Owned a 77' (modified Rabbit) with a GTI motor(1.8 fuel injected) and 5 speed transmission,sway bars, upgraded shocks and all wheel disc brakes.. No power steering that model year but that thing was like driving on rails.. Very light and quick rig plus top end (77' speedo went up to 105) and I buried that needle on a few occassions and felt like I was still picking up speed.. Canary Yellow with black accents.. Fun car and miss it. Made some Vegas trips from Long Beach,Ca in just over 3 hours so most of the trip was at 90-100 mph.. 🤙
Had my Mk1 GTI since 1988 and it's great fun to drive and own. The main problem with noise on the motorways is the low gearing in 5th which means 3,500 rpm at 70 mph as opposed to c.2,000 rpm in a modern car. Some people have fitted a 6 speed box with a high top gear which would be a good retro fit. Still quicker than most standard hatches. Have a cable operated throttle gives it great throttle response and it has a nice induction rear. Great video. Thanks for sharing.
Nice but on black cars rear window surround was painted black not vinyl wrapped. Unless the Campaign was different. BTW a Campaign was called Pirelli model in Germany. And all Campaigns are A reg.
All colours including Lhasa green and Helios blue had the black decal whereas black cars had no decal at all but had an extra silver pin stripe under the waistline trim.
Thanks Mark, absolutely agree, these are great fun. Nice to hear you're still running one. Lovely old school soundtrack, which I've kind-of replicated on my MX5...
Thanks for the thought, but the series is deliberately all about the owner's perspective. Since filming this though, I now have insurance to allow some drives, as seen in later videos 😎👍
Sadly from 2030 on all combustion cars including classics will be banned from public streets in entire EU and Scandinavia :-( In Germany the Green Peoples Party gave order to shorten fuel supply from 2025 on by reducing all conventional fuel stations to only one state operated central gas station per city or county. Now they want to slow down all the gas station fuel pumps from 20 litre per minute to 2 litre per minute...From 2027 on in the EU certain car spare parts will be banned too....as exhaust systems, turbo chargers and even some engine and gearbox oils...California and New York will do the same from 2027 on.... So no investments should be done in oil burning cars any longer....They even created a new kind of crime here, called emissions and smoke crime....:-((
Classics like this may eventually be difficult to run regularly, but there is reason to be hopeful perhaps from synthetic & sustainably produced liquid fuels. See Seb Vettel's appearance in Mansell's Williams at Silverstone this year, or Harry's video below. There may be a future for internal combustion yet, and I hope this future arrives quickly. th-cam.com/video/dO1RiTCZFFg/w-d-xo.html
Golf mk1s put a smile on your face when driving , had mine for 30 years , love it to bits !
Glad to hear, it seems to be a car people hold onto, and certainly was a lot of fun
I had the Scirocco in Question but always loved my friends 84 Gti
Both a lot of fun, the Scirocco still seems an attainable classic
Great Vid .. Mike certainly knows his car and the pedigree of the mk1 .Thanks for producing and sharing Doug..👍🏻
Thank you very much for watching! Your comment encapsulates my approach, i.e. give owners a platform to share their expertise & enthusiasm 😎👍
Made my morning viewing!..Also laughter was made with the Detectorist clip..😎👌🏻
Glad to hear - haha I do like to shoehorn in a Detectorists reference if I can, I managed to on the TR7 video as well, of course 😆
Owned a 77' (modified Rabbit) with a GTI motor(1.8 fuel injected) and 5 speed transmission,sway bars, upgraded shocks and all wheel disc brakes.. No power steering that model year but that thing was like driving on rails.. Very light and quick rig plus top end (77' speedo went up to 105) and I buried that needle on a few occassions and felt like I was still picking up speed.. Canary Yellow with black accents.. Fun car and miss it. Made some Vegas trips from Long Beach,Ca in just over 3 hours so most of the trip was at 90-100 mph.. 🤙
That sounds awesome, you paint a good picture! Must've been a left field choice over there, but a fun one
love the vw golf, has a special place in my heart :) from a new subscriber and your biggest Belgian fan ;)
Thanks very much for the overseas sub! They often seem to be first cars, with lots of memories 😉👍
Awesome Video 😎
Thanks Sham, much appreciated!
Great vid.nice car and a knowledgeable owner!
Indeed, Mike may also have a bit more knowledge to share with us in future too...
Had my Mk1 GTI since 1988 and it's great fun to drive and own. The main problem with noise on the motorways is the low gearing in 5th which means 3,500 rpm at 70 mph as opposed to c.2,000 rpm in a modern car. Some people have fitted a 6 speed box with a high top gear which would be a good retro fit. Still quicker than most standard hatches. Have a cable operated throttle gives it great throttle response and it has a nice induction rear. Great video. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks very much Jeff 👍 Nice to hear of another one held onto for so long. Which 6 speed gearbox do people usually drop in?
Nice but on black cars rear window surround was painted black not vinyl wrapped. Unless the Campaign was different. BTW a Campaign was called Pirelli model in Germany.
And all Campaigns are A reg.
Interesting, I assume Mike's ended up on a Y plate because shipping would have delayed UK cars past when the UK A reg began.
All colours including Lhasa green and Helios blue had the black decal whereas black cars had no decal at all but had an extra silver pin stripe under the waistline trim.
Great video, such fun great sounding cars, I have a 1982 1.6.
Thanks Mark, absolutely agree, these are great fun. Nice to hear you're still running one. Lovely old school soundtrack, which I've kind-of replicated on my MX5...
Sounds nice.
I had a campaign for 25 years until 3 years ago. I've got a set of bilsteins if you're interested.
Thanks Russell, I’ll let Mike know 👍
Russell, Mike's interested to know what you've got, drop me an email if you like and I'll get you in touch 👍 nightfall.drives@gmail.com
👍
Did you not even get a go lol
Thanks for the thought, but the series is deliberately all about the owner's perspective. Since filming this though, I now have insurance to allow some drives, as seen in later videos 😎👍
Sadly from 2030 on all combustion cars including classics will be banned
from public streets in entire EU and Scandinavia :-( In Germany the
Green Peoples Party gave order to shorten fuel supply from 2025
on by reducing all conventional fuel stations to only one state operated central gas
station per city or county. Now they want to slow down all the gas station fuel
pumps from 20 litre per minute to 2 litre per minute...From 2027 on in
the EU certain car spare parts will be banned too....as exhaust systems,
turbo chargers and even some engine and gearbox oils...California and
New York will do the same from 2027 on.... So no investments should be
done in oil burning cars any longer....They even created a new kind of
crime here, called emissions and smoke crime....:-((
Classics like this may eventually be difficult to run regularly, but there is reason to be hopeful perhaps from synthetic & sustainably produced liquid fuels. See Seb Vettel's appearance in Mansell's Williams at Silverstone this year, or Harry's video below. There may be a future for internal combustion yet, and I hope this future arrives quickly.
th-cam.com/video/dO1RiTCZFFg/w-d-xo.html
Reason to be hopeful - more on this from Sam:
th-cam.com/video/kxsDxZmidtg/w-d-xo.html