Book Review
THE COMPLETE BOOK OF VOLKSWAGEN GTI: MAD ABOUT PLAID
THE COMPLETE BOOK OF VOLKSWAGEN GTI
MAD ABOUT PLAID
Editor’s Note: We reviewed this VW history just one year ago, and while it remains the same excellent book, we’re now at the 50th anniversary of the GTI’s launch. If you didn’t buy it then, there’s a great excuse to digest it now…perhaps with a bier. Or three. DB
If launched in 1976 – as has been alleged – then it’s 50 frickin’ years since Volkswagen introduced the definitive ‘hot hatch’ to automotive enthusiasts. To be sure, the recipe had been tossed about – literally and figuratively – before Volkswagen’s chefs got onboard. But for the most part, those that were hot (think Mini Cooper) didn’t hatch, and those with a hatch weren’t particularly hot. VW, to its credit, brought both together in what we might have called an SUV…if that hadn’t been appropriated by the folks at Jeep and/or Rover. Instead, in the guise of its quickly iconic GTI, the hot hatch nomenclature became VW’s.
If wanting to sit yourself down and ponder that timeline, you might as well do it in front of a book. And there are few better overviews of the GTI history than that provided by author Russell Hayes and THE COMPLETE BOOK OF VOLKSWAGEN GTI – EVERY MODEL SINCE 1976. While the title provides the gist, allow me (please!) to detail the gristle.
In the first chapter – and on that chapter’s first page – Mr. Hayes gives us the context. Throughout the ‘60s Volkswagen had been pursuing a successor to its Beetle. Although the small VW remained hugely popular, the Beetle was showing its age, which was understandable; the first VW was already outdated at the time of its late ‘40s launch. Europe was increasingly moving toward front-wheel drive and the ensuing efficiency and space that layout provided. And in an era of emission mandates, air cooling would prove counterintuitive; it may have taken awhile to fully realize, but the writing was on the wall.
Designs were drawn and prototypes were built, but it wasn’t until a front-wheel drive layout, clothed in a design by Giugiaro, was given production approval that Volkswagen has its Beetle successor. And within two years of its official 1974 launch enthusiasts had their GTI.
In that same first chapter Mr. Hayes gives you a deep dive into the donor Golf, complete with a cutaway drawing of the platform and sheetmetal. I distinctly remember the new Golf (Rabbit in the U.S., presumably ‘Arnold Palmer’ in Augusta) on a Dallas showroom shortly after its launch, and I was smitten. The footprint was tidy, the layout logical and the price point reasonably accessible.
In the overview of the Mk1 GTI, attention is also paid to the delayed into of America’s Rabbit GTI. Believing that America had no appetite for performance-spec econocars, we were initially denied the GTI, while the Golf/Rabbit, now a product of VW’s plant in Pennsylvania, had been given an Americanized redo with distinct American touches. And most of those were unfortunate. Eventually common sense prevailed, and the Rabbit GTI debuted to acclaim (and relief!) for the ’83 model year.
Along with the granular details of this new GTI is an overview of the many deviations, most of which were inspired by the enthusiast’s insatiable desire for more performance. Here, both road and competition variants are detailed. And while most were offered only in Europe, the reader is exposed to what might have been. And given that most of these performance derivatives are well over 25 years old, you can now legally import your own.
And there is, of course, the obligatory minutiae that accompanies 240 pages of coffee table format. No GTI badge on the front grille of the 4th generation? Who knew? A roadster GTI concept shown in 2014? Sign me up!
If you have a GTI in the garage, THE COMPLETE BOOK OF VOLKSWAGEN GTI is a recommended presence on your coffee table. And if, like me, you don’t have the car, you can – at $50 – easily buy the book. And should.
My wife and I purchased a new Scirocco in ’79, and flirted with a GTI purchase in the early ‘80s, but never pulled the trigger. And while I still haven’t, a GTI Mk7 in Great Falls Green – with plaid interior – still gives me a reason to ponder. Some 50 years later, I’m still mad about plaid…
Mr. Hayes’ comprehensive work is published by Quarto Publishing, and is available via Quarto.com or – of course – your independent bookseller. The review copy was provided by the publisher.
