As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the best CCs to come across in Israel are mostly found in small, quiet and hidden streets, where their owners can park them with relatively less fear of vandalizing. Such is the case with this quite well preserved Mk 1 Golf I happen to stumble upon, curiously not far from another CC I wrote of before (though I doubt these two belong to the same owner).
Moving in closer, and that looks to be a preserved example of a really rare car in Israel:
Frontal look reveals new, LED headlights. These look as though they have round DRLs in each light, although I’m not sure. And note a descendant in the background – almost the same color too.
From this angle, the top is most visible and it’s color is quite flattering the exterior brown of the car. Much better than the mundane black most convertibles come with. Evident of course are the Israeli period-enforced rear reflector stickers.
Although not a clear photo, I had to include this because of the 1980s GIANT speakers so many hatchbacks were treated with at the time. I myself treated some of my cars to similar units, and they were Da Bomb (or so we felt at the time).
From the side this Golf looks to be in a very good condition, although I can’t be sure if it had gone through a restoration of some sort. Being a 1986 model, it naturally benefited from improved rust proofing the Golf undergone starting from 1979. And those wheels are very hansom, and familiar to any Mk I aficionado.
In Israel, the Golf (in all generations) was an extremely successful car – by the late 1970s and into the 1980s, enough time has passed since the Holocaust to make people feel comfortable to buy German cars. However, back in the days of the first generation it was nearly impossible to purchase either the GTI or the convertible – those were imported privately by individuals who had money. The official importer didn’t want to know (or service) such cars, and in all honesty, there wasn’t much demand for hot hatches at the time in a country so far behind in all matters of automotive culture. Of course, nowadays you can import them as classics, and some GTIs do arrive into Israel from time to time. Convertibles – not so much, which contributes to the rare status these cars achieved.
Nevertheless, I have managed to photograph several convertibles over the years, not surprisingly at classic car meetups – here they are, along with other Mk I photos for your pleasure:
The black 1984 car was imported into Israel when new, while the white car was imported in recent years. Most of these cars were treated to various changes, and almost all had had their wheels replaced, as you can see.
Here’s another “original” Israeli car, again with wheels I can only refer to as… weird. Also, I hope the owner doesn’t count on pulling the car (if needed) using the small blue shackle hanging from the towing point.
Rounding off the convertible photos is this 1990 Golf, again with after-market wheels. By the early 1990s, the Israeli importers decided to comply and import the convertibles (and GTIs) themselves, so this is quite possibly an original import of the era.
Moving on to hatchback photos, this 1979 car is a definitive example of the best seller Mk I Golf – a base five door hatchback, in cream. Yes, cream!
You wouldn’t believe how popular that color was – most VWs in Israel at the time, from Golf through Jetta to Passat wore cream. And no, this isn’t the same Golf as the car above it. This one has had a restoration done and treated to a more modern-sized wheels. Those retro-styled items are common within Mk I owners, and rightly so – they look so much better than some of the convertibles’ wheels above.
But as popular as the five door hatchback was, now the sought after collectable Mk I Golfs are three doors, preferably GTIs, of course. This is again an untouched example, save for those same wheels.
When have you last seen a green German car? A 1982 GTI, again with non-original wheels, although I think these are actually VW items – perhaps a Mk III Golf.
And here’s a Golf I captured in Austria whilst visiting Salzburgring for some classic racing (wrote a post about it). This one has had all sorts of tasty touches done, and notice those wheels again.
And if I mentioned racing, there was a Mk I representative among the contestants, a very muscular 1977 Golf, which reminded me of the late 1970s Gr. 2 racer:
Looking at it now, that orange Golf I photographed is more purposeful, and probably much faster than the Kamei GTI that raced in period (above photo is off Google).
I’ll finish the post with this photo of Old vs. New, showing the Mk VII Golf against the first generation. Not much has changed, eh?…
Is there any other car where one variant (in this case convertible) persisted so long based on an older platform, as the Golf? The US Chrysler Sebring (sedan vs convertible) is another example, I think, but perhaps not for so long and not so obvious.
I recall that the Beetle convertible stuck around for several years after the Golf/Rabbit supplanted the older model and before the Cabriolet version of the new car was ready. But it was not as long of a time, probably 5 years or so? I know the Beetle convertible was still around as late as 1980.
I can think of two British cars: Caterham 7 (1972-present, 46 years) and Morgan 8 (1968-2004 then 2012-present, totalling 42 years). Next is Mercedes-Benz G-Class Cabriolet, W460 and its mechanically updated W463, in production uninterrupted from 1979 to 2013 (34 years).
