While I have a reverence for the past, as I suspect most regular visitors to this site share, I’ve always focused on the present and future. “Straight ahead,” I often say, is the only direction. But every now and then, especially with many more yesterdays behind me than tomorrows ahead, it’s fun to reminisce about time passed. There were some very good times in my past, and 1983 was certainly a very good year to turn 26.
The airwaves were filled with new hits by Elton John, Billy Joel & Rod Stewart, as well as some new names like Eurythmics and this new band from “Down Under,” Men At Work.
If this doesn’t scream “1980s” to you, you weren’t around
On the big screen, it was the year of “Flashdance,” “Trading Places,” “Terms of Endearment” and one of my often overlooked favorites, “Local Hero.” Oh, and the only year to feature not one, but two James Bond films. Sean Connery returned after a 12-year absence to appear in a remake of “Thunderball” titled “Never Say Never,” while Roger Moore returned for his sixth and penultimate appearance in “Octopussy.” If you were a stylin’ guy you were wearing band collar shirts and thin ties (but not together).
Two Bonds in one year. We shan’t see this again
And me, I was in my fifth year working as a flight attendant at Ozark Air Lines, and the regional Midwest carrier I had joined in 1978 now flew coast to coast with destinations like Miami, Tampa, Las Vegas and San Diego. When I wasn’t traveling for work (with an average of 12 working days a month) I was off to one place or another for fun.
As I wrote about seven years ago, I had purchased my first new car in 1979. My Turbo Mustang was fun and fast, but I had some concerns about its long-term reliability. I had been reading car magazines since the sixties, and in the fall of 1982, the new buzz was all about a car that was right up my alley, the new (to the USA) Volkswagen Rabbit GTI. Car and Driver and Road & Track really just fell over themselves praising this upcoming model. Even though I had yet to see one, I was intrigued.
This was, to use a more contemporary phrase, right in my wheelhouse. My previous three cars had been Volkswagens, and I had always been attracted to small cars and high performance. This “sleeper” seemed the ideal choice, so much so that I ordered one sight unseen. Based almost solely on the reviews, they were in demand and it was hard to find one for less than list, but a friend of a friend had recently sold a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership to a newcomer to the St. Louis market, and the new owner also had bought one of the more established VW dealers as well, so I was able to get a $400 discount. Not quite like the deal I got on the Mustang, but I was happy to get it.
Almost my first black car
Now, I’ve never been partial to dark colors, but I thought the GTI looked good in black. (Actually it seemed to be the only color initially displayed in the ads and reviews.) I ordered it with a sunroof, air conditioning and an engine block heater (which I don’t think I ever used on this car, and later when it would come in handy, a subsequent car was not similarly equipped). To this day, I have never traded a car in for a new one. I’ve been pretty successful “curbing” them (to use a term one of my used car salesperson friends used to use) and I sold the Mustang for a good price, maybe a week or so before the Rabbit Arrived. No problem as one of my roommates was a cousin who was a commuting pilot and I had access to his “airport car.” However, when it arrived there had been a slight error. It was silver. No matter, I liked it better anyway.
I liked the silver much better
I loved this car. The interior was spartan, but highly functional. One review referred to the GTI as a “Speedster for the eighties,” and I felt that was right on the mark, except perhaps for the updated amenities we had all come to expect by this era. The instrumentation was excellent (despite the DOT mandated 85mph max speedometer) with the addition of a voltmeter and oil temperature gauge to the usual fuel level and coolant temperature indicators. The ventilation system was very good, and the seats were excellent, with firm foam (that apparently had to be imported as no stateside material was considered acceptable) bolsters for lateral support on both the seats and seat backs (which were gradually adjustable via a dial mechanism instead of the usual lever that only allows a series of predetermined positions). Even the steering wheel looked as if it came from a BMW or Audi. And all this before you began to move.
The view from the cockpit
The really, really nice seats
There are some cars that can produce impressive performance, but when driven hard give you feedback that while they would comply with your request, they were being punished. The GTI seemed to respond with, “Is that all you got?” It was, until that point, easily the most fun and responsive car I had ever owned. While it had a larger engine and clutch, and a precise close-ratio 5-speed gear box, there were some tradeoffs to providing this level of drivability at this price point, the main one being that it was geared for acceleration more than high speed. At 60 mph the tachometer was reading about 3,200 rpm. Not that it was complaining mind you, but a sixth gear would have been a nice addition.
When pushed hard into a corner, the inside rear wheel lifted, a characteristic still displayed by contemporary GTIs
Back in the day, those of us who were audiophiles or at least pretended to be eschewed any factory installed sound system. (And to be honest, at this time, the factory offerings were still a year or two behind leading edge technology in sound reproduction.)
