1974 Volkswagen Golf I

The Golf, the icon: the most-built Volkswagen is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. To kick off the anniversary year, the Golf I and one of its predecessors from 1969 can be seen at the Bremen Classic Motorshow (Germany). The Golf has moved and impressed the masses since 1974. And with every generation, the compact car has revolutionised and democratised the automotive world.

It was no longer cooled with air and it was no longer a boxer. A new era started with the first Golf. And the technical change was also accompanied by a change in the visual concept. “The Golf offers maximum usable space and safety. It is uncompromisingly practical,” is how the company described it at the time. And so the year in which Germany won the World Cup in football became the year for the most-built Volkswagen of the future. Just two years later, the first million units had already been sold, and more than 37 million units have now been delivered worldwide.

The Golf would and had to continue its success story. But in 1974, nobody knew that its success would be much greater than that of the Beetle. Over the years, the Golf became almost imperceptibly part of our society, synonymous with a vehicle class and even an entire generation. And everyone has probably had their own personal experience with the Golf: as a driving school car, as an own new or used car, with relatives or friends, with two or four doors, as a petrol or diesel model, GTI or ‘strawberry basket’. Somewhere there always was and still is a Golf.