What started your love affair with the mk1

[Jace]

I've always liked old cars (looks, simplicity, character)

Same here.

I believe I have the least VAG-loving family in the world. My dad, as sensible as he is, thinks automatic transmissions are literally the best thing since sliced bread (no inspiration there)
I think I just like car's with straight body lines. When I was opening my mind to the world a little more when I was like 11 or 12, i loved VC - VG Valiants, W108/9 Mercedes etc.
I've always had a massive thing for hatchbacks as well.

MK1 Golf = win/win!
A boxy, simple hatchback, what more could you want!

[Dub Toffee]

Great Stories!! Fun Read!!

18 and I had finished TAFE in the city, I was just standing at the lights outside.
A young mans version of a mysterious black stallion pulled up in front of me.
It stood their stamping its feet just long enough for me to drop what i was holding and
get that mental picture i needed to go home and find out it was. A MK1 Golf wooo hooooooo....
I also thought at the time how retro what i now prefer to identify as euro it was. This i also fell in lurrrrv with.
I have to say the black stallion did it for me.
I then aquired my first from melbourne i had no idea what i was doing.
I just bought a golf, it was silver, and i drove it home.
but i did heaps to the uphollstry, I enjoyed my new retro enviroment.
I was soon to be guided by Golf Wise and tassie gti ( a big CHEERS) into
Getting into horse power neigghhh and more mechanical enhancments. Fun Days!!
I built a fast Blue Golf that tuneliner bought last year after the second day he wrote it off and burnt it to toast.
But he was safe and so was his friend. the very next day all HE wanted was another mk1 haha
up until he hit the tree i think he was having fun in a mk1 too
All i have to say is keep it on the track.
I now have ambitions to do a 2dr track car so il kepp u posted

[greasykitchen]

My 2 older brothers had old cars - Datsun 1600s and a Hilman Hunter. My family had old cars - mostly Mazdas (an 808 wagon and the rightly hated 929L) - cos they coudn't afford newer ones. I was a late starter when it came to learn to drive (23) and so when it came time to buy a car, old was on my radar. I was heavily influenced by my friend who drove an L Bug. So guess what, I got a '72 1300 beetle. I had know idea about them or cars but I slowly learnt and my interest in old vehicles increased.

The reliability and style of old VWs made me want to get another aircooled when the old bug was fading, but I kind of talked myself out of it. Then E30 BMWs were on the radar for a while, as well as the romance of an old exotic Euro car (FIAT, Alfa, etc).

Long story even longer - saw an ad for a MK1 with low Kms and described as 'almost perfect'. Had considered golfs before but they seemed too obvious, but I went for a look and it was love at first sight (really!). Driven it nearly everyday for about 5 years and it's barely missed a beat. Love it despite its faults (underpowered, poor brakes, no air con). It's fun as hell to drive and different. People always complement me on it - even had someone yesterday. The thrill remains.

[MiKe1_golf]

the bucket.

[JoshFair]

I have always loved old school cars.. Grandad took 20 years to restore a mk8 jaguar (one of 8 in aus) which i am now a part owner of.. dad has a mk2 austin healey sprite.. so old cars have surrounded me all my life...

About 3 years ago i was walking through the thundering city of launceston tasmania (haha) and i saw a very nice black old school looking car with a weird plastic thing under the bumper and a red edge on the gril.. it took me 2 years to finally realise that it was a VW golf... ONLY OLD!! i was so excited by the concept! i had previously loved Fiat mirafiori's.. ford escorts.. KE70's KE20's.. but nothing was as visually appealing as the mk1 golf..

I am the sort of person that can become obsessed with things.. so i quickly went around and bought all the golf and PVW magazines i could find.. and jumped on all the forums.. and started searching for one of my own! build is coming along steadily but have a bit to go cannot wait for it to be finished!

[cartertronic]

Great thread, some fantastic stories out there!

My story starts about 12 years ago, my older bro was looking for his second car. He had decided on a Mk1 and he and my Dad had found a white 4door that needed a little bit more TLC then he was willing to give it. I was late getting my licence, but had my eyes on Escorts and E30's because I loved the straight lines and character.

On the advice of my old man and bro I ended up buying the white '76 4dr and loving it!
Living out in Warrandyte and all my mates living in the city meant I drove in every weekend. Most of my mates didn't have cars so the Golf became a big part of every weekend. In the end it was held together with shoestrings, zip ties and faith (I remember finding an old bible in the back and using it + half a club lock to keep one of the back windows up!) and I sold it to buy a Mk2 MR2.

Looking back the Golf (and help from my old man) was my induction into the world of DIY mechanics, and it took me another Toyota and 10 years to dive back into it properly.

The opportunity arose 2 years ago. My little brother had bought a '76 orange 2dr (all three bro's having now owned Mk1's) and was moving onto a MR2. I jumped at the opportunity to start a proper project and haven't looked back

The passion I have for Mk1's is part family, part styling, part character, and part performance, but a big part is because of this forum. Having a constantly evolving info resource and a being a member of an active VW community has fanned that passion so that I can't see my life without a Mk1 in it!

[Water Boy]

I have grown up around this car. Its my Dad's Mk1:

Then:





Today:

[Jace]

I love your dads car James! So awesome.

[Spyda]

I crashed my mk2.

[Oneofthegreats]

golfworx, that green MK1 PCA676Y is still on the street and track. My mate Chris Bennett owns it. I have been in it a fair number of times, it still had the 16V in then.

Chris went to America for 4 years and it sat in his dads garage only coming out for track days when he came home on holiday. Not long after he got back permanently, the engine threw a major 7. Due to the amount of work that had gone into it, he couldn't replicate it due to teh expense.
So he bought a crashed mk4 GTI and fitted the turbo lumo in the front.