I can’t recall the company I used to purchase my Sony XR-75B AM/FM Cassette Player, along with a separate Blaupunkt amp and four speakers (it was similar to today’s Crutchfield) but the total was more than the cost of the VW Beetle I’d bought seven years earlier. Didn’t matter, it sounded great and I could afford it. And I also, wisely I might add, shelled out $245 1983 dollars for an Escort radar detector, which probably saved me much, much more. I even replaced the sealed beam headlights with European Hella models that accepted higher wattage (“off road only”) bulbs.
It was the sportiest car I ever owned that could actually be of assistance when moving or transporting large objects. An independent stereo store carried Boston loudspeakers. I had a pair of two-way A-70s that had worked well in my previous apartment, but now that I was in a rental house I was looking for something larger. One evening I viewed a Hi-Fi-Fo-Fum commercial that announced a sale, and the next day I went out and bought a pair of A-200s (which unboxed measured 21” by 42″). With the rear seats folded down it was not a problem.
Later that year I took my first transatlantic vacation, Nonstop from St. Louis to London’s Gatwick airport via the now long-gone British Caledonia Airlines. (Airlines generally offer lower-cost space available flight to employees of other carriers) and spent a week alone in London. I then flew to Frankfurt where my best friend (still is) arrived for two weeks on the continent, beginning with a visit to the Munich Oktoberfest. For some reason there was a difficulty with my Avis reservation and in order to avoid a long delay we wound up with a diesel Golf (as you might know the Rabbit was titled everywhere but in the U. S.) that while disappointing on the autobahn actually worked out pretty well. While in Germany I did get a glimpse of the next generation 1984 Golf/Rabbit that had just been introduced there. A blinding flash of “planned obsolescence.”
It was a great trip, with excursions to France, Austria and Switzerland, and while one Oktoberfest experience has sufficed for me, I have returned to Munich at other times of the year more often than to any other international city in the intervening years.
The first generation GTI started the “pocket rocket” (now better known as the “hot hatch”) category yet only lasted one more year. Volkswagen wisely upgraded the Rabbit Convertible (later Cabrio) with the GTI engine and drivetrain, along with the distinctive 14-inch wheels, considerably improving its drivability.
As we all come to learn, all things must pass. I got married in 1984, and two years later became a father. While the GTI was still as much fun as ever and even had adequate room for strollers and other various accoutrements of parenthood, for ease of entry and exit we replaced it with a four-door Jetta GL. But like my Karmann-Ghia experience, this one too, has an encore appearance. Stay tuned.
I still remember the day I was out driving aimlessly, wondering what should be my first car. I had gone through a few mental phases and driven some cars, but nothing seemed “right”. Then it all became crystal clear as a silver Rabbit GTI approached from the other direction. Eureka!
I had read all about these and they seemed to scratch about every automotive itch I had at the time. I was in a German car phase – check. Sporty, good looking and practical – check. And they were priced right – double check.
The only fly in the ointment was that by then I knew that the Rabbit GTI was a goner and that the new Golf GTI was its replacement. There was something about this early version that I found slightly more appealing. Though in a tradeoff, VW ditched the velour upholstery and added a more European-style interior. I picked the black one because the only other choices were silver (which I didn’t like) and the extra-hot-orangy-red (which I hated).
I now remember the short gearing – 3000 rpm at about 60-65. It seemed a bit more developed and sophisticated than yours, but to this day I still carry a little torch for the original GTI.
I was a few years younger than you when the GTI showed up on the US market. I test drove one as soon as I could and was hooked. But reality reared it’s ugly head… our first child was on the way, we were going to become a single-income family, and the funds for owning two new cars (the other was an ’82 Accord sedan) were a bit scant. My ’74 Opel Sportwagon kept soldiering on as my commuter.
The desire never died, however, and I finally got my GTI in 2011 as I neared retirement and was exiting the world of company-provided cars. I’m now on my second, a 2019, and still loving it.
These were great cars in their day: I recall several friends who owned them. High strung with short gearing as you pointed out, you had to do lots of rowing of the gears, but man, they could handle. These were some of the first cars to take advantage of the emerging consumer performance tire category, launched by the Goodyear Eagle.
GTIs typically had high-end stereos (usually Blaupunkt) which were frequently stolen, so as often as not you would see one with a hole in the dashboard where the radio used to be.
I also recall that the warning lights were LEDs (then a novelty), and that a single turn indicator on the dash had to make do for both left and right signals (LEDs must have been expensive then).
Thanks for the memories.
