(First Posted September 25, 2013) Brazil is to VW what Australia is to the Big Three: an alternate universe where things look both familiar and yet quite surreal. Take this 1981 Gol, for example; it’s essentially a shortened Audi 80/Fox with a restyled body and a hatchback. Well, that was a good way to recycle the out-going B1 tooling and such; sending it to Brazil. But it arrived from Germany without the engine tooling, so the Brazilians got creative: they dropped in the air-cooled Beetle engine. So if you’ve ever wondered what a FWD air-cooled Beetle updated for the eighties might have looked like, this is it.
Here’s how that looks under the hood. The 1300 and 1600cc engines did get a different fan and housing in order to fit under the hood. But otherwise, it’s all air-cooled VW, right down to the modest output and performance. The single-carb 1300 had all of 42 horses, and the twin-carb 1600 (shown) mustered 51. The 0-60 run took some 16 seconds for the 1600.
A couple of years later, the Gol sprouted some aspects on its front and rear ends. A trunk out back and revised roof line turned the Gol into a proper sedan (four door too), and the water-cooled EA827 engine tooling finally arrived from Germany. VW Brazil belatedly entered the modern era, although the Gol would soldier on with the air-cooled boxer for a few more years yet. If the Voyage looks familiar, that’s because it’s the car VW imported to the US as the Fox (the wagon version was called the Parati). But that’s a story for another VW Week post, hang on a bit longer.
In 1984, the first of a long line of “hot” Gols appeared, with a 90 hp 1.8L water-cooled engine. The GT, and later GTI got more power as the years went by, but I’m not aware of a factory turbo model, so this may be an aftermarket emblem. And in 1985, all Gols got liquid cooling, as the air-cooled boxer was sent packing.But ti wasn’t the familiar EA827 in the base model, but a 1.0 L mill built by Ford no less, as this was during the time of the VW and Ford Autolatina JV. So the Gol got another odd engine under its hood.
First I’ve ever heard of these – fascinating. Looks like a dual carb setup, and the cooling fan is at the opposite end of the engine from the Beetle configuration.
Me too. It would be brain-melting to see one of these drive by with aircooled VW clatter coming from such a conventional looking sedan.
I’d LOVE to bring one of these in to my local old VW mech and watch his head explode!
Our automotive education continues. That original Gol looks a bit like a Chevette in the rear half. The use of the air cooled Beetle engine in an Audi 80-derived chassis is one of the more interesting concepts I have come across lately. As DougD points out, that car would be the dictionary picture of cognitive dissonance.
Gol-ly, but I love the name. I remember the old 70s movie The Boys From Brazil about clones of Hitler being raised there. A documentary on these cars could be called The Gols From Brazil. Sorry.
I actually had wondered why that wasn’t an early adaptation. Never had a clue that it existed. Thanks Paul.
Surely VW and Subaru knew what the other was doing about this time. I never knew about this configuration until I read this just now. To quote Arte Johnson’s German soldier character from Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, “Vedddddy int-resting.”
Its an old configuration. The Citroen 2CV pioneered it with a flat twin boxer, and the Goliath 1100 had a flat boxer four ahead of its front driven wheels in 1957. And the Lancia Flavia used the same configuration in 1961. Subaru looked at both of those before designing their first boxer FWD car in the mid sixties.
And Citroen followed the 2CV with the flat-four GS in 1970…
Add in the Alfasud and would that be a complete listing of boxer fwd cars?
hmm the Citroen Visa Special and Citroen LN are both aircooled and horizontally opposed, I believe, and fwd too of course 🙂
And the Lloyd Arabella.
“Gol” — a more perfect car name for soccer-mad Brazil would be hard to imagine! (“Golf” sounds geriatric in comparison, with just one more letter.) Apparently at least some of VW do Brasil’s advertisements played up the futbol connection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEtWn82vHSc
The later water-cooled Gol is EVERYWHERE in Brazil, having been the best selling car in the country for a quarter of a century.
