The original Volkswagen Golf GTI is something of an icon, a milestone in the Hot Hatch Greater Cinematic Universe, and the car it’s based on, the regular Volkswagen Golf Mk.1, is an icon of automotive design on its own. The designer of the original Volkswagen Golf was Giorgetto Giugiaro, founder of ItalDesign, and I just learned that the only car he was ever given by an automaker he worked for was a Golf, given to him by VW. This was a special Golf for a number of reasons, one of which I find strangely satisfying. I’ll explain.
First a bit of a reminder about the level of achievement the Giugiaro-designed Golf was. By the late 1960s, VW realized they desperately needed a real replacement for the Beetle, which had carried them so far but was still fundamentally a 1938 design with incredible perseverance. It was just getting incredibly dated, and VW’s acquisition of NSU and Auto Union had brought them access to the new, modern mechanical formula of transverse engines and front-wheel drive.
VW needed a car that filled the Beetle’s humble yet important niche, but with modern engineering. Giugiaro was given some incredibly severe and specific parameters in which to work – almost every dimension already decided, inside and out – and within these restrictions, Giugiaro managed to create something so timeless and simple and perfect it was almost hard to believe it hadn’t just always existed in some form.
The crisp, folded-paper look of the car was the diametric opposite to the curvy, biomorphic design that had always defined Volkswagen, and yet, somehow, it still fit and it still worked. The result was a car, about the same size as the original Beetle, but modern and airy and practical, a genuine triumph of good, honest design.
Now, here’s the part I just learned about: in the ’70s, Volkswagen offered to give Giugiaro a car, the only time the designer ever got a car from a carmaker. Giugiaro wanted a daily-driver family car, but he also wanted something fun to drive, so he requested a VW GTI, the sportier version of the Golf with a kicky 110 horsepower engine, about double what a base model Golf put out.
Being a family car, Giugiaro wanted a five-door model, for both convenience and the fact that he preferred the look of the 5-door Golf, with its very defined C-pillar. At the time, VW didn’t build the GTI in five-door form, but they made one special for ol’ GG, which is pretty fantastic.
There was something else that Giugiaro, who lived in Europe, specified he’d like on his special GTI; see if you can spot it:
See it? They’re big and obvious: the US-spec bumpers. They even have the optional rubber bumper guards!
This addition gives me a lot of satisfaction because, in the water-cooled VW world, it always seemed like everybody hated the US-spec bumpers. They were larger than the Euro-style bumpers, sure, as you can see here:
There were also Euro-style sleeker bumpers, sometimes found on GTIs:
Everyone always seemed to prefer these other bumpers, for aesthetic reasons, even if they were, functionally, far less capable than the shock-absorber-mounted US-spec, no-damage-up-to-5mph bumpers. But people never had anything good to say about the US bumpers, and would often retrofit their cars to have the smaller Euro ones.
But I think it’s extremely significant that the person who actually designed the Golf, Giugiaro himself, when it came to the Golf that he wanted to drive around and be seen in, he went out of his way to request that VW build his European-market Golf, with its strange lone side indicator repeater on the front fender and special ItalDesign badges, would have the huge, strong American-spec bumpers.
After going on and on about how we need stronger bumpers, and anticipating the inevitable arguments against that for aesthetic reasons, it feels pretty good to find that one of the greatest car designers of all time was on Team Strong Bumper.
I own a Piazza and my partner a mk1 Golf and somehow didn’t realize they were designed by the same guy…
Interesting…I love the VW Rabbit/Golf
Looks like a VW Rabbit to me.
Perhaps Giugiaro was sick of “Park à la Parisienne” technique used by other drivers that ruined his cars.
By the way, it’s common to see many of Mercedes-Benz SL (R107) roadsters plucked from California or sunny states and exported back to Germany. The German owners didn’t bother replacing the battle ram bumpers with slender European ones.
This actually makes a lot of sense..
I’m with the master designer on Team Strong Bumper. Can we get a TSB T-shirt? My first car was an 89 XJ that I hitched to a tree to pull the bumper back out when it got tapped. Then an old lady ran a stop sign and my 98 Tacoma’s front (plastic) bumper was badly damaged. Insurance paid me and I bought an ARB bull. The strongest TSB I could get. My wife loved that bumper since she felt safe from Bambi and the other idiot deer and drivers.
I mean, I totally get it. I always loved US-spec versions of popular European cars, because they’re so exotic this side of the pond. Just like some american car people have full EU-spec bumper/headlight sets shipped from over here, it’s not that uncommon for Europeans to source US-spec parts for their cars.
The big bumpers aren’t as much a tragedy as the color, or lack thereof. Sure this car looks about as good as a black car can, but come on there were so many great colors for the Golf 1 – Miami Blue, Viper Green, even Mars Red as cliched as it is on a GTI would’ve been a better pick.
The only car I ever bought for its colour. A Mk1 GLS 1.6 Australian delivered because of the Santos Green paint.
Why, oh why, are the indicators not placed at the extremes of the car? What sense does that make?
The 1975 US bumper standards stipulated the protection from 5-mph frontal and rear collisions and at an angle without any damage to the body and lighting system. Moving the turn signal indicators further away from the edge offered the better protection (and probably satisfied this requirement).
You can see passengers cars built during the 1970s from Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors.
Oh cool. I did know about the 8-km/h rule but not that it applied to angled collisions. Thanks for the explanation!
Living in Italy I am sure the bumpers helped preserve the car.
The original parking sensors.
Spotted them both.
“Looks like a frog that swallowed a box”. Bill Mitchell, GM head of Design. ????
