The Golf, the icon: the most-built Volkswagen is celebrating its fiftieth birthday this 12 months. To kick off the anniversary 12 months, the Golf I and one among its predecessors from 1969 might be seen on the Bremen Classic Motorshow (Germany). The Golf has moved and impressed the lots since 1974. And with each era, the compact automotive has revolutionised and democratised the automotive world.
it was not cooled with air and it was not a boxer. A brand new period began with the primary Golf. And the technical change was additionally accompanied by a change within the visible idea. “The Golf offers maximum usable space and safety. It is uncompromisingly practical,” is how the corporate described it on the time. And so the 12 months during which Germany gained the World Cup in soccer turned the 12 months for the most-built Volkswagen of the longer term. Just two years later, the primary million items had already been offered, and greater than 37 million items have now been delivered worldwide.
The Golf would and needed to proceed its success story. But in 1974, no one knew that its success can be a lot higher than that of the Beetle. Over the years, the Golf turned virtually imperceptibly a part of our society, synonymous with a car class and even a complete era. And everybody has most likely had their very own private expertise with the Golf: as a driving college automotive, as an personal new or used automotive, with kin or buddies, with two or 4 doorways, as a petroleum or diesel mannequin, GTI or ‘strawberry basket’. Somewhere there all the time was and nonetheless is a Golf.
The coronary heart of the Volkswagen model
However, when sequence manufacturing of the Golf I began on the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg 50 years in the past – in March 1974 – this success was removed from assured. Because because the successor to the Volkswagen Beetle, it adopted in big footsteps. The Beetle, the icon, had laid the muse for Volkswagen’s worldwide success. But the brand new mannequin from Wolfsburg was additionally extremely popular and rapidly turned a bestseller.
In the next mannequin generations, it was all the time the Golf that made inexpensive mobility potential for everybody on the highest technical stage. It got here with expertise such because the managed catalytic converter and environment friendly drive techniques, and moreover provided security options such because the anti-lock braking system, airbags or the primary all-wheel drive system within the product line. The secret of the success can be right down to the truth that the designers transferred the primary era’s DNA to its successors, thereby cultivating the basic design.
Development of a brand new bestseller
Work on a successor to the Volkswagen Beetle had already begun in Wolfsburg within the late Nineteen Sixties. Several idea automobiles had been created, together with the EA (growth order) 276. The EA 276 from 1969 already exhibited many options of the later profitable mannequin equivalent to entrance engine, hatchback with giant boot lid and torsion beam axle. But underneath the bonnet was nonetheless the well-known Beetle boxer engine with air cooling, and the main focus was on reliability and low growth prices. However, the times of this expertise had been coming to an finish. The design of the EA 276 was pioneering, however one other idea car was developed additional for sequence manufacturing. The new mannequin was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro (Italdesign).
Rare exhibition duo on the Bremen Classic Motorshow
To mark the beginning the anniversary 12 months, the Volkswagen model is presenting the Golf I in Bremen, thus recalling the start of the automotive revolution in 1974. The look on the motor present is complemented by the distinctive EA 276 idea car – the predecessor to the Golf that was developed in Wolfsburg. The brilliant yellow manufacturing Golf and the orange-red idea car might be seen at Stand D10 in Hall 5 from 2 to 4 February.
Volkswagen Classic is current on the present along with the Autostadt Wolfsburg, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Oldtimers and Audi Tradition, who will even make it potential for guests to expertise automotive historical past.
The Bremen Classic Motorshow has been opening the season of basic car reveals in Germany for over 20 years. With over 46,000 guests, it’s a agency fixture within the occasion calendar of basic automotive lovers.
Further info, texts and picture materials on the Golf can be found for obtain within the Volkswagen Newsroom.