Happy birthday to an absolute legend! Volkswagen’s best-selling automotive of all time and Europe’s hottest automotive ever turns 50 in the present day. On March 29, 1974, sequence manufacturing of the Golf Mk1 began on the Wolfsburg plant in Germany. Since then, greater than 37 million models have been offered. Doing the maths, over 2,000 folks 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 automobiles had been constructed however the undertaking was in the end cancelled in October 1971. Those automobiles had a water-cooled inline engine tucked away beneath the rear bench seat, which technically made the automotive mid-engined. The location of the fuel engine made issues troublesome concerning restore and upkeep work.
Volkswagen EA 266
It did allow a prime velocity of 116 mph, which wasn’t too shabby for an econobox. Although a mid-engined hatchback appears like a whole lot of enjoyable, the truth was utterly totally different. Rumor has it the engine ran too sizzling and fumes would enter the cabin. Not solely that however the automobile was claimed to be fairly loud in addition to unstable on a moist street.
Chances are it will’ve been too costly to construct anyway, so the automotive was scrapped. It additionally seemed awkward and would’ve been a ache to restore given the engine’s hard-to-access location. VW says that of the 50+ automobiles produced by Porsche within the late Sixties and early Seventies, solely a handful have survived.
Around the identical time, the EA 276 was being engineered at house in Wolfsburg with a front-wheel-drive, front-engined structure. Only one was ever made, however even that prototype wasn’t totally purposeful. It had the Beetle’s air-cooled boxer engine below the hood, whereas the gasoline tank was situated beneath the rear seats. The small hatchback—which seemed higher however nonetheless a bit uncanny—had a torsion beam axle and a spacious cargo space.
The EA 276 undertaking was deserted as properly as a result of the engine know-how it used was already outdated for what was supposed to be a world product. However, the one-off automotive 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 couple of 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 alerts had been moved from the fenders to the entrance bumper. In addition, the door handles of the Golf Mk1 stand out from the physique whereas on the EA 337, the handles sit flush with the physique. The Golf’s windscreen shouldn’t be 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 structure. However, VW determined to go together with spherical lights as a result of these had been cheaper to provide. He recollects being requested to attract a “mass-produced car that should be a modern compact car with a boot lid.” He remembers VW asking him to “design a successor to the Beetle for us. And will be satisfied if the space in the interior is about the same as that of the Beetle.”
Although Giugiaro has designed every little thing from the BMW M1 to the Lotus Esprit, he as soon as stated the Golf was “the most important car of my career.” Back in 2008 when he celebrated his 70th birthday, the iconic automotive designer said the success of the original VW Golf “opened many doorways for me.”
As far because the automotive’s identify is anxious, “Golf” comes from the German phrase for the “Gulf Stream” (“Golfstrom”) ocean present. Fast ahead 50 years later, VW nonetheless makes use of the long-lasting moniker for the eighth technology of its compact automotive. The hatchback/wagon duo lately went by means of 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.
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