Completely happy birthday to an absolute legend! Volkswagen’s best-selling automobile of all time and Europe’s hottest automobile ever turns 50 in the present day. On March 29, 1974, collection manufacturing of the Golf Mk1 began on the Wolfsburg plant in Germany. Since then, greater than 37 million items have been bought. Doing the mathematics, over 2,000 individuals have purchased one each single day during the last half a century.
The Beetle’s alternative initially emerged on the finish of the Sixties when Porsche developed the EA 266 prototype. Over 50 vehicles had been constructed however the challenge was finally canceled in October 1971. These vehicles had a water-cooled inline engine tucked away beneath the rear bench seat, which technically made the automobile mid-engined. The placement of the gasoline engine made issues troublesome concerning restore and upkeep work.
It did allow a high velocity of 116 mph, which wasn’t too shabby for an econobox. Though a mid-engined hatchback appears like numerous enjoyable, the fact was fully totally different. Rumor has it the engine ran too sizzling and fumes would enter the cabin. Not solely that however the car was claimed to be slightly loud in addition to unstable on a moist highway.
Chances are high it will’ve been too costly to construct anyway, so the automobile was scrapped. It additionally appeared awkward and would’ve been a ache to restore given the engine’s hard-to-access location. VW says that of the 50+ vehicles produced by Porsche within the late Sixties and early Seventies, solely a handful have survived.
Across the similar time, the EA 276 was being engineered at house in Wolfsburg with a front-wheel-drive, front-engined format. Just one was ever made, however even that prototype wasn’t absolutely practical. It had the Beetle’s air-cooled boxer engine underneath the hood, whereas the gasoline tank was situated beneath the rear seats. The small hatchback – which appeared higher however nonetheless a bit uncanny – had a torsion beam axle and a spacious cargo space.
The EA 276 challenge was deserted as nicely as a result of the engine expertise it used was already outdated for what was meant to be a world product. Nevertheless, the one-off automobile did affect the first-generation VW Gol launched in Brazil in 1980 with the 1.3-liter air-cooled engine from the Beetle however mounted on the entrance. The Gol hatchback spawned a Voyage sedan a few yr later.
The true Golf earlier than the Golf was the EA 337, penned by none apart from Italdesign’s Giorgetto Giugiaro. The manufacturing mannequin transitioned from sq. to spherical headlights whereas the flip indicators had been moved from the fenders to the entrance bumper. As well as, the door handles of the Golf Mk1 stand proud of the physique whereas on the EA 337, the handles sit flush with the physique. The Golf’s windscreen is just not as flat as on the prototype.
Giugiaro needed the oblong headlights to enter the manufacturing mannequin and echo the taillights when it comes to measurement and format. Nevertheless, VW determined to go together with spherical lights as a result of these had been cheaper to provide. He remembers being requested to attract a “mass-produced automobile that needs to be a contemporary compact automobile with a boot lid.” He remembers VW asking him to “design a successor to the Beetle for us. And can be glad if the house within the inside is about the identical as that of the Beetle.”
Though Giugiaro has designed every little thing from the BMW M1 to the Lotus Esprit, he as soon as mentioned the Golf was “a very powerful automobile of my profession.” Again in 2008 when he celebrated his 70th birthday, the enduring automotive designer mentioned the success of the unique VW Golf “opened many doorways for me.”
So far as the automobile’s title is worried, “Golf” comes from the German phrase for the “Gulf Stream” (“Golfstrom”) ocean present. Quick ahead 50 years later, VW nonetheless makes use of the enduring moniker for the eighth technology of its compact automobile. The hatchback/wagon duo just lately went by a mid-cycle facelift and can stay on sale for a number of years till an all-electric Golf Mk9 takes its place within the lineup.
