You know that:
- The first generation of the iconic Golf was created in 1974 as a successor to the popular but hopelessly outdated VW Beetle.
- The Beetle was produced in Mexico until 2003, but with the publication of Ralph Nader's book "Dangerous at Any Speed", hysteria broke out in the USA about the safety of old-style cars and Beetle sales fell to zero.
- So Volkswagen accelerated development work and before the end of 1974 the first customers could buy the new car.
- The design of the first generation was designed by Italian stylist Giorgetto Giugiaro. The light and attractive design, German quality and affordable price made the Golf a global sales hit.
- In the very first months, the Golf became the brand's best-selling model and in 1975 it won the Car of the Year award in Australia.
- Today, it is probably not even known that the VW Golf was sold in the United States under the name Rabbit under the pressure of political events. The oil embargo crisis, known as the Gulf crisis, was to blame.
- Perhaps the only problem was the weaker anti-corrosion protection, which over time caught up with all owners of the first generation car.
- With each successive generation, the Golf gained new and new customers with its renowned reliability, but even there was a small catch.
- Without a doubt, the Golf was and still is a very high-quality and reliable car, but that unearthly and legendary reliability was the work of Volkswagen managers who "pushed" professional magazines and motoring editorial offices into exaggerated ratings.
- To date, more than 37,000,000 cars have been produced in 8 generations.
Technical parameters Golf 1.1 8V:
- dimensions: length 3.70 m, width 1.61 m, height 1.41 m
- weight 780 kg
- body hatchback
- power unit 1.1 8V petrol engine with 37.3 kW output
- maximum speed 140 km/h
- number of gears 4 forward + 1 reverse
- fuel tank capacity 40 l
- fuel consumption 7.4 l /100 km
- number of seats 5
Technical parameters Golf GTi 1.6 8V:
- dimensions: length 3.70 m, width 1.61 m, height 1.41 m
- weight 810 kg
- body hatchback
- power unit 1.6 8V petrol engine with 82 kW output
- maximum speed 182 km/h
- number of gears 4 forward + 1 reverse
- fuel tank capacity 40 l
- fuel consumption 8.5 l /100 km
- number of seats 5
Technical Director VW Ferdinand Pieche :
"When we thought about a successor to the popular but outdated Beetle, we couldn't get away from its legendary shapes. Our designs went to real extremes. For weeks, we worked on a design for a car so rounded it looked like an egg. We had the design transferred to a large format. When it was done, we went to see it. My long-time colleague and friend Uwe threw up after seeing the sketch. Good thing he did. When he felt better, he said, "Give it to the Italians. "
Assembly instructions
