Info on the 1984 Mk1 Golf GTI Cabriolet

Having owned my "early" 1800i GTI I was thinking about the "early" bit the other day. 


 There we were mcdonut and I on the M61, him in his 1500 auto and me in mine and I got wondering why the "early" bit gets quoted. The production run began in 1979 with the Series 1 dash and hood design fault. (Excluding the Rabbit in the USA).

In 1982 the GLi got the 1800i engine and a redesigned hood. 
In 1984 there was a space saver spare wheel introduced to fit in with the Mk2 Golf design,  a 'split rear seat' along with larger fuel tank from 40-55 litres plus a fuel pump in the tank. 

The club doesn't currently hold a copy of the 1983/84 brochures (edited, as of February 2022 it does) so I can't take clues from them and the Timeline is sparse for 1984 also.

My car has always had a full size spare… so it sounds like I need a space saver.
The rear seats are 'one piece'  not split. 

The only thing I can think of is that it was built in December 1983 & registered in February 1984 so may have differing parts on it. 

Any help would be appreciated after 15 years of ownership!!!
Photos of 1984 GTI cabbys, copy of the brochure and info on spec changes. 

Ta, Dan

I have an '84 Cabby too and picked up the brochure for them last year, been meaning to get it scanned to add to the clubs archive but never got around to it (not having a scanner at the moment doesn't help  )

Anyway I've just made a quick pdf using my phone, quality's not brilliant but hopefully it may be of some use to you…..

you can get it here…

… oh and my car has the space saver and the rear backrest is one-piece too, can't see any mention of a split back seat in the brochure, mine is an '84 build according to the vin.

Thanks very much for the upload Maurice. 

Yet again A5OPY I've been found with a non standard item on my car…. do you know what it is???!!! 🤔😉

So we've established that the 1800i was out in 1982 so how about 1983? There was the All White  GTI Cabriolet in 1983 but it looks like 1984 was the first year the actual GTI specific model came out.  I don't think I've ever seen a split back rest in the rear either. 

Does anyone have an '83 brochure to share with us please??? 

This site might help. Used to be easy to find info before they updated it.
Cabriolet Models

I've got a 1983 all white edition GTI.

Dano said

. The production run began in 1979 with the Series 1 dash and hood design fault. (Excluding the Rabbit in the USA).

Hi Dan, I've never heard about the hood design fault with the 'early' Cabbys.

What was the fault??

It didn't sit far enough down so it obscured the rear view mirror. The improvement sorted that. 

Daniel060979 said

This site might help. Used to be easy to find info before they updated it.
Cabriolet Models

I've got a 1983 all white edition GTI.

The blurb says that the GTI was a trim level… and the GLi got the DX engine. There's not much else for the 1984 model that I can see. 

1984 being the crossover year between the Mk1 & 2 could explain the lack of brochures for the August 83-July 84 period. 

Dano said

It didn't sit far enough down so it obscured the rear view mirror. The improvement sorted that. 

Oh wow, never knew. Every day's a school day!  

Over here the split on the tank, was 1984.5
They changed the shell from a 10 gallon tank and a full sized spare (which I liked) to a 13 gallon tank, a space saver spare tyre, and the "IN-Tank pump and sump/filter/swirl pot/ on the CIS injected models.

The funny thing is that you have to use the 84, and 85 wiring diagrams to kind of get the spec on the 84.5….

The Hood change from the Tall to the Small was @ 82-83.  

As stated the Early Hoods sat about 4 inches taller than the later.

I don't know if they listened to older shorter folks about that to change it… but I have seen 90's with the frames that are taller… when I have replaced the hood material.

Both frames fit so I suspect they had a bent frame, and opted to change it on a previous hood swap.

Hey, the Super Beetle Cabriolet of the 60's and 70's when folded sits so high you can't see out of the back…

But from the older movie after yanking the rear view mirror off the car, "What's Behind me is of no Import."

I personally like to see the clown coming up behind me.

Today I found a 1983 sales brochure on a pen drive that I hadn't used for ages. So - there was no mention of an 1800i GTI, that year it was still badged as a GLi albeit it had the 1800i engine. That means the GTI Cabriolet was first badge in 1984. All clear up to now.? Looking at the VIN number I worked this out… correct me if I go wrong Shughy …. The "sort NR 1234" relates to the interior trim code.
Don't know what "210" relates to.
'EN" relates to the export code for England. WVWZZZ15ZEK009611
W - Germany
V - Volkswagen 
W - Passenger car
ZZZ - Europe
15 - Cabriolet  
Z - Filler digit
E - 1984 **** Important, denotes year model
K - Karmann plant
009611 - chassis number
Type 154 - VW Golf Cabriolet Right Hand Drive
234 - Specific equipment of the car (engine/ transmission etc) for a given period
DX - Engine code 1800i with Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection
9A - 5-speed manual transmission
GB - Brown interior

Options
A75 - Category 15
197 - 45 amp battery
409 - Sport front seats
451 - Alloy wheels

The metal tag and numbers on the sticker show
49 - 2 - 9599
49 - build week (December)
2 - Day of week (Tuesday) 
9599 - relates to the BIW (Body In White) which relates to the production sequence of the bodies.

So the car was built on Tuesday 6th December 1983 and registered on 7th February 1984. 

Take a look at this & have a decipher..

VIN Decoder



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Dano Yes all looks good above - the 009611 is your chassis number.  It should be stamped on your scuttle plate in the plastic window of your rain tray.

Your boot sticker looks in great nick - most have faded or been removed.

Sometimes mk1's have a bar code riveted to the front middle upright which holds up you slam panel - in behind the grille. At least my 82 tintop had one there.

Shughy said

Dano Yes all looks good above - the 009611 is your chassis number.  It should be stamped on your scuttle plate in the plastic window of your rain tray.

Your boot sticker looks in great nick - most have faded or been removed.

Sometimes mk1's have a bar code riveted to the front middle upright which holds up you slam panel - in behind the grille. At least my 82 tintop had one there.

Yep, got the scuttle plate details.

The sticker is in good nick, it's currently covered by a plastic sheet to stop it being worn away!! 😉🙄

I'll have a look for that bar code - never knew about it and haven't ever seen it, it may be gone during resprays!! 😂

morr said

… oh and my car has the space saver and the rear backrest is one-piece too, can't see any mention of a split back seat in the brochure, mine is an '84 build according to the vin.

Back from the archives after 3 years!!! 

 I spent last night going through the options and build dates again cause I couldn't remember whether  I'd posted or written in a book all the info above! 🙄🤓
 

The info on the 'split seat' came from VW Heritage's site… perhaps it means that the back folds down or is it that the two seat bases are 'separate'?? ? 

What month was yours built to have a space saver tyre?? 

Options
A75 - ??? Ideas please
197 - 45 amp battery
409 - Sport front seats
451 - Alloy wheels

Shughy rubjonny , any ideas please?? 

A75 comes up as option code "category 15" which would suggest it's the type code, ie a cabby.  Strange it would be marked as an option code thou If that is the case 

This is a great resource http://vag-codes.info

MetalsBack said

A75 comes up as option code "category 15" which would suggest it's the type code, ie a cabby.  Strange it would be marked as an option code thou If that is the case 

This is a great resource http://vag-codes.info

Thanks, as you say - A75 seems a strange option to have when it's obviously a cabriolet!! 🤔