Tag: Giugiaro

1980 Volkswagen Scirocco S

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I’m going to get a bit gushy for a moment, if you’ll allow me. I love the original Scirocco. Considering I’m a huge fan of the similarly Giugiaro designed Audi Coupe, that should come as no surprise. Both the GT and the Scirocco have some odd angles, and arguable aren’t the prettiest designs ever to be penned by the Italians. However, it’s that awkwardness that adds to their appeal for me – they stand out not because they’re perfect, but because simply they stand out and not in a bad way. It’s something that the second generation Scirocco wasn’t able to pull off, in my mind. The short and squat original model, though it lacked the performance of many of the top-tier Volkswagen products, has to go down as one of the prettiest Volkswagens ever made. While they were a popular coupe and in many ways helped to spawn the sedan-based 2-door market that was the rage in the 1980s and early 1990s, not many of the original Sciroccos remain thanks mostly to rust and electrical issues. To me, the best looking of the original models are the infrequently seen “S” models, such as the 1980 which popped up this week for sale. The S was mostly an appearance package but featured a front spoiler, some cool stripes and Recaro seats; it was also only available in three colors in 1980 – black, Mars Red or today’s Alpine White:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1980 Volkswagen Scirocco S on eBay

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1983 Audi Quattro

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Despite my general love of all-things-Audi, even I have a hard time coming up with good condition examples of the marque from the early 1980s. For U.S. fans, there just isn’t a plethora to choose from. For example, when you search eBay for Mercedes-Benz, Porsche or BMW models and sort by age, you’ll find usually several pages of examples before you get to the 1980s, where inevitably there will be a flood of models. When you switch to Audi, you’ll find three cars – and this is a good week. Fortunately for Audi fans, one of those three cars is the daddy – an original Audi Quattro. Few of these quite expensive turbocharged all-wheel drive Coupes made it to the U.S., and even fewer remain today; as I mentioned in the Coupe Week 1983 Quattro post. There was an excellent example of a low mile Quattro that had been repatriated to Europe, a trend which seems increasingly popular for the model which has more respect in the Fatherland than amongst U.S. enthusiasts. In fact, recently on our Facebook page one of the Quattros I posted prompted an enthusiasts to remark that the boxflared-fenders were reminiscent of the E30 M3 – without any acknowledgement that the Audi came on the scene well before the DTM star. So here’s your opportunity, Audi faithful, to keep one of the better examples of the limited-run Quattro on U.S. shores with this excellent 1983 Mars Red example:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1983 Audi Quattro on eBay

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Coupe Week Double Take: 1977 and 1978 Volkswagen Sciroccos

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Just because you want to partake in Coupe Week doesn’t mean that you have to have the deepest pockets. For a modest investment, you can get top-notch designer styling mated to a reliable and economical engine that’s still fun to drive. That’s certainly what Volkswagen sought to achieve with the introduction of its Giugiaro-styled Scirocco. While based upon the pedestrian mechanicals of the sibling Golf/Rabbit, the Scirocco capitalized on a sportier look but was backed up by a substantial racing program undertaken by Volkswagen to promote the car. Despite good looks and a devoted following though, the Scirocco unfortunately has fallen a victim to time, the tin worm and low residual value, meaning few remain in pristine shape unlike the more expensive coupes from Stuttgart and Munich. So it was a special treat when two of our readers sent in dueling 1978 and 1977 Sciroccos this week; one original and one rebuilt. Which is the winner?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1978 Volkswagen Scirocco on The Samba

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1977 Volkswagen Scirocco

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Yesterday, Nate wrote up a clean and well modified 1976 Scirocco; with some great BBS wheels, the right Euro touches and a 2.0 16V motor, it was one great looking package. Amazingly, as rare as the first generation Scirocco is to see, there was another that popped up at the same time. However, this one takes a very different path to the modifications; instead of clean and OEM it looks straight out of a tuning magazine from 1983 replete with lightning bolts in blue and pink down the sides. I fully expect to hear Duran Duran blasting from the radio when a car like this pulls up. Can it pull off the ’80s stereotypical look and still be a winner?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1977 Volkswagen Scirocco on eBay

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1988 Italdesign Aztec #0001

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You have to ask yourself when pondering the Aztec, “Did Italdesign really think they’d make 1,000 of these in the late 1980s?” Certainly anything seemed possible then – the world was in the midst of a supercar revolution. Porsche introduced the revolutionary Group B based 959, while Ferrari had the twin-turbo brothers GTO and F40. Then there were countless others on the horizon – Jaguar XJ220 and XJR-15, an all-new Lamborghini Diablo, the Bugatti EB110 and Cizeta-Moroder V16 – even some wild U.S. based creations like the Vector and Callaway Sledgehammer Corvette. But perhaps more wild than all of these was the wild “Aztec” from Italdesign. Giugiaro’s company had long been pioneers of advanced and cutting edge designs, but they really outdid themselves with the Aztec. As if taking inspiration from some of the best futuristic designs from the 60s and 70s, the Aztec looked part jet fighter, part rocket ship, and part Star Trek communicator. Indeed, it wouldn’t be surprising at all to have someone like Mark Hamill or Harrison Ford pull up in an Aztec at a movie premier; it was as otherworldly and futuristic as both Hollywood and the sets of Star Wars and Blade Runner. But even if there were more wild designs that you might have seen on the show circuit in 1988, Giugiaro – with the aid of some hefty backing from Japanese capital – was crazy enough to produce road going versions of these cars. What was not surprising, then, was that there was a market for them – though, admittedly, it was as limited as the daily drive-ability of the car.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 Italdesign Aztec on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday: 1978 Volkswagen Scirocco Sidewinder II Turbo

