1979 Volkswagen Golf GTi Mk1 1600

Now in its seventh generation, the Golf GTi remains the hot hatch by which all rivals are judged. The inaugural version was made available to a delighted German public in June 1976 and whilst it wasn't until July 1979 that right-hand drive models landed on British shores, a special order of 22 left-hand drive cars was imported by Volkswagen the year before in order to give already eager UK enthusiasts a sneaky peek at this new and exciting genre of performance car. The ploy worked perfectly as the car's unique combination of handling, performance, packaging and affordability was an instant hit. Suddenly, there was the perfect solution for the enthusiast who'd forsaken his sports car to transport a young family - the GTi was what you might call a 'cake and eat it' car. 

Offered here is a first generation Golf GTi with just one previous owner and only 53,540 miles from new. It was originally supplied new to its first owner by VW main dealer, Guilders of Sheffield, in Mars Red with black and white cloth trim which, even today, still looks like new. He enjoyed it for many years and then, for some reason, put into professional storage where it remained on stands for nearly 20 years. In 2018, it was recommissioned, and subsequently sold by us in 2019 to our collector vendor who has sympathetically improved it over four years and as you can see from our images, it looks amazing.

It's supplied with the original book packs, manuals etc. and both keys.

Anyone who ever spent some time whizzing around in a Mk1 GTi will remember just how much fun they could be and this smart, low-mileage, well cared-for example seems like an unmissable opportunity.