Thanks for that, Robert. I thought maybe I was the only one who read the title as “1981 Brazilian VW GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!”
side angle pic 1 gives it a VW rabbit convertible profile, front grill reminds me of a ford fiesta. last pic looks like a citroen bx. And a little bit of the scirrocco.
Especially the white one. I had a 1975 Scirocco. Troublesome, but really fun! It only weighed 1800 pounds!
By the way, VW is (sadly) about to cease the production of the VW Combi which is still built today in Brazil.
The last one will go out of the factory on the 31th of december.
http://bigbrowser.blog.lemonde.fr/2013/09/24/adieu-le-combi-de-volkswagen-va-disparaitre-pas-les-souvenirs-de-ses-occupants/
(Sorry, I haven’t find any piece of news in english)
Nice photo gallery with comments in english here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/volkswagen-van-to-cease-production-after-63-years-1.1866879
Tomorrow is Bus day, and I’m doing a post on this then.
Ive found a nice Brazillian bus for the cohort just have to shoot it.
Wow — hearing one of these drive by must inspire the same sort of “huh?” as did hearing the 2CV-derived engine working away in Citroen’s original LN and Visa. Cognitive dissonance for sure.
Never heard or seen this one before,it looks a tight squeeze in the engine bay
During the ’60s VW was thinking about a substitute for the Beetle. One of these ideas was a ’69 prototype called EA 276 (“Entwicklungsauftrag”). It had front drive, torsion beam rear suspension and squarish unit body. But it used the old flat-four engine. Eventually this project would get a water-cooled transversal motor, a stylish body (Bertone? Giugiaro?) and – voilà – enter the Audi 80 and VW Golf. The head of the design team was Phillip Schmidt who would later become chief engineer for the Brazilian branch. He lost no time in resurrecting the old scheme because VW was facing a hard competition from the Chevrolet Chevette (Opel Kadett) and FIAT 147 (127 in Italy). They kept the boxer engine because it would cheaper to make and service. Also, the factory didn’ t have the capacity to produce enough of the water cooled powerplants. Naturally, a modern style was needed and they based the new model on the Scirocco: so was born the Gol, an instant sales hit. AGB
It is amazing to see that engine room shot, yes that is the Audi Fox/80 chassis, same as my ’75 Fox, except my one year only K-Jetronic had the air flow meter where the battery is, and battery was factory mounted in the trunk! And I must assume the black strap thing over the left in the picture air cleaner is the spare tire mount? Sure looks like one
It is amazing see a post about my old VW Gol in english hahahaha, My father bought the Gol L (1300) in 1982 and it is still on the road 🙂 , If you love the aircooled engines you must drive the aircooled Gol.
regards from Bolivia!!
Jaime
Hi guys
Can anyone tell me where i can get engine parts for a VW gol 1600 water cooled motor.
Im based in South Africa and im pretty sure im the only owner of a vw gol in this country.
would like to keep the car original.
If its difficult i will have to modify a Mk2 Gti motor to fit.
Lance,
The Gol 1600 basically has the same motor as the Beetle 1600, a 1.6L air-cooled H4, so parts should work together with little effort.
-Edward Mann
I used to have one of these, alcohol fueled. In the rain, the engine quitted, had to cover the radiator. Engine and car parts are easily available in Brazil.
I got mine 1983 ethanol propelled, brand new from the VW dealer in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I still have it, turns heads wherever I drive it. Such a great car, never had in issue with it. And when VW introduced the water cooled engine in the Gol series (1986), the cooled ones became known as GOL BX (stands for Boxer engine). Here’s a couple pictures of it with the Brazilian black license number, meaning it’s an over 30-year old car, factory original, and a collection item car.
The fVW Gol isn’t based on Passat/Audi 80 platform (Typ 32/Typ 80), it’s actually based on VW Polo mk2 (Typ 86C), but with longitudinal engine arrangement. best regards
Since the Volkswagen Gol was apparently derived from the Audi 80, one cannot help but wonder whether it would have been a suitable basis for a Golf-sized Audi 60/70-badged hatchback as opposed to a mk1/mk2 Golf-based Audi hatchback.
