what started your mk1 love affair?

as the title says im wondering what started other mk1 owners love affairs with the little cars,i know for me who was originally a die hard jap car fan that it was the quality and character aswell as the hilarious amounts of fun you can have with them and im on my 2nd even before i pass my test

My first car was black MK2 i got in 1993 at the time i just wanted someting reliable, then had a few mk1's and 2's. If im honest i prefer a tin top mk2 to a mk1 i think the build quality just feels a bit better.

I have had my MK1 Cabby since 2003!! and my brother owned it for 6 years before he gave it to me! I think its my fav as its a bit in between the two if that makes sense.

Everyone loves an old golf though i have yet to find anyone who hates them!

Much like the OP i was a die hard Jap fan, but also a man stuck in the past (soooo born in the wrong era, im a 70's & 80's man), coupled with that and the fact they look awesome standard with only a set of wheels and coilovers completely sold them to me, oh and not to forget the attention you get and that not one person has a negative word to say about them.

When i sold my first MK1 i had never missed a car so much, which is why i bought my current project.

D.

Loved the boxy look as a kid and my first car that I could afford was a white mk1 driver…. every car I have had since is just an A to B car and have never got that fun feeling back… add to the fact they are now retro and have real character… I smile more now owning something retro, quick, agile, stand out and something I can fix myself than I did at 17 !!!!!  It's getting better with age…. unlike me lol

i was into rear drive old fords mostly, also spent some time with dolomite sprint, my then girlfriend bought an old 1457cc gl or whatever, i was so impressed with this i thought , what must a gti be like, 2 months later i picked up a y reg 1800 gti and i wasnt dissapointed, wasnt the fastest car id had but it was its alround ability that impressed.

something I can fix myself

Really spudders 1 flap? prove me wrong and fit the fuel lines

funk-star said

something I can fix myself

Really spudders 1 flap? prove me wrong and fit the fuel lines

:lmao: OK mostly myself!!!  Next target for the silver one is after germany trip!!

Spudders 1 flap, please see regional section

my dad had a red mk2 diesel which to me as a kid was basic but i liked it, loads of room etc.., when i passed my test i had a few fords and a chavalier which tobe fair was a very good car but boring.  My bother had a polo which was fun then he got a mk2 which was a great car to drive, after it got stolen, he got it back and didnt want it anymore so i got it off him, fixed it and loved the drive, not long after that i picked up a mk1 cabby, left hand drive german import, that was the most fun i ever had in car, great to drive, always bringing a grin, when we had kieran it had to go, i had an audi 80, another mk2, then BMW 5 series took my fancy, then a 325, then it was back to my favourites, Vw, a new beetle and a bora followed but i still wanted to get back in a mk1, so after the bora packed up i went on the hunt for a cabby.

I soon found one i liked on the bay and after buying her, i went to see her (yes i know   ) put my hands on her and fell in love again, drove her 40 miles back home and took 4 hours to remove the grin.  I still love my cabby even when she throws up the occasional problem (agm and 3 cylinders) I dont think i would change her for anything (except a tintop maybe, shhh dont tell her)

i dont think you can beat these little cars (which used to be big??) they a true drivers car with pleasure through every bend and a wave from most vw owners out there that understand

chris  

A bloke called into my workplace to collect some parts for his Range Rover, (in a Mk 1 Golf ) I took a fancy to the wheels on it and he sold me the car… so  that was 10 year ago and I,m still lovin  the same car …just more n more as the years go by.

My brother in law had a 1983 mars red gti.
We were going out somewhere and I could just about get in the front as the passenger seat was so far forward, I asked him how to put the seat back and he said " pull that little lever" but as I pulled that little lever the twat put his right foot through the floor and I was almost in the back of this rapid little thing struggling to sit forward as he shifted through the gears all the time we were both laughing and I thought to myself I HAVE GOT TO GET MY SELF ONE OF THESE. about six months later I brought my first gti a 1.6 1981 model but had to sell it in 2004 when someone broke my leg playing football , and I couldn't afford to keep her :-((
I have now owned 3 mk1's two being gti's, 2 mk2's a mk3 1.4 and a mk4 1.6se but can safely say the oldies are the best :-)

i first saw my first mk 1 two doors away from were we lived and grew up it was a very early white one on a 77 or 78 plate in 1979 i had to wait another 8 years before i could afford an old broken one in black . i have had a few since including 3 total rebuilds now ready to do another .

What a great question..!

Passed my test in 1982, bought a 1300 Beetle for eighty quid, sold it for £200 6 months later then bought a 1975 (N Reg) Wheelie bin green 1300 mk1 Golf with dog muck brown dash and interior for £275, loved it, felt like I had won the Pools (80's version of the National Lottery).

That was my 'cruising car', in the daytime I worked for my Dad and got to drive his new black 1.6 L Diesel Golf van (AVT 854Y) he also had a Sky blue Deisel Van (NUX 229X), Deisel at the time was 48p per gallon and petrol was a quid a gallon!

Tha Black van ended up having windows and Scirocco seats put in and was passed around the family until 2002 when my brother swapped for an Escort estate  :cry: , my green mk1 ended up having a small electrical fire so I sold it the a China man for £100 (a swallowtail for £100..!)

