VW Golf Mk I and II. Born: 1974 Died: 1993
The original of what was to become Volkswagen's most successful car model is important because it both saved the company and established the hatchback as a standard format in its class.
It was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, and the running gear was adapted from Audi technology, a company which VW had bought ten years earlier from Daimler-Benz. The development of the car was against a background of several serious model flops from Volkswagen, and rapidly declining sales of its bread-and-butter car, the Beetle.
It was very simple in style and interior design, but was roomy and different, and very much a change in direction for Volkswagen, which had previously relied on air-cooled rear-mounted engines - and it was an immediate hit. The company also saw an opportunity in the US in the wake of the oil crisis, and began sales there and in Mexico in 1975, but using the Rabbit and Caribe names in those respective countries.
A version which was to spawn a genre of its own as the so-called hot hatch was released in 1976, called the GTI. It featured fuel injection and the 108bhp produced from its 1.6-litre engine, combined with a relatively small body, gave it performance akin to a Porsche, but at an accessible price.
By 1978 the Rabbit had become very successful in America, and both to cut manufacturing costs and meet the demand, VW set up a production plant in Pennsylvania, which was to continue building cars until 1988. A GTI version for the US market had a larger 1.8-litre engine but much less horsepower than the Eurpean hot hatch. It was released in 1983.
In the meantime, back in Europe, a Convertible was developed, built by Karmann, and launched in 1980. Although the basic Golf underwent a body and engines change in 1983 to become the Mk II, the original Comvertible was continued in production on the Mk II platform until 1993. The Mk II was bigger than the original, had the option of two different 1.8-litre petrol engines, and what was then the smallest diesel around, a 1.6-litre with 75bhp on tap. It also gained a number of powerful variants, including a supercharged version which could be had with 4WD, and this was homologated for racing as a rally model.
At this time, Volkswagen of America adopted the Golf nameplate. But the sting of the oil crisis of the early 70s was now a memory for Americans, and the Mk II didn't do as well. The company closed their Pennsylvania factory in 1988 and all further Golfs for the US were supplied from its facility in Mexico.
In 1987, the first of a number of styling tweaks that kept the Mk II going until the Golf's next iteration was the removal of the quarter lights in the front side windows. The other main change, in 1989, was the introduction of bigger bumpers.
Unusual variants included 71 hand-built G60 limited models in 1989, which had a supercharger attached to the Golf GTI engine and had special detailing. Most were sold to VW management. A Golf Century with longer suspension travel and 4WD was also built for mountainous regions in central Europe.
The Mk III debuted in 1991, and today the version is V, but it was the first two versions which were the foundation of Golf as almost a cult car, which passed out total sales of 24 million last year. The Mk I is still being made, in South Africa.