There was no Audi badged mk1/mk2 Golf-based hatchback. There was the Audi 50, which was a totally different car, and that became the VW Polo.
Am aware of the Audi 50, just that the impression one gets is the Audi 80-based Volkswagen Gol could have have given Audi a more premium fastback hatchback coupe alternative to the mk1/mk2 Golf (albeit minus the 5-cylinder engines).
I see. Possibly, but I think it would just have been a bit too close to the Golf back then. They were trying to differentiate Audi more, which is why the 50 was taken away from them and turned into a VW; it was too much overlap. of course later the Audi A3 was just a Golf in disguise.
Perhaps it might have been too close, yet the Volkswagen Gol loosely resembles the Golf in terms of dimensions yet its fastback hatchback style reminds me of a Sirocco.
One way Audi could have differentiated the Volkswagen Gol derived model would have been to make it use 1.6-2.0 or 1.8-2.0 engines, maybe even spawn 4WD along with 4-cylinder turbocharged Hot Hatch equivalents of the Audi Quattro down the line.
Was the direction of rotation of the engine reversed, or was that issue addressed in the configuration of the transaxle?
I was wondering that as well. Presumably they tooled-up a revised diff, without turning the gearbox upside-down.
The Differential is between the engine and the transmission. The output shaft is below the input shaft. The guts of the differential are just reversed by turning the shaft end for end. This is how you do mid-engine in a formula VW. No changes required, just assembly configuration. For gear geeks, these have spiral bevel gears instead of hypoid. The axes intersect.
It´is not precise at all. The Gol had a air cooled engine by the first gen in order to keep the costs down and to have a proper substitute to the beetle. VW in Brazi had the tooling in Brazil for the MD270 engine (1.5l) that equipped the VW passat since its launching in Brazil. The GOL soon received a 1.6 water cooled engine in 1985 in the S and LS version. The base followed with the air cooled 1.6. There were sports versions such as the GT, Copa, Star and other all powered by 1.6 and 1.8 engines. In 1990 it was launched what was the most technological and advanced GOL, the GTI, with fuel injected a 2.0 engine. The GTI was the flagship of this line and endured until 1996 when it had a 2.0 with a DOHC head. Follows the list of engines that soldiered in th GOL.
AE-1000/CHT 1.0 8V (52 cv)
AE-1600/CHT 1.6 8V (82 cv)
AT-1000 1.0 8V (57 cv)
AT-1000 1.0 16V (69 cv)
EA-111 1.0 8V Flex (71/72 cv)
EA-111 1.0 8V (65 cv)
EA-111 1.0 16V (76 cv)
EA-111 1.0 16V Turbo (112 cv)
1300 Boxer (1.3, 47 cv)
1600 Boxer (1.6, 65 cv)
MD-270 1.5 8V (78 cv)
MD-270 1.6 8V (81 cv)
EA-827 AP-1600 8V (1.6, 75 – 99 cv)
EA-827 AP-1800 8V (1.8, 91 – 106)
EA-827 AP-2000 2.0 8V (112 – 125 cv)
EA-827 AP 2.0 16V (145 – 153 cv)
EA-111 VHT 1.0 8V Flex (72/76 cv)
EA-111 VHT 1.6 8V Flex (99/104 cv)
EA-211 MSI 1.6 16V Flex (110/120 cv)
EA-211 1.0L MPI 3L 12v Flex (76/82 cv)
The GOL is still in production today in Brazil.
Anyone know how many of these aircooled front driver VWs were made? Thanks.
hard to say, i would guesse around 400k? give or take, i own a 1982 and its chassis 114490, the Gol was made with the air cooled engine until 1986, but in 1985 the intermidiate and top spec versions came with the water cooled engine, and the boxer was relegated to the base model