I would buy a modern car with that design
RIvian R3, or the snappier R3X in this case should do the trick. Also gives off strong Rabbit/Golf inspired Dodge Omni vibes. https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/koEA9x/s1/rivian-r3x.webp
Golf Country, to be specific.
https://www.autoclassmagazine.com/web/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Volkswagen-Golf-Country-Auto-Class-Magazine-_002.jpg
Saw a few of them in Munich area. Really interesting car!
The R3X is gorgeous. It doesn’t look like a Golf or an Integrale to me, but it reminds me of both. Rivian absolutely killed it with the design on that one.
Geez, I hadn’t seen that before. It’s wonderful! Thanks Christo! 🙂
Also, if that is the pic of Giugiaro’s actual Euro GTI, the markers would be wrong.
No, they’re correct but Italian-market specific.
Italy requires side turn signal repeaters since 1950s (incidentially, the first country to require them). Volkswagen didn’t offer its factory-installed repeaters until the second-generation Golf in 1983. So, the importers and distributors in Italy (and those countries that also required them) had to install them individually prior to the sales.
If you bother to peruse Auto Scout 24 automobile classified website, you can see lot of Italian-specified Golf with that chunky orange side turn signal repeaters.
They were factory-installed and used in Japan as well. US-spec Rabbits made in Germany had different, flatter ones with reflectors incorporated.
Sorry, but I’m on team Euro bumper. The only reason why I didn’t put those slim, trim Euro bumpers on my ’85 GTI is because I was a poor college student in 1991 when I had the car.
Why *didn’t* they make a 4-door GTI back then? Besides the one-off, of course.
In that time 4/5 door hatchbacks were considered to be a family car (boring) and the 2/3 door hatchbacks were considered to be the more sporty versions for young people. So it made no sense to offer the GTI in family clothing, as it would not sell.
The US-spec bumpers cover a bit more of the curved sheetmetal at the front and rear overhangs of the car, and in doing so, they tend to emphasize the rest of the car’s more rectilinear shape. From certain angles, they bulk it up a little more and work well along with the GTI’s chunkier fender flare extensions. In the GTI form, they add a bit of aggressiveness to the look. So I can see possibly why Giugiaro wanted them.
The US spec are not the abominations like, for instance, the bumper car ones on a MGB (although I believe those to have been rated to 35mph, based on my friends experiences bouncing off walls and trees), plus given he was driving in Italy, I think it makes way more sense. He also much more liked the square sealed beams on US spec because his original design had square headlights.
Ya know, having owned my ‘75 MGB since 2000, I’ve come to love the rubber bumper look. I prefer them to chrome bumpers. I know I’m in a tiny minority with this opinion.
I think the designers did about as commendable a job blending them into the overall bodywork as could be hoped for sure
Simple. He knew what would likely happen to the car in the course of normal driving around Italy, so he had the ugly-but-tough bumpers put on for utilitarian reasons. On the other hand, thinking of Giugiaro sacrificing aesthetics for practicality is kinda making me a little nauseous.
or the vehicle was intended for his wife…woman driving, incident bending.
But would you say that after the Taxi Ride From Hell?
https://www.topgear.com/sites/default/files/images/news-listicle/items2/2021/03/e3db676fd18143f96294d705bd4109a0/sabine3.jpg
Man was no fool. He knew what driving in Italy was like. They park by feel in Rome. Those bumpers probably got a work out.
I’m surprised he didn’t request a roll cage too.
I was told it was called Parisian Parking, but yeah.
The difference is that the Italians take a little bit of care – they will ease in and *gently* shove the car ahead to make room. The French have no fucks to give when it comes to cars.
typical
He was drunk when VW called. It’s the only possibly explanation.
Is that a designer thing?
Luckily it’s a skill that passes over to working here as well. That skill being day drinking of course.
I think you refer to the US style bumpers, and not to the 5 door version. Because I would also choose the 5 door over the 3 door, because of the strong image of the C-pillar line.
Regarding the bumper, I would have to disagree with your explanation. I think quite a lot of the designers (*) have a strong pragmatic view on products. So if the US bumpers result in a longer lifetime of the car, especially in the environment of Italian cities, I can see why Giugiaro would choose US bumpers.
(*)case in point; I once had the privilege of participating in a masterclass car sketching by the late Robert Opron, designer of great automobiles such as the Citroën SM, GS, CX, Renault Apine, etc. His garage included an SM, however his daily driver was a humble Suzuki Wagon R+. In his mind everything you would ever need in a car, with as few character lines in the design as possible (his wording). Only improvement he could think of was plastic bumpers instead of coloured bumpers…
I might be working off failed memory, but I seem to remember that years ago many well-heeled Europeans wanted U.S. spec bumpers on their cars. Function before form, I guess. It occurs to me that if someone designed a new car with actual chrome bumpers, people might go for it. It would be something different to a new generation.
I always thought it was more a matter of the grass being greener. Like regardless of both function and aesthetics, the Europeans wanted US bumpers and vice versa because it’d make their cars standout in their home countries.
I’m a Volvo guy and I see it all the time with 2/7/9 series headlights. Europeans like putting the plastic US spec lights on, and Americans like putting the glass Euro spec lights on.
I’m reading way too much of JT…I noticed the bumpers, and was wondering why they were there for a VW for European use…and then I read further and felt vindicated…
Also that original Golf/GTI design is impeccable, even today.
They would sell the shit out of them if they were reintroduced today.
He designed the car to be utilitarian, and those US-spec bumpers are nothing if not utilitarian.
First car was a 70 Beetle. Being 16 of course I backed into something. Bumper did it’s job, no problem. Current 12 Wrangler got bumped from behind in a parking lot. Bumper did it’s job, no problem.
Wife had a Prius. Got bumped. Big repair bill. Changed to a Grand Cherokee. Front bumper issue. Big repair bill.
I am FULLY on Team Strong Bumper.