History
Like its predecessor the Volkswagen Beetle, the
Volkswagen Golf Mk1 has proved to be
influential. In continuous production since 1974,
the Golf was one of the first widely successful
front wheel drive hatchbacks. In the USA, the Rabbit
would spark another generation of VW-alike
front-wheel drive American compacts, such as the
Omni, Escort and Cavalier in the 1980s, just as the
Beetle inspired Falcon and Corvair in 1960s and
subcompact Vega and Pinto in the 1970s. The Golf's
performance also defined the hot hatch before youth
started tuning their imports.
VW Golf Mk1 Photo Collection
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Replacing the Beetle was a vital goal for
Volkswagen's continued survival. By the early 1970s,
the company had fallen into financial woe. The
novelty of the Beetle had worn thin. Sales were in
terminal decline. The front-engine, rear drive small
cars like the Toyota Corolla were refined enough to
woo customers away from Volkswagen's noisy
underpowered engines and dated styling. The Type 3
and Type 4 fastback and square back failed to attract
much interest, whilst the NSU-developed K70 was a
failure.
The solution arrived with Auto Union. They had
attracted a small following with their
technologically advanced Audi front wheel drive
medium sedans. Volkswagen had acquired the
Ingolstadt-based company in 1964 from Daimler-Benz.
Audi's expertise in water-cooled engines and
front-wheel drive would be essential in developing a
new generation of Volkswagens. FWD offered more
performance with lighter weight and more room in a
smaller package. The Audi technology in the Golf
would regain for Volkswagen the engineering lead
over rear drive cars that Ferdinand Porsche had
bestowed on the original Beetle over its large
conventional peers. The small Golf had to succeed in
replacing the high volume Volkswagen sedan. The
upmarket Dasher/Passat would be VW's first front
wheel drive car, and it was relatively well received
for its lower volume market. The Golf would adopt an
efficient "two-box" layout with a steep hatch rather
than a formal trunk, which would be later added in
the Jetta. The water-cooled engine would be mounted
transversely in the front. Work on the Golf began in
1969, shortly after Kurt Lotz became head of
Volkswagen.
Model history
The first Golf (VW internal designation Typ 17)
began production in 1974, although it was marketed
in the United States and Canada from 1975 to 1984 as
the Volkswagen Rabbit and in Latin America as
the Volkswagen Caribe. It was a water-cooled,
front wheel drive design in a hatchback body style.
It featured firmly sprung and damped, independent
Macpherson strut front suspension and
semi-independent Twist-beam rear suspension, that
gave crisp handling and good roadholding, without
being too uncomfortable. The Golf was Wheels
magazine's Car of the Year for 1975. The name is
short for Golf-Strom, German for Gulf Stream;
it was named for that oceanic current to reflect its
international character.
The Golf was designed by Italian automobile
architect / designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, of the
ItalDesign design studio.
The GTI version, launched in Europe in 1976 and
in the U.S. in 1983, virtually created the hot hatch
genre overnight, and many other manufacturers since
have created special sports models of their regular
volume-selling small hatchbacks. The idea behind was
rather straightforward - take a basic-transportation
economy car and give it a high-performance package,
making it practical and sporty. It was one of
the first small cars to adopt mechanical fuel
injection for its sports version, which raised power
output of the 1588 cc engine to 110 PS
(81 kW/108 hp). In 2004, Sports Car International
declared the Golf Mk1 GTI to be the 3rd best car of
the 1980s.
There was a minor facelift in 1980 which saw the
adoption of larger rear lamp clusters (more in line
with Giugiaro's original concepts), revised bumpers,
a new dashboard with a more modern-looking
instrument display, and for US versions square
headlights.
Golf Cabriolet
The convertible version, named the Golf Cabriolet
(or Typ 155), was sold from 1980 to 1993 (a
convertible version of the Mk2 Golf was not made, so
the Mk1 Cabrio with slight modification was produced
until the introduction of the Mk3 Cabrio). It had a
reinforced body, transverse roll bar, and a high
level of trim, and kept the pre-1980 style of rear
lamp clusters. The Mk1 Cabriolet is of unibody
construction built entirely at the factory of
Karmann, from stamping to final assembly; Volkswagen
supplied the engine, suspension, interior, etc. for
Karmann to install. The vinyl or cloth tops were
insulated and manually or automatic operated, with a
heated glass rear window.
South Africa (Citi
Golf)
As of 2007, Volkswagen of South Africa still
manufactures two variants of the Mk1 Golf, the
five-door Citi Golf and the Volkswagen Caddy pickup.
On September 22, 2006 in order to celebrate the
continued success of the Mk1 based Citi Golf in
South Africa, Volkswagen SA announced the limited
edition Citi R which is powered by a 90 kW (120
hp/123 PS) 1.8L fuel injected engine with a
five-speed manual transmission as well as a GTI
trademark red outlined front grill.