It’s possible the single turn indicator light was in place due to design convention and not LED cost cutting.
I’ve come across several older German cars with a single turn indicator bulb on the dash, an odd bit of minimalism, when even the cheapest domestic car had dual indicators.
Perhaps someone else has more insight.
My 81 Scirocco has just one indicator for the directionals….with a conventional bulb. The Germans probably figure its enough to remind you that a directional has been activated….You should know which one.
There was no good audio sound solution for this car. I, a Nakamichi person, tried and failed, and spent my time in these on Kenwood removable arm units. The panels are all thin and highly resonant.
I did put 7 inch ADS subwoofers onto the doors of one in full range mode, with tweeters above, an ugly thing but did pound a bit. That worked better on 911s.
One went for I think $15k on the trailer bring a place. Well worth it even if not a GTi
“I also recall that the warning lights were LEDs (then a novelty), and that a single turn indicator on the dash had to make do for both left and right signals (LEDs must have been expensive then).”
I vaguely remember that my Dad’s ’64 LeMans convertible had only one turn signal indicator light, as did a ’72 BMW Bavaria owned by a friend’s Mom. Perhaps we’ve dumbed ourselves down over the years… lots of evidence to support that!
Yeah, it doesn’t seem to be too difficult to figure out which one is on when the light blinks, most aren’t confused about which direction they are signaling.
As a corollary, the “safety nanny” devices that many seem to lament may unintentionally in fact be doing what everyone has wanted, getting people to signal, i.e. if you switch lanes without signalling the wheel will push slightly against you (or worse, beep at you), easier just to signal.
On the other hand there was the 1981-82 (US market) Ford Escort, which had separate arrow-shaped flashing green lights at each side of the gauge cluster. But this evidently wasn’t enough, as Ford also added text underneath proclaiming LEFT and RIGHT in case the arrows pointing in those directions weren’t obvious enough for you…
oops, we need a pic!
I remember wanting a Scirocco when they first came out in ’74.
I currently own an 81 Scirocco S. The last year of the MK1
There were several of these at my high school and I got my first a few years later, in my case an ’86, but also in silver. The second generation was more refined but heavier.
In either case though, brilliant cars to drive with excellent seats, one of the high points of my own ownership lineup.
I traded my 80 Scirocco for an 86 tornado red GTI. Only options were sunroof and radio prep. It was a heavier car, but felt a lot more substantial than the Scirocco. With 102 hp vs. 76 for the Scirocco it was significantly faster….Not as sexy though as the Giugario designed Scirocco.
I hadn’t thought of Hi-Fi-Fo-Fum in decades! I didn’t have a TV during my St. Louis period, so I wasn’t aware that they had commercials, but ca. 1971 I bought a used Acoustic Research amplifier from them. IIRC they were on Big Bend Boulevard.
I was going to mention this in response to your COAL last Sunday. My uncle owned a manufacturing company, and he has to have been the only American industrialist who bought Peugeot 404’s as company cars. His personal car was a Citroen DS. These would have come from GA Imports in Webster Groves. They also handled Renault and Fiat.
I had my ’68 Saab 95 V4 serviced at Splisgardt Automotive on Manchester Road. The shop had a sign: “Labor $12/hr. $15 if you watch. $20 if you help.”
Can you tolerate these bits of St. Louis nostalgia from me from time to time? 🙂
When you mentioned having to import the foam for the seats, I was reminded that ’83 Rabbits were built in Pennsylvania.
1983. I drove my first car (12 year old Citroen 2CV4) and read about new cars in the car magazine I subscribed to (AutoVisie in the Netherlands).
Strangely enough (as a young man) the Golf GTi never did much to me. They raved about it in the magazines but it did not stir anything inside me. Too cold, too plastic, too angular. That new Saab 900 Turbo however…
Most new cars of the 80s did nothing for me, and still do not. I always found the older material much more interesting. There are exceptions of course because I just bought a 1985 XJS 6 cilinder coupe. A car I always admired, even when new.
Great post! I had a 1980 GTI, before everyone says they didn’t come that early it was a German model that we got in Canada. It had a golf ball shifter, plaid recaro seats and a nice 3 spoke wheel. I was probably the third owner by the early nineties when I bought it for $2500. Over the time I had it I had the engine rebuilt with a new head, racing clutch and a set of headers. This year didn’t come equipped with a cat in Canada had the 1.6 litre engine and 5 speed manual. It could hold its own with the newer golfs assuming they weren’t a 16 valve or VR6.