Several others would be noteworthy to list here: Mini Moke, including Australian and Portuguese versions (1964-1993, 32 years); Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet (1949-1980, 31 years); Ford Model T (1908-1927, 19 years); Mercedes-Benz R107 SL (1971-1989, 18 years); Ford Mustang (Fox Platform) (1979-1993, 14 years).
Anyone want to contribute more here?
Volkswagen did it twice with the Golf Cabriolet, too: the first-generation and the third-generation both had facelifts to look like their successor hatchbacks.
I guess I wasn’t clear … I wasn’t referring to the lifetime of the model, but the fact that the convertible remained Mk1 based even after the Mk2 and 3 were introduced. It’s like the Mustang convertible remaining Fox-based for 9 years after the coupe moved on through two more platform generations.
How does one park over those high curbs without messing up your rims or alignment?
Maybe the owner watched yesterday’s Vehicle Ambush video and knows to approach curbs at a 35-degree angle to avoid wheel/suspension damage!
But seriously, it does seem like an unusual car to see parked up on a high curb.
You just approach at a fairly wide angle and do it very slowly, i.e. nudge against it and then add a little bit of power, it’ll ride right over. This is common everywhere else in the world where the streets are narrower but still have sidewalks with curbs and the cars also often still have side specific parking lights for at night. If you don’t ram the curb at speed like you are TJ Hooker it won’t mess up the alignment or the wheel/tire.
Frequently it’s actually required if you want to park on that street. The signage shows a car with one side of it up on the curb. Park “normal”, i.e. like in the US and you’ll get towed or The Boot.
Mk I Cabriolets show up at both the local VW show and the annual all German show at the Gilmore Museum on the other side of Michigan. As you noticed, there seems to be something about earlier Golfs that attract sometimes questionable modifications almost as badly as older Civics.
Can’t help but notice how much the Golf has grown over the years. Now a Mk I seems tiny.
Easy to understand the popularity of cream colored paint in your area. It doesn’t show the cream colored dust evident in your pic of the Mk VII. The dust in my area is the same color, and becomes visible on my black car within a few hours of a wash.
“Here’s another “original” Israeli car, again with wheels I can only refer to as… weird. Also, I hope the owner doesn’t count on pulling the car (if needed) using the small blue shackle hanging from the towing point.”
Sadly the tow hook sickness has spread to Israel also. In the USA the tuner crowd all have these installed. I guess it is supposed to be cool. However to me it looks stupid. If the car with these hooks on it is not a new car that just came off the truck (in which they use them to hold the car steady) awaiting a pre delivery inspection at a dealer, then it just says that your car is a piece of shit that you don’t trust not to break down on you.
Towing eyes are standard equipment on some cars both my Citroens have them in the toolkit and the Ford Mondeo I had use of over the weekend the screw in towing eye was with the spare wheel in the boot, Its unlikely the tuner add on versions are mounted to a suitable hardpoint but the originals do .
Yes a lot of cars do have tow hooks. But they live in the trunk(usually with the spare tire) when not needed for being towed.
The tuner crowd drives around with those tow hooks attached to the tow hook hole in the bumper all the time.
The Mk I Golf/Rabbit was such an attractive design. I remember the day the idea dawned on me to investigate a GTI as my first new car. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon when I saw a silver Rabbit GTI in oncoming traffic on a quiet suburban street. Eureka, I thought. But then immediately I realized that I had missed the car by a year because the Mk II/Golf version had replaced it months ago. The newer car was likely more comfortable but it lacked the perky good looks and the smaller zingable size of the original.
… the smaller zingable size of the original.
“Zingable” eh?
What I think stands out on most of the Cabriolets shown here is the black bumpers, I don’t think US cars got that feature after the first year or two of the Rabbit.
And yes, tow hooks are a stupid affectation.
I’m curious if Cabriolets suffer from the same stereotype in Israel as they do in the US, which is to say here they’re pretty strongly stereotyped as being “chick cars”. I don’t know if this is cause or effect, but in 1990s TV shows a Cabriolet seemed to be the car that upper class high school girls were often shown driving. Since it sounds like they weren’t as common in Israel I’m guessing they never gained that reputation there.
Well on account of their high price compared with the standard models it would have been an uptown chick but as far as I can recall, in Israel ownership was not particularly sex-defined. In the UK they were the typical female Sloane Ranger* chariot of choice until dethroned by the Audi 90 cabrio, so again someone well heeled. Secretaries and hairdressers drove Ford Escort and Vauxhall Astra cabrios…
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloane_Ranger