Golf GTI Mk1 - One of the very first ones.



Front.



Rear.



But sometimes a Mk1 is for work only...

this car is weird, i never seen anything like it, the rear windows appear to be metal like in some newer postgolfs, but it hasnt the taillights or the ladekanten. also it has the newer bumpers.

any more info on that? :wow:

the white golf in the background has a really weird grill.

@Otti:
That is a "Golf Van", also known as "Golf Stadtlieferwagen".
In some countries like GB, NL, B, A, and probably DK and some more,
the taxes were much lower, if you bought a 2 seater "panel van" instead of a usual car.
The Van had two seats, metal window panels and "Ladekantenbleche".
The "Stadtlieferwagen" for Austria had a interior divider with a net, the "Van" had a simple wooden divider only.
The Van had only the two weakest engines (petrol/diesel), the Stadtlieferwagen got up to 70hp.
No Golf for the german Postal Service or Telecom had those metal windows or the taillights without reversing lights while in service.
But you could save taxes in germany too, if you welded the side windows in your car and register it as van, until a few years ago.
So many owners did that.
The "Stadtlieferwagen" / "Van" were available as Golf Mk2, and some other older & newer VWs as well.




@Tjaap:
Yes, they were unsure where to place the front lights...
Fortunately they fixed that - and the smallest rear lights, too.

I wonder what the story behind the supposed 'mk1 GTI' is on top of this page. GTI's were only post-swallowtail I believe? Home made gti perhaps?

too bad, i kinda like them.. like a little brother to the rocco

@MellyVille:
These pictures are out of the first GTI Brochure, printed in 09/1975.
Before regular production, they changed subtle details.
On old pictures, cars with license-plates WOB-V are often prototypes/evaluation vehicles of VW.

Volkswagen Research and Development in the 70s

I really like MK1, especially the first GTI... :wuv:


Don't forget that this shining example of clear style comes from Italy: Giugiaro Design... :thumbup:

http://www.chicagoautoshow.com/show...ry/default.aspx

Not only is it a wonderful time-waster, but there's some great photos that needed to be in this thread.

Here's the VW booth from 1976:




Here's 1979 - this would have been the first year for the Westmoreland Rabbits:












1983, US debut of the GTI:

Volkswagen with Bakery Equipment. Tasty!

Very rare...!
Do you know if some of these small-light are still alive?

Recently came out an interesting article on a specilized magazine here in Italy, saying that Giugiaro when first designed the Golf wanted a large rear light, but VW headquarter imposed him a small one due to cost limits.
They said that a bigger light would be mounted if the first years of production would have given a good econominc return, at that was... :)

In the same article are pubblished also some of the first hand-drafts of the Golf, then they where modified because of the US approval requirements: in detail hood and windshield angle were modified...

I don't think any of these preproduction models survived, but hey, you never know. There is this '73 with the sliding door still around.

That picture comes from a brochure wherein the process of designing a car is explained. It contains a shit-load of incredible pictures of the factory and these preproduction models, mostly golf, but there are some scirocco's and I believe a polo in it somewhere as well.

Nice...

Thanks!

Anybody can scan that article?

>Very rare...!
>Do you know if some of these small-light are still alive?
Never seen anywhere, except in some brochures.

>That picture comes from a brochure wherein the process of designing a car is explained.
If i remember right, it was in a japanese brochure with explanations how mk1 golf are build.
But the brochures "vw report 6" and "vw report 9" (So wird ein Auto gebaut)
are very interesting as well, and full of pictures.

regards, Jan

I've got those brochures here, but I'm afraid my scanner died on me. Over the years I managed to source only two of the series, I don't know how many there ought to be in total. Anyway, since this is an "picture-thread" I thought to photograph the photo's from the brochures. Here are a couple, the rest you can find here:


















Possibly you recognize some of the pictures, that's because they are used in quite a lot of literature on the golf/scirocco/general vw's.