I still miss it. It was really a drivers car and took a lot to overdrive the suspension. And like yours it could hall a lot of stuff. To bad for me sorted ones seem to go for $10k if you can find one. I later got a 92 turbo diesel Jetta that was very close but wasn’t as quick and sounded more like a tractor. But the 1000kms per tank was a nice change.
Too bad domestic car makers didn’t embrace this cars great driving dynamics. Doing that would have turned on a lot more people to small cars. Although I have to argue that it wasn’t until cars started coming stock with multiple class D amplifiers and 1k+ watts power in mid to late 90’s that stock stereos no longer greatly benefited from aftermarket upgrades. Class D amplification revolutionised car stereos and man do I miss my Volvos Dynaudio system.
Growing into actual car ownership in the late ’70s, it was always a matter of buying something and then improving it. Bigger wheels and tires, performance suspension pieces, a steering wheel with a fat rim, and supportive and comfortable seats with side bolsters. This was the first (relatively) cheap, full package, right out of the box. Also nice looking, mostly sedate, but with the flashy rims and the cool red “GTI” logos. All of a sudden, the preppie down the street could own a car that did everything one worked so hard to build. Also a factory warranty, peppy engine, and a close-ratio manual transmission. Be still my beating heart!
Driving one was a revelation. It would do everything our carefully and intensively modified cars would do, but in a beautiful and mature package, missing all the “sturm und drang” our modified 510s and Pintos would create when they went flying down the road. The GTI was the real beginning of the (sort of) cheap, but very nice, fully capable car, right out of the box. There wasn’t really anything much to do to it, that would make it “better”. So many other interpretations of the breed would follow.
It’s…WABBIT season!
This car was very popular among the car enthusiastic crowd even since it was introduced in North American, partly because it is indeed very good, partly because car magazines like Road and Track and Car and Driver always liked good handling small car with powerful engine. VW GTI fit their narratives well. I remember my friends in Toronto in mid80s debated whether to buy this, or Celica, 200SX, Prelude or Civic 1500s. Sadly now only VW GTI is still available in its original form in North American at least in 2021. Actually the current generation of GTI is one of most desirable cars to drive with relatively economical to operate. But even sad to say today American buyers don’t care about this. As result we have less and less good and practical sporty cars available.
I accompanied a friend on a test drive of a new Rabbit GTI and he loved it, though he wound up buying something else (can’t remember what). A 9.6 second 0-60 time seemed so powerful in the late malaise era! I eventually test-drove two different used 1983 GTIs when shopping for my first car, but they were priced out of my comfortable range so also didn’t buy one. I also recall a test drive in a friend’s girlfriend’s ’78 Rabbit, which also had an amazingly sporty feel with its tight unassisted steering and panoramic view; I have no idea why I didn’t buy it. Though I never have owned a GTI, I did finally buy a regular Rabbit in 2007 which I still have.
Cool as the plaid upholstery in Mk5 or later GTIs has been, I’d much rather have this snazzy red velour in a totally color-keyed interior in my new GTI. I also miss the vent windows and gauges on the console, oh and the high-mounted radio which would be even more useful now in the touchscreen era. Really I love the entire Mk1 GTI interior.
Great story! There were several exciting (certainly compared to the offerings of the late 70s) new cars coming onto the market in the early 1980s: the 5.0 Mustang GT and the new Celica Supra were the opening acts. In 1983, your VW Rabbit GTI and the 2nd gen Honda Prelude. 1985 brought an even-better, much improved 5.0 Mustang, the Toyota MR2, the Corolla GTS, the Prelude Si, and….the 2nd gen GTI (called just “GTI”).
I can relate to your experience. My first car was an 86 GTI, I bought late in 1986, as I watched the MSRP go through FOUR price increases that year, from $9150 to $9890, until the planets lined up for me to get one. I bought it off the lot–a black one, with A/C, power steering (which I did not want) and AM/FM. I think the window sticker was $11,440, and as I recall, I got a good ‘deal’, thought I don’t recall the specifics
That 86 GTI had it all–it was fun to drive, it was quieter and better-built than the Rabbit GTI, burned less gas, and for the first 9 years, even had exceptional AC. It was also my first front-drive car, and did very well in the snow. Even the power steering was superb! It was also a well-built car–or I would not have kept it 13 years–best car ever!