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If the Mk.1 Scirocco is already a rare car to see, finding a period modified one is even more rare – especially when it comes to a well known example, such as the New Dimensions turbocharged example we see here. On top of being a fairly rare car already, this particular example is also one of the even more rare “Sidewinder II” editions that came out in 1978. What did the Sidewinder II get you? Well, according to this letter to dealers from Volkswagen, the Sidewinder got a special air dam, special seats, speedometer backing, decals, and black trim. I love, too, how Volkswagen likened the pose of the rattlesnake to the engine layout in the Scirocco; reaching, considering the 71 horsepower accelerated the “sports” coupe to 60 m.p.h. in a semi-leisurely 11.6 seconds. To fix that, this New Dimensions example has a 1.8 turbocharged motor fitted along with some fairly rare parts:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1978 Volkswagen Scirocco Sidewinder on eBay

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Tuner Tuesday: 1980 BMW M1 AHG Studie

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I won’t bore you with an attempt to fully recount the storied history of the M1 here. But there are some interesting developments that helped create this halo car, changed its purpose and created the car that you see here. The M1 is a legendary car that, like the 959, 190E 2.3-16V Cosworth, RS200 and some other notable historic cars was born into a world that had already passed it by. It seems that often these ultimate cars have come about when the series rules have changed, and the M1 was part of that. The 959 moved from Group B to Le Mans, running high overall both attempts that it ran. The 190E took to the race track instead of rally, creating a new motorsports legend in the process – who can forget the images of Senna in the 190E? The RS200 moved towards the popular European sport of Rallycross, where it was extremely successful. And the M1? Well, the M1 was a bit lost; BMW had to build 400 of the expensive machines in a bit of a global recession, so they decided to make a one-make race series called the Procar series. Of course, it didn’t hurt that BMW was attempting to get its foot in the door with F1 management as an engine supplier, and the promise of the spectacle of F1 drivers let loose in supercars before the real race sure sounded appealing. What it was, most of the time, was a train wreck of crashes – but it was entertaining for sure, and they ended up building enough M1s to go racing where the car was intended, in Group 5 racing. While BMWs interests and technology passed by the M1 in the early 1980s, there was nevertheless a group of individuals who wanted their M1s turned up in the style of the wild winged, wide fendered and massive wheeled Procars. The result were the 10 AHG Studie cars:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1980 BMW M1 AHG Studie on EBAY

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1979 Volkswagen Scirocco

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The original Giugiaro Scirocco is a thing of beauty to this day, with sharp lines that come together distinctively. It’s a shame that most Mk1 Sciroccos are dead or beat within an inch of their life, but today’s is a refreshingly clean and cared-for example. Taken just on looks and the cleanliness of the engine bay, it’s a heck of car. Unfortunately, while the description attempts to be detailed with a photo of (I think?) maintenance and improvements, the seller is not familiar with resolution requirements, leaving quite a few questions to be answered before the steep asking price is paid.

Click for details: 1979 Volkswagen Scirocco on Seattle’s Craigslist

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Heap of the Week: 1982 Audi Coupe GT

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For quite some time, the B2 Audi was nearly forgotten with the exception of the quattro models. But in recent years, more appreciation has grown for the front wheel drive GT model. Indeed, in its day the Audi GT was considered by motoring magazines to be one of the best handling cars available, and having spent a the best part of two decades with one I have to agree. The Giugiaro design was one of the more subtle but also elegant designs from Audi, with great proportions and really neat details – in particular, the sweeping angular C pillar design and 3/4 view on the GTs is one of my favorite. Because they remained unappreciated for so long, though, unlike the E30 BMW crowd it’s now quite hard to find one in good shape – especially true of the earlier models. However, one restoration candidate has popped up on Ebay and appears to be worth saving:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1982 Audi Coupe GT on eBay

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Heap of the Week: 1980 Volkswagen Scirocco S

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After touring around Portugal for the past week and seeing a few of the newer Volkswagen Sciroccos on the street, it had me thinking a lot about the first and second generation of Sciroccos and what made them popular stateside. Introduced as a replacement for the Karmann Ghia in the early 1970s, this fastback wore smart, chiseled bodywork penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro. Based on the recently introduced Mk1 Golf architecture, this car adhered to the old formula of taking a rather ordinary car and making it look extraordinary. Early Mk1 Sciroccos are getting hard to come across in good nick, but this 1980 Scirocco S for sale in Florida is a good baseline for someone looking for a mild restoration project.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1980 Volkswagen Scirocco S on eBay

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