Video: The art of classic rally cars, Volkswagen Golf Mk1

The car that started it all, the founding father of the segment that sort-of bears its name, the magnificent Golf 1. Volkswagen’s first real rally machine, Golf Mk1 may be three decades old, but with some TLC it can look as impressive as it did back in 1982, when this particular one left the factory.

Driven by Dietrich Kissel, the newly restored Golf Mk1 uses a naturally aspirated 1.6 liter engine, producing 160 HP. It’s got all the bells and whistles and it is in fact a very capable rally car, when faced with similarly aged and powered competition. It aged beautifully and it lost none of its charm. Yes, I just said Golf Mk1 has charm. It’s the age, both mine and Golf’s.

Volkswagen’s Rally the World team prepared a video feature about this green rally machine and its driver. Even though it cannot really be compared to modern day Polo R WRC with its billion HP engine and state of the art transmission and suspension, it’s a rally car nonetheless. To be perfectly sure about which direction to take, Dietrich relied on the most reliable navigator and decision maker, his wife. Sadly, the material accompanying this video did not mention the lady’s name.

I say this is one lovely family rally story.