Automobile sportiness at the Volkswagen Classic stand in Hall 7 at TechnoClassica 2008 in Essen.
Automobile sportiness is the order of the day at the Volkswagen brand stand in Hall 7: the presentation focuses on the various generations of the Scirocco.
“Scirocco” is the term for a hot wind from the Sahara blowing towards the Mediterranean coast. From 1974, though, Volkswagen offered its customers much more than just hot air with the Scirocco. Like the ground-breaking Golf concept, the Scirocco brought a breath of fresh air to the Wolfsburg model program. In the early 1970s, Volkswagen opened up to new technical philosophies and finally said goodbye to the monoculture of air-cooled engines. Based on the Golf, which went into production in March 1974, Giorgio Giugiaro designed a smart and sporty hatchback body. With its new sports car, initially available as the 85 bhp Scirocco TS, Volkswagen brought pleasure to the hearts of sporty driving enthusiasts everywhere.
Over half a million of the first Scirocco generation were built from 1974 to 1981. There was a wide choice of equipment and engine configurations: the engine range spanned the 1.1-liter 50 bhp model to the 110 bhp version in the GTI. The second generation of the Scirocco followed in 1981. Over 291,000 units of this version were also produced by Karmann until 1992. Unlike the Scirocco I, the successor was created at the Wolfsburg Design Center and was slightly more powerful, with over ten engine variants ranging from the 60 bhp, 1.3-liter model to the 16V, 139 bhp version.
The Volkswagen brand stand at TechnoClassica is showcasing five different Scirocco models. The three from the first generation are:
Scirocco (1973): 1974 model year, vehicle identification number 1, 1.5-liter gasoline engine with 51 kW/70 bhp, 3-gear automatic transmission, diamond silver metallic
Scirocco GTI (1976): 1.6-liter gasoline engine with 81 kW/110 bhp, 4-gear manual transmission, ancona metallic
Scirocco GT (1978): 1.5-liter gasoline engine with 51 kW/70 bhp, 4-gear manual transmission, viper green metallic
while the two second generation models on display are:
Scirocco “White Cat” (1985): 1.8-liter gasoline engine with 66 kW/90 PS, 4+E gearbox, alpine white
Scirocco GTX 16V (1986): 1.8-liter gasoline engine with 95 kW/129 bhp, 5-gear manual transmission, Mars red.
By choosing the Scirocco as the star of its presentation, the Volkswagen brand is demonstrating that sporty dynamics and attractive styling are not inconsistent with the everyday suitability of a sport coupé. The sportiness of the Scirocco is derived from its unique combination of driving pleasure and day-to-day use – typical Volkswagen.
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