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Tag: 1A

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1984 Volkswagen Jetta GLi

Yesterday, searching through bad 1980s movies to watch I came across the Orwellian classic 1984. I sat and stared at the image of John Hurt, slightly bemused that Orwell’s vision of the future was so dark, dire and complicated. Sitting at the end of a head-scratching 2016, 1984 seems in many ways to be such an easy time. Okay, remove the equally crazy politics of the period; telling my students that bombings in downtown London were commonplace when I was growing up confuses them, or that plane hijackings happened almost as often as mass shootings do today, nevermind the environmental and infectious disease disasters of the period. In 1984, you could buy a Volkswagen Jetta GLi for $8,500. Inflation corrected, that’s just below $20,000 – so still quite a deal in the grand scheme. Sure, today’s cars offer more luxury and convenience, and isolation from the driving experience. They are, without a doubt, safer in every measurable characteristic than cars in the 1980s. And faster? Also indisputable, as a new Jetta GLi turbo will positively wipe the floor with this A1’s performance. With only 90 horsepower on tap, you’ll struggle to best speeds most modern cars can do without the driver even blinking. Relatively speaking, this Jetta GLi is slow, loud, unsafe, and not hugely comfortable. Why, then, were they so much fun to drive?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1984 Volkswagen Jetta GLi on eBay

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1987 Volkswagen Jetta GLi 16V with 53,000 Miles

As I talked about in a post last April, the 1987 Volkswagen GLi 16V had some unique trim features. 1987 was the sole year in the U.S. that you could buy both a 16V and 8V GLi. Upgrading to the DOHC motor got you a rear spoiler and deeper front spoiler with integrated brake ducts. Though they were the same 14″x6″ size of the 8V model, 16Vs got the signature “Teardrop” alloys (though their actual name is Silverstones). Inside you got some awesome Recaro seats in place of the normal sport seats, and the more luxurious GLi models had many power features available. Both 1987 models retained the earlier split front door window design and narrow door trim as well as the 7-bar grill, but the 16V GLi also got a roof-mounted Fuba antenna. That particular 1987 I looked at in April was in awesome condition with near 140,000 for, so this one should be spectacular with 90,000 miles less:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 Volkswagen Jetta GLi 16V on eBay

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