion.
Nevertheless, the kind of faux ostrich leather interior on this Rabbit does absolutely for me. But the pea-green color is a joy.
Sorry folks, K-Jetronic fuel injection was avail from 1975 on Audi Fox and 100 LS, and 1976 on Golf / Passat. 110 hp (DIN) .
And the round headlights … yeah … another background story: VW made a deal with eastern Germany commie government. They got a small number of cars in exchange for a big number of headlights ! You can tell by the stamp “Ruhla GDR” instead of “Hella W Germany”. I have a pair of those, they were of superb quality
Joe
” another background story: VW made a deal with eastern Germany commie government. They got a small number of cars in exchange for a big number of headlights ! You can tell by the stamp “Ruhla GDR” instead of “Hella W Germany”. I have a pair of those, they were of superb quality.”
Hi Joe! Is there a source for this? The usual urban legend in (West) Germany is that the GDR Golfs were supposedly paid for with sausages for the VW factory canteen and with equipment for the Wolfsburg city planetarium (VW foundation assets).
Sorry folks, K-Jetronic fuel injection was avail from 1975 on Audi Fox and 100 LS, and 1976 on Golf / Passat. 110 hp (DIN) .
I specifically excepted the 110 hp Golf GTI, which most certainly did have FI. But this is very obviously not a GTI.
Thank you for pointing out the bit about the round headlights. As shown in the picture, they didn’t even fit in the grille, dropping down into the valence panel. It always looked a tad off to me, and now that I know the backstory, it all makes sense.
“As far as I can tell, this is not what a Golf LS was upholstered back in 1976.”
I agree. The original upholstery looked more like the sample shown below (available in different colors). The details mentioned by Matt A seem inconsistent to me, too.
The first Golf models rusted so badly that VW bought back and scrapped used examples in the domestic market when they ended up at dealerships -to protect the brand’s reputation. It wasn’t until the 1978 model year that things supposedly improved.
By the way: That pea green body paint was named “Lofotengrün” (Lofoten Green) in VW-speak.
VW had included a lot of running changes in the 1978 Rabbit models. The most significant as better rust proofing and the later cars didn’t rust nearly as quickly as the 1975-1977 cars. There were quite a few more upgrades in the 1980 models, too.
I absolutely love the Golf I, or Rabbit as it was called on North America. I was used to driving a rusty Toyota Corolla when I first drove a Rabbit, a 1978 model with fuel injection. The EA827 made good torque, the seating position was superb and the non-power steering a delight.
By 1978, most Rabbit quality problems were solved. The cars still had some bad design. Most common was water leaking down the radio antenna onto the fuse block, which used antiquated porcelain fuses. The door handles also broke a lot. That said, the Rabbit was a very simple car and easy to repair. It takes like three wrenches to take the who car apart. The oil filter was right on the front of the engine, making oil changes a snap.
I can see the continuity of the Golf design. My 2018 Golf still has many of the same attributes of the generation one cars.
Pretty neat and being stock is a plus .
I was running an Air Cooled VW Shop when these came out, we didn’t even look at them being new and obviously death to Air Cooled VW’s .
It turned out they were in fact pretty darn good little cars, IIRC 75 & 76 used an odd two barrel carby that was actually two separate carbys in one, woe betide the person who striped one down and tossed all the parts & jets into the carby cleaner tank as the parts were _not_ interchangeable .
Good to see it survive .
The front fender marker lights were not repeaters, they were mandated by that time an all .
-Nate
“As far as I can tell, this is not what a Golf LS was upholstered back in 1976.”
Herb Tarlek’s tailor nabbed the original material long ago.
Love seeing the Giugiaro autograph on this car.
Yes, the Fuel Injection badge appears to be an add-on (VW convention would have it on the right), as does the central VW badge on the rear hatch (not until the late 80s MkII and never on the window scallop), along with the door handle recess protectors.
Most interesting is what appears to be a little plug in the right hand driver’s door where the side view mirror usually goes due to the Japanese fender mirrors. It’s beyond me why the hole would even be there in a right hand drive car, most left handers of the era didn’t have a right hand mirror to begin with and there was no hole there.
The color is wonderful, and the condition overall just as much so, this is how you expect the normal 50 year old Ferrari or Lotus to look, but not a usually throw-away economy car, making it an extra special treat.
This brought back a lot of memories, not all of them pleasant unfortunately. I am amazed though at the pristine condition of this car, and that color is so period correct!
I had 2 Rabbits, both were 3-doors and both were purchased new. My 1975 is pictured below; it was the first model year sold in the US. It was replaced by a
Westmoreland-built 1979 model in baby blue.
I am reminded of the Matchbox version from my childhood.
The featured car is a top-of-the-line model, as exemplified by the chrome bumpers, chromed trim around all the glass, and the dual round gauges in the instrument cluster. My recollection is that 1975 models in the US didn’t have trim designations spelled out on the car; rather you could order various option packages to spiff up the car.
My ’75 only had the first uplevel package, which provided radial tires, front disk brakes, and a fold-and-tumble rear seat. As can be seen in my photo above, the bumpers were painted silver, and there was no chrome trim on the rubber trim on the glass. The car had only 1 large round gauge on the IP for the speedometer.
It wasn’t until 1979 (IIRC) with the Westmoreland Rabbit that the C and L trim levels were added to the Rabbit badge, but “fuel injection” was added below the nameplate starting in 1977. In 1981 with the first significant facelift (wide Americanized taiillights and wraparound front indicators), the uplevel trims were renamed L and LS.
My 2 Rabbits didn’t have a rear wiper — it was sorely needed!