There was a special version, named LX with 1.1L
engine, which produced more power than the 1.3L
engine. This version had a tuned GTI-like front
grill, four front headlights, spoiler, alloy wheels
and Recaro seats.
VW South Africa currently (2007) manufacture a
large range of Mk1 variants, namely the Citi Golf
range. The range starts with a standard Citi Golf,
in either 1.4 or 1.6 litre fuel injected models.
Many variants of the standard version are/were
available with different extras packages, which
included the Citi Rythm, Citi.com and so on. The
current range topper is the VeloCiti, also available
in 1.4i and 1.6i, made as sportier versions of the
standard Citi to replace the previous sports
version, the Citi Life. The latest Citi Golfs
produced feature modern features, such as a new
dashboard adapted from a Škoda Fabia, and minor body
"facelifts" such as revised tail-light clusters. The
Citi Golf is still one of the best-selling and most
popular small cars in South Africa.
North America
In 1978, Volkswagen began producing the North
American "Rabbit" version of the Mk1 Golf in New
Stanton, Pennsylvania, thus becoming the first
European car manufacturer in modern times to produce
a vehicle in the United States. (The plant was
called Westmoreland because New Stanton is in
Pennsylvania's Westmoreland County.) Former
Chevrolet executive James McLernon was chosen to run
the factory, which was built to lower the cost of
the Rabbit in North America by producing it locally.
Unfortunately, McLernon tried to "Americanize" the
Golf/Rabbit (Volkswagen executive Werner Schmidt
referred to the act as "Malibuing" the car) by
softening the suspension and using cheaper materials
for the interior. VW purists in America and company
executives in Germany were displeased, and for the
1983 model year the Pennsylvania plant went back to
using stiffer shocks and suspension with
higher-quality interior trim. The plant also began
producing the GTI for the North American market.
('Rabbits' were built in Pennsylvania until 1984).
The first VW Caddy pick-up, based on the Mk1 Golf,
was also created at the Pennsylvania plant.
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Source. |
US-made Mark 1
Golf/Rabbit
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The Volkswagen Rabbit GTI, the North American
version of the high-performance Golf GTI, debuted in
Canada and the United States for 1983 model year.
Assembled from parts made in Mexico, Canada, Germany
and the U.S. in Volkswagen's Westmoreland County,
Pennsylvania assembly plant, it had the same Mk1
chassis, and the same A1 body type as the Mk1 Golf
GTI that had been on sale in Europe since 1976, with
a few exceptions. Key distinct features of the
Rabbit GTI were its squared front end styling, and
its alloy "snowflake" wheels. The interior came in
red or blue felt and leatherette trim. The squared
styling of the front end, particularly the
wraparound direction indicator lights, gave it added
safety and slight improvement in performance. Under
the hood, the engine was a JH 1.8 liter 4-cylinder
petrol engine that ran on unleaded fuel. The JH 1.8l
was transversely mounted, and it would peak in stock
condition at 90 hp (67 kW), delivered through a
close-ratio five-speed manual transmission. Claims
for gas mileage of near-perfectly tuned Rabbit GTIs
range between 25 mpg (US) (9.4 L/100 km/30 mpg imp)
and 30 mpg (US) (7.8 L/100 km/36 mpg imp).
When the Rabbit GTI first appeared in Canada, it
featured the 1.6l engine and five-speed
transmission. It was initially available in red,
white, and black. These Canadian cars were
German-built and were nearly identical in bodyshell
and interior appearance to the 110 hp (82 kW) Golfs
built in Europe. Unfortunately for enthusiasts, the
entire driveline and running gear was identical to
the other Canadian versions. Five-MPH bumpers were
fitted as well as anti-intrusion bars within the
doors. The integral towing eye fitted to the front
of the European car was deleted as the crashworthy
bumpers had towing facilities as part of their
design and the car had been crash-tested for Canada
with the North American front apron. The car was
very attractive but drove no better or worse than a
Rabbit of the same era. Only with the arrival of the
American GTI was a faster Golf available in Canada,
and it was down 22 hp (16 kW) compared to the 1.8
litre Golf GTI Mk1.
United Kingdom
Sales in the United Kingdom were initially slow,
as British-built conventional saloons like the
Austin Allegro, Vauxhall Viva, Ford Escort and
Hillman Avenger were firm favourites with buyers of
cars in this sector, but by the end of the decade
sales were rising rapidly and, along with the likes
of the Datsun Sunny, it was among one of the few
foreign cars of this size that were proving popular
in Britain. It was still selling well in Britain
when production ceased in late 1983, at a time when
the popularity of foreign cars was surging further.
The suspension layout was virtually copied for the
Austin Maestro and Austin Montego, much to
Volkswagens annoyance.
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