Ditto x 2! +1 to story, and +1 to 86 Golf GTI as my first new car. My 10 years younger sister bought one brand new, her first ever car. I was driving a 1975 Opel Sport Wagon, which was still in good shape. Sister had an admirer who had connections with VW dealer in San Francisco, so she got a “deal”. Drove her there to pick it up. Months later decided I’d like a GTI, too. Walked into dealer in San Jose with sister’s paperwork, said, “match this and you’ve got a cash deal”. “Impossible”, they replied, “there have been (x) price increases”. I countered with, ‘how soon do you think you’ll sell a non-AC, non power steering car at the end of the model year?” After some unpleasantness they came down to within a few hundred dollars of my sister’s deal from 6 months prior. Parting words from the salesman, “Don’t expect any special treatment at that price” (!) I did not darken their showroom or service department ever again. Car was very reliable, no problems except radio stolen twice.
Same for motorcycles .The Kawasaki KZ 650 Was The perfect all round bike if you replaced,
Tires ,non Teflon ones as we called them. for Nonstick Japanese OEM tires
Rear shocks for adjustables
Air filter box for K and N filters
Handle bar n grips. For flat one
Exhaust for a four into one
So particularly out ataight out the crate then…
I don’t know why Dodge didn’t do this with the Omni right off. Make that thing fun to drive and the sales will follow. The Shelby GLH was later
they had the best commercial with the little gti surf rock song sung in german. it’s on youtube.
Continuing the turn indicator discussion… if you will recall, the original beetles had one green two ended arrow, at the bottom of the speedometer.
Similarly, I sold my ’78 Scirocco when I bought my ’86 (Silver) GTi. The Scirocco was a “Champagne Edition”, would have kept it longer, but I had moved to central Texas (after living in New England) and after several years wanted a car with air conditioning. That’s the car I’d describe as fitting like a glove..the GTi was much roomier, actually a pretty practical one (even though I used the Scirocco in a carpool, the other 2 participants also had small 2 door cars…seems pretty odd thing to do 40 years hence).
Kept the GTi longer (until my current ’00 Golf). Liked the A1 Scirocco, and the A2 GTi, not so much my A4 Golf…they are making them too “low”, one of the things I liked about the A2 was the tall seating and high-mounted heater/radio controls. The A4 is more aerodynamic I’m sure, but I’d gladly forgo the added fuel economy/top speed to get the seating position in the A2.
Wasn’t so crazy about the upholstery on my GTi….it was comfortable, but wore out very quickly, especially on the bolsters. Found some NOS fabric online and did some sewing and redid the seats myself, did again when the seatback release cable broke inside the seat, but it went quickly again. The foam underneath degraded quickly such that there was always foam dust under the seat..and the foam was what kept the frame from digging into the fabric.
My manager at the time had an A1 GTi, didn’t know him when I bought my A2. Both built at Westmoreland, I liked the single turn signal indicator (think my Scirocco had the same, to me it was economy of function, didn’t need reminder of which way I moved the turn signal lever, just whether it was on or off. My A4 has 2 indicators, another thing I think of as a “sell-out”, several of which bother me about the A4 (like the lower seating). I think of the A4 as trying to copy Japanese cars rather than to be the unique brand that I was used to (probably wouldn’t like the GM Saabs but have no exposure to them).
Agree about the Scirocco styling….it is my favorite, if I was still the age I was when I bought my Scirocco 40 years ago, I’d like another, but now even my Golf seems a bit too low…..maybe I should consider a Crown Victoria for my next car (if they still made them). Seems I start to like a type a car right after they stop making them (also a fan of wagons). To me the Scirocco seemed faster than it was, no doubt because of the low seating, kind of a trick, but sure the GTi was faster, even though it was heavier. My A4 isn’t fast at all (maybe a little faster than my first car, a Datsun 710 automatic) but the manual makes it at least interesting to drive….it is a good in-town car, but the big gap from 2nd to 3rd drives me crazy (guess I should get a 6 speed?).
Yes, remember 1983 well..it was the year I moved to my current location. Funny thing, I made some big decisions that year that in retrospect I kind of blundered into as good choices, but I didn’t really understand (or maybe appreciate) them at the time….probably the most pivotal year in my life (though undoubtedly they seem to happen mostly when one is pretty young).
Had to tear up some arrangements that at the time seemed pretty good, but in the long run wouldn’t have played out as well as what I ended up with.
Read about the new GTi, but wasn’t quite ready to buy a car till a few years later.
Wow, you and I are the same age more or less. Your tale takes place somewhere between the releases or State of Confusion and Word of Mouth. (Guess which rock band is my favorite?) While y’all were off on the FowVay route, I was refurbishing my 1965 Rambler Ambassador 990 convertible. It was a ¾-scale Lincoln with all of the comforts. including air conditioning and the same 327-4V V9 that, in the 1957 Rebel, torched a ’57 Corvette at Daytona.I drove that car until the yoke of marriage settled over my neck in 1997 and it was either get married or keep the car.
I still wonder…