It was a flying machine with the 2.1 16v the turbo looks to be better still.

One track day with the 16V we were at Elvington, where Richard Hammond had that big crash, running rings around some 911s.

Oulton Park 27 01 10 'Catch the Evo' on Vimeo Hopefull this link works for him chasing an EVO at Oulton Park, used to be my local track.

Cheers

Gavin

Thats awesome Gavin & thanks for posting it up

Nice to see its still getting around & hasn't rotted away.

Its still one of those cars thats looks were ahead of its time I reckon.



As soon as I seen pic of it I went on the hunt for ATS Cups, but were well out of my price range back then

[dviflx]

hey guys... pretty simple really.. didn't know much about golfs, needed some wheels.. had the spare cash...

so I saw some pics of this golf that was for sale, a 76 mk1, 2 door, and I just liked the look of it... went to check it out, looked great... and as soon as I took it for a drive, I knew instantly that I wanted to buy it.... ever since then, I've had these mad ideas about rebuilding it into something even greater, faster and more fun to drive! (especially after seeing some fantastic examples on these forums!) And met some really cool people, who are also golf enthusiasts..... had about 2-3 strangers walk up to me making offers.... refused all of them, even a 3k offer! Been through way too much stuff with this car to want to part with it now.... I have become far too attached, spent way too much time, money and effort into this golf. Even if someone offered me 4-5 k I would probably decline. I'm currently in the process of having to get a roadworthy cert cleared because of a defect notice handed to me the other day.... if I can't get it back on the road though, if all goes to worse, the project will begin, and I will start stripping it down, and building her into the way I want it to be.

definitely hooked on the mk1 golfs.




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it's not much atm, but I have big plans for this '76 mk1 swallowtail

[GoLfMan]

for me it started about 10 years ago.
Bought a 1977 Golf GLS off family friends of ours. Changed the engine and my sister learnt how to drive in it. She decided she didn't want to drive manual so I took the car and started playing around with it.

Still got it, its been through 3 engine conversions, and I have spent more time and money on it than I care to remember but I wouldn't sell it!

Just (finally!) finishing cutting the rust out and giving it some love, then its going to be my weekend bruiser

[Jace]

I wish I could think of my MK1 as a weekend bruiser!

[GOLFBALLS]

Great thread, some fantastic stories out there!

My story starts about 12 years ago, my older bro was looking for his second car. He had decided on a Mk1 and he and my Dad had found a white 4door that needed a little bit more TLC then he was willing to give it. I was late getting my licence, but had my eyes on Escorts and E30's because I loved the straight lines and character.

On the advice of my old man and bro I ended up buying the white '76 4dr and loving it!
Living out in Warrandyte and all my mates living in the city meant I drove in every weekend. Most of my mates didn't have cars so the Golf became a big part of every weekend. In the end it was held together with shoestrings, zip ties and faith (I remember finding an old bible in the back and using it + half a club lock to keep one of the back windows up!) and I sold it to buy a Mk2 MR2.

Looking back the Golf (and help from my old man) was my induction into the world of DIY mechanics, and it took me another Toyota and 10 years to dive back into it properly.

The opportunity arose 2 years ago. My little brother had bought a '76 orange 2dr (all three bro's having now owned Mk1's) and was moving onto a MR2. I jumped at the opportunity to start a proper project and haven't looked back

The passion I have for Mk1's is part family, part styling, part character, and part performance, but a big part is because of this forum. Having a constantly evolving info resource and a being a member of an active VW community has fanned that passion so that I can't see my life without a Mk1 in it!

It's wierd, but this is similar to my story.
Simon's (cartertronic) older bro Ben is one of my best mates actually and we studied music together at the WA Academy of Performing Arts. He had a beige 4-door with with a few tweaks that him & his now wife drove accross the nullarbor from Melbs. I loved it & he was always raving about it.

I had a POS mazda 323 and when that died I got an E30 BMW which was great.

Eventually when we finished Uni and Ben sold his Mk1 and they went back to Melbs, I needed a hatchback to make it easier for loading my drums in & out of the car and I saw the grey mk2 GTI in the autotrader.

I love mk2's and all, but nothing seems to be quite as good as the look, sound & feel of driving that mk1 of Ben's. And every time I drive anyone elses mk1 I just can't stop grinning!!!!

So now I have two mk1's, but they're both stripped!!

Cheers

[JP-009]

My manky little mk1 is a 1976 5 door Mk1 Golf, which I assume it is an LS. Original 1600 with 4 speed manual - no radio. I originally bought it as an interim car to ge me to work until I could find a car that I liked. That was over 3 years ago, and I could not think of letting it go.

I bought it off a forign student through the ACT VW Forum, where it had gone through 2 other owners on the forum previously. Each time it was bought with the intention of making a track car out of it - but never happened.

When I bought it, it had (and still has) a large and loud exhaust system, and those terrible 'racing' stripes & VW symbol on the bonet (I'm sure they are good for another 12 kW ).

Since then, I have a bit of work done to make her go and handle a little better, along with lots of other regular replacement/maintenance work for a 34 year old car

It also has a baby and booster seats for my 3 and 1 year old gnomes (much to my wife's disgust, they love riding in it )

My daughter has put a 'supercharged' and 'v8' sticker on the car, and refuses to let me take off the 'angry eyes' tape off the head lights


On my wish list is an 8v 2 litre mated to a manual 5 speed gearbox for lots more fun !!!

Daily driver, track day 'weapon/mobile chicane', skidpan day beast, regular commuter to Sydney/coast, Club Veedub regular and my event car, the kids taxi and trailer donkey.

Couldn't ask for much more from a car that was designed, and then sold in 1976