Golf GTI is the Volkswagen that continues to give war 47 years later

The car that marked a before and after in the sports car market for all users. Löwenberg and Konrad were the fathers of this project in 1975 and it is still going strong.

It reflects the RAE in the first meaning of “romanticism” which is: a cultural movement that developed in Europe from the end of the 18th century and during the first half of the 19th century and that, in opposition to Neoclassicism, exalts creative freedom, fantasy and the feelings. That very thing, creative freedom, led to Alfons Lowenberg and Anton Konrad to create the Volkswagen Golf GTI.

We go back to the year 1974 when a young engineer and the director of Public Relations at Volkswagen had a creative, as well as romantic, lightbulb turned on: they fantasized about making a sporty and fun version of the Golf (which appeared that same year). And it seems that they did not go wrong … Löwenberg and Konrad embroidered it.

It all started with the base of the Volkswagen Golf. They installed the 1.6-liter engine with two Weber carburettors derived from the Volkswagen Scirocco and fitted with a firmer suspension derived from rally cars. There was no one to lead that and it seemed that all the effort would fall on deaf ears.

But based on trial and error and persistence and resistance, they persuaded other workers of the brand with whom they worked in a sneaky way. They formed a working group called Sports Golf Team.

Löwenberg and Konrad could not do it alone and joined four other fundamental men in this project: Herman Habitzel, golf project developer, Jurgen Adlerinterior engineer, Herbert Schuster, chief tester and Horst-Dieter Schwittlinsky, of marketing.

From the hiding of a garage They were taking advantage of parts from other cars with three clear objectives: that it had a correct driving, that it was comfortable and economical. They adapted items like the steering from the Scirocco, the 1.6-liter engine from the Audi 80 GT and the seats from Recaro. At the end of 1974, the Sport Golf project was already sounding in the factory of Wolfsburg.

A year later and after many hours of work, two unknowns arose to solve: how they were going to modify it aesthetically and what they were going to call it. For him 1975 Frankfurt Motor Showthe team of the brand had approved the presentation of the car.

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Finely the Volkswagen Golf GTI was presented with a 1,588 cc engine with Bosch K-Jetronic electronic injection that generated 110 hp at 6,100 rpm. With a weight of 810 kg, the ‘Sport Golf’ was capable of accelerating from zero to a hundred in nine seconds. The success was immediate.

Nobody was going to twist the lines marked by Alfons Löwenberg and Anton Konrad. His idea came to life perfectly. In a time of crisis like the one experienced in 1975, they were convinced that there was a gap in the market for an economical, simple car, but with a sporty touch.

The stubbornness of these two characters and the collaboration of the other four people on the team led to the birth of one of the best projects in history. We do not say it, its sales say it and that the story continues 47 years later.

This article was originally published on TopGear ES.