Never really bothered with fun cars for a good few years due to having 4 kids so we just had people carriers but then hit 40 and went a bit mad, bought an A4 Cab for my 40th, swapped that 6 months later for a 3 litre Tdi Quattro A4 Cab, then saw the new RS4 so had one of them 6 months later, kept that for a year then changed that for a A3 170 Tdi Quattro, then an Eos (yack), then an R32, Scirocco, Mk6 Gti, then got my appetite back for the Mk1 GTi again.. finally I got one, then another and so on, I have 4 now… never looked back, live the dream, best car ever made without a doubt.

My grandfather had always had mk1 Golfs, from a P reg GLS up to a Y reg Golf C when he died in 1987, and there are family photos of me proudly standing next to the GLS, but I kind of forgot about them for a while in search of something cooler, but it was my uncle that brought them back to my attention.

As a young man in my 20's, I was having a fling with 'Cal look' Karmann Ghias and early 60's Beetles when my uncle asked if I'd give him a lift 8 miles down the road to pick up a car he'd agreed to buy. He kept fairly quiet about what it was and when we got there I was fairly disappointed to see an '82 GTI in Black which had clearly seen better days. I couldnt understand why he was so excited to be buying what appeared to be a very tired Golf. Expecting to drive my runabout Polo back, I was surprised to see him pass the me the keys to the GTI, as I was a bit wild with my driving style back then, and could not be trusted, not to thrash it. Those 8 miles back were incredible. I battered it! But it was like wearing a glove - it did everything I wanted, and more. What a car. I was so impressed at its pace and ability to accelerate quicker than anything out of corners. It saw off quite a few 'performance cars' to my surprise. The smile on my face when he arrived back at his house (5 mins after me) told its own story of approval, understanding and ENVY!

5 days later, and I got a mate to drive me to Salford to pick up a Black '81 GTI with a cam and 1.8 conversion on a 1.6 gearbox. It was found through scouring Autotrader all week and I was hooked! On reflection the car was awful, but I learnt a lot, and quickly bought others. 21 others to be exact.
Which brings me up to date with mine.

As much as I love the one I own, I know it won't be the last. I'm already plotting space for another project.

When i was younger i always loved the shape of a mk1 and knew one day id have one. once i passed my test i needed a car quick and bought a mk2 fiesta as they were cheaper than a vw alternative.
once i could afford to i bought a vw but it was a mk3 gti and since then iv never looked back. if it wasnt a vw or audi i couldnt have cared less.
got my first mk1 about 5 years ago (a clipper) did the usual things, mohair, leather, porsche wheels , coilovers but for some reason as much as i love it it just wasnt right. something about a h reg mk1 or whatever and now i have an 82 cabrio. (the year i was born too  8)
il never sell this car no matter how rich or poor i become. i love it and hate it with so much passion. its now a part of me. most ordinary people just dont get it

i fell out with the wife and no longer had anything in my life that was unreliable, annoying at times, needing lots of work put into it so i brought a mk1 golf and like the wife it isn't the best looking thing out there but the ride is great

My dad when he got a new Gti back in 1982 and put a zender (i think) body kit on it along with a gti heckeblende? And he had it two tone with charcoal grey bottom half over the factory silver, it looked so sweet.

I was always a Vauxhall fan. I passed in 1997 at 17 and had a Nova Sr, Then Nova Gte, then 16v Astra GTE, then Vectra Sri, Then Nova with a redtop fitted, then another Vectra with a 3.0 conversion. Thats takes me to 23. Then I started selling cars for a living….starting of course at Vauxhall main dealer. Thought I was in heaven. However in 2004 (at 24) I got a job selling VW's. Didnt like them much but the package was better financially.

I havent once looked back. Absolutely fell in love with the brand and the cars. A customer of mine bought a brand new Touareg and turned up in a 1.8t Mk1. He let me drive it round the block and the rest is history. I had to have myself one.

Ive worked for many brands since including BMW, Merc and Jag (Merc are the biggest piles of overpriced  shite i ever sold) but thats just my opinion. Now I am a kitchen designer and out of the motortrade but I have a mk3 vr6, Mk1 gti, Mk1 Caddy, Girlfirends got a 6n2 Polo Gti and I flogged my mums Rav4 and got her a VW Tiguan instead. Its not just Mk1 golfs for me, its anything from Oval Beetles, Karmann Ghia's upto v10 tdi Phaetons……I like them all. lol

hi all,absolutely loved reading through the replys so far and by the looks of it everyone else seems to be infected with the mk1 bug as much as me if not more and im already planning another mk1 project for when i eventually get round to restoring my 1.5gx,the project will be a mk1 estate based on a mk1 caddy and if it looks anything like what ive imagined it'll be wicked ,sat nice and low over 14" banded steels and loads of retro charm

I loved the history behind the GTI how three engineers built it in their spare time then used it to chase down a Porsche at its grand unveiling in front of Ferdinand Porsche himself, in doing so impressed the VW management so much it went basicly straight into production hence the poor brakes and also that injection system. I believe and i may be wrong on this particular details that its the only mass production analogue injection system as the engineers designed and built it in their spare time again so went for a simple system they could fabricate and tune themselves.

I am on my 4th mk1 and have loved working on them all (Thats a lie doing rear brakes in the dead of winter and that spring slipping and hooking through your cold fingers was never fun lol)