Early Swallowtail Golf

[Golf Loon]

Just thought I`d post a couple of pics of a swallowtail golf.

These are the earliest Golfs and are almost extinct everywhere. Australia has probably the largest surviving population of these beasties.

They were built in Germany in 1975, put on a boat and registered in Oz in early 1976.

They differ from your common or garden Mk1, as the panel at the back is a different shape. Instead of the crease going straight under the lights across the back of the car, it swallowtails up to meet the corner of the lights.

Go and check your Golfs, lets have some sightings please.


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[imported_brackie]

'76 3 doors?

I sure my first ever Golf was a swallow tail. It was a 3 door. Matt, why did you use a tank from a diesel in your rebuild?

[Golf Loon]

Diesel Tank

I consider this to be the best bit of a diesel golf! It has a bigger outlet and a great anti-surge baffle. which makes it ideal for a fuel injected application.

[alex g]

sighting umm yes in my driveway with only two doors ohh i am in love what mk2, i think she is getting jelious

[Golf Loon]

Al`s Motor

Come on then, show us a pic! Or two, front and back.

[courtz]

I am pretty sure that I have a 3 door "swallowtail" as you describe will post some shots later, it definately deserves doingup methinks!!!!

[Red Mk1]

i have a swallowtail for sale at the moment in the classifieds section its a beauty....if i say so myself

[Golf Loon]

Euro Swallowtail

[syncro]

These '76 Golfs were made in Australia. Note the colours are different from the German cars and very poor build quality. Also there is a blob of weld on the seam where the rear guard joins the bottom panel under the bumper. Also they were all LS models. 77 to 80 models were German and were GLS and GLD.

[imported_brackie]

Thanks, Synchro

Yeah. I often wondered about the different build quality. My first Golf was a '76 3 door LS. Must have been Aussie built? Actually, I rescued it as a trade in from a Perth car yard. It was in pretty poor condition but I fixed it up back to original (then sold it!) Nothing fitted well and the paint was very poor. Why do we always hurt the ones we love??

[syncro]

Re: Thanks, Synchro

Yeah. I often wondered about the different build quality. My first Golf was a '76 3 door LS. Must have been Aussie built? Actually, I rescued it as a trade in from a Perth car yard. It was in pretty poor condition but I fixed it up back to original (then sold it!) Nothing fitted well and the paint was very poor. Why do we always hurt the ones we love??

The bodies have a problem with breaking up also. I had a '76 with a 50cm crack in the front left inner guard area which gave it "unique" handling. I removed the rear seat once and found a piece of masking tape when removed showed bare metal from the factory.

[Golf Loon]

Some of the German ones that were sent here had to be finished here to be allowed, under import regs. Some genius sent them unpainted to be painted her. You can see what 3 months on a boat did to all that bare metal.

My project car was a 1976 LS 5 door auto in a previous incarnation, but is so straight. I think (hope) its just one of the good ones. Its only the shell that matters and shes pretty straight now. She will be a 2L 16v in her next life.

[Beige76]

I`ve got one of those 76s. Its ok.

[syncro]

Some of the German ones that were sent here had to be finished here to be allowed, under import regs. Some genius sent them unpainted to be painted her. You can see what 3 months on a boat did to all that bare metal.

They were all CKD from Germany and welded together in Clayton. I have never seen a German made '76 in Australia. They went on sale in feb '76 and after about May/June '76 the NSW and SA Golfs had different engines to the other states.

[zjm]

these early cars seem to be better than the later cars regarding rust around front window rubber
no wonder the build quality was bad they shared the production line with datsun 180bs and volvo 240s (notice they all had the same colour range)