Volkswagen Golf I Convertible. It has all been written about 100 times already

The first-generation Volkswagen Golf made its market debut in 1974. In the North American market, the model was offered under the Rabbit name. The Golf I owed its innovative silhouette to Italian designer Giorgio Giugiaro, but this we all already know, moreover, everything has been written about this car. Everything, 100 or even 200 times. Everything is contained in one word: Golf. It’s just a Golf, let it be and why drone on! But. This well-known “one” is winning the hearts of generations, and it is hard to deny this simplicity its unique charm, so we give it a chance and promote it in our magazine.

For some, it was an absolute dream car; others scoffed at the Golf’s basic four-seat convertible, which, with its distinctive trunklid, replaced the technically too old VW Beetle convertible in 1979. It must be admitted that the stick that described the Golf Cabrio as a “basket of strawberries” or a “man with a handle” was not something phenomenal. But a design that is not too fragile when the roof is open was the only available way to meet the new safety requirements in the 1980s. Direct competitors Opel Kadett and Ford Escort imitated the Golf 1 Cabrio, but no copy will be as good as the original. In addition to greater security, the stick had another advantage: once the side window was lowered, it was possible to jump into the interior with reasonable efficiency – with the door closed. Actor Sascha Hehn demonstrated this maneuver more than once in the worldwide hit TV show “Clinic in the Black Forest,” when he so dynamically jumped into his once-white CC edition Golf Cabrio effectively breaking the hearts of our mothers.

But the thing with the Golf is that it finds followers in every age group, lest it be said that only our mothers love Golfs in convertibles:) Volkswagen with this model follows the path of slow but thoughtful evolution, which resists rigidly the fads of the moment. Taking a bit of a step out of the “one” story, in a way every new model looks the way we expected it to and, as one hears more than once at VAG enthusiast gatherings, with big wheels it will always look good.

Over the course of nearly 15 years of production, a number of smaller and larger “model updates” were introduced, but these had no effect on the Golf Cabrio’s appearance. The biggest difference came in w1988, when the open Osnabrück model received shielded bumpers that made it look much more modern. There were also different generations of the drive. Starting with the overly “slimmed-down” four-cylinder 1600 with 70/72 hp, there were eventually only 1.8-liter four-cylinders in various power levels of 90, 95 and 98 hp. The “injected” engine was eventually derived from the Golf GTI – hallelujah, which in the 1990s. produced 112, 107, and later as a 16-valve 129 hp at the same displacement. Finally, those in love with the VW Golf 1 were able to choose whether they wanted to change gears manually-speaking colloquially as “pow-wow”-or use the automatic transmission, which turned the formerly clever basket into a dirty laundry basket without moving any flair.

You will ask what made the VW Golf I convertible so popular? That’s because the aforementioned Golfik, is a trouble-free thoroughbred classic that is an easy car to maintain on a daily basis. When you buy this extremely charming “strawberry basket” you have to count on splendor and looking into the car, set yourself up for phone calls from friends who will want to send their children with your convertible to their wedding, but most of all, if you have a “healthy” copy then count on it, its value will increase year after year, and a German will call you to send you his Euros, for a car he loves like a German brand.