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Tag: Scirocco

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1988 Volkswagen Scirocco 16V

How can you talk about 1980s Volkswagens and not mention the Scirocco? Karmann’s lift of the Giugiaro Asso di Picche, Asso di Quadri and Asso di Fiori designs was plainly evident, but that they were borrowed really should come as a surprise. After all, the reception to the master Italian designer’s other pens – the Golf, first generation Scirocco, Audi 80 (4000) and Coupe GT firmly established both companies in the public limelight. In the case of Volkswagen, it defined a company emerging from the shadow of the air-cooled generation; for Audi, it modernized designs and capitalized on the success of the 100 lineup in the 1970s. But Karmann had been integral in the production of the first two as well, making an easy transition from ItalDesign to Volkswagen’s go-to special production for the second generation Scirocco.

But while the design was all grown up and modern for the 1980s, the underpinnings were the same; little changed dynamically between the 1981 and 1982 model year, and though upgrades came over the next few years with higher-spec trim and a bit more power, it wasn’t until 1986 that VW coupe fans finally got to rejoice as the addition of the PL 1.8 liter dual-cam inline-4 finally joined the lineup. Now with 123 high-revving horsepower, the Scirocco went a bit more like the wind it was named after. The wide-ratio, economy-minded gearbox of yore was gone too, replaced by a close-ratio gearbox. Like the GTI and GLI, 14? ‘Teardrop’ wheels and a new bodykit heightened the boy-racer appearance, and the 16V models got all matchy-matchy before the Golf and Jetta, too, with body-colored painted bumpers.

Perhaps this was a shot across the bow of the other Giugiaro-designed, sporty 2-door coupe on the market – the Isuzu Impulse Turbo. Because as much of a VW nut as I am, let’s be honest – the Impulse was cooler. It had much better integrated bumpers, for example, and looked even MORE modern than the Scirocco. And it had cooler wheels. And it had a turbo, and as neat as having dual cams was, having a turbo got you into pants in the 1980s. While it only had one cam, the intercooled 4ZCI was good for 140 horsepower in 1985. That power was channeled through the back wheels, too, with near perfect weight distribution. To top all of that off, in 1987 you could get the “RS” model which was painted all white – yes, even the wheels. That was as radical as it got that year – people actually paid a lot of money to tuners to achieve that look, yet a few models like the 300ZX, Audi Coupe GT and Impulse RS gave it to you from the factory. They came fully loaded with electronic gizmos, and mostly unlike the VW, they worked. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, GM links created the “Lotus Tuned Suspension” package for the 1988 model year. If one of these rolled up to the party you and your Scirocco were at, you were going home lonely (and, more slowly).

But this isn’t “low-production Japanese cars for sale blog”, so we’ll look at the Scirocco.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco 16V on eBay

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1976 Volkswagen Scirocco with 23,000 Miles

One of our favorite colors over here at GCFSB is Viper Green. Though it’s made a resurgence on recent PTS Porsche 911s, for me it really works the best on the clean lines of 1970s models. But few remember that there were actually two Viper Greens in the 1970s. There was the popular pastel tone most associate with the name, but Volkswagen also launched its Scirocco in the 1970s with a metallic version of the color. Code L96N was ‘Viper Green Metallic’, and it looks equally lovely here on this Type 53 Scirocco as it would when equipped as a Paint To Sample on a 911SC Targa.

But there’s much more to love besides just a color here. If Viper Green Metallic wasn’t rare enough to see on a infrequently seen first generation Scirocco, this particular one is a low mileage survivor with the color-matched Tartan green interior and appears in nearly original condition:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1976 Volkswagen Scirocco on eBay

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1977 Volkswagen Scirocco

If you haven’t been paying attention and like the early Scirocco, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a cheap classic. But over the past year several exceptional examples of the first generation Giugiaro coupe have popped up and the result has been sticker shock. For a while it was only the GTI which generated really big numbers, but a niche appreciation for these little 2-doors has sent prices through the roof.

The first shot across the bow was in April 2016, when a pristine and original survivor ’81 with 51,000 miles hit $17,100 after 95 bids:

1981 Volkswagen Scirocco


That was followed in September of this year by two strong but not original examples; the New Dimensions Turbo example brushing up against $15,000:

First Dimension: 1978 Volkswagen Scirocco Callaway Turbo


And the clean resprayed ’80 hit $9,300:

Wild or Mild? Double Take: 1978 and 1980 Volkswagen Sciroccos


But the culmination of these examples was the best I’ve seen yet. It was a massively impressive ‘1978 that appeared throughout near new, and it was no surprise that bidding at the last moment rocketed up to $17,700:

1978 Volkswagen Scirocco with 27,000 Miles

So it was somewhat without surprise that suddenly my filters are full of early Sciroccos. Over the past few weeks, even more examples have hit eBay in what I can presume is an attempt to capitalize on the capital generated by these cars. The same trend happened a few years ago when we saw big numbers on A1 GTIs. So here we go again, this time with a pre-facelift ’77 model in California:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1977 Volkswagen Scirocco on eBay

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1978 Volkswagen Scirocco with 27,000 Miles

Edit 11/28/2017 – though it reportedly sold for $17,700 this car has been relisted at $17,495 HERE – $2,000 more than the original listing’s Buy It Now option.

Normally I write fairly verbose introductions, covering the history of a particular model or some interesting tidbit about its history. Sometimes they’re my personal connections to the cars. I’m sure on more than one occasion you’ve wished I’d just shut up a bit so that you can get to the car. Today’s that day, because the presentation and condition of this 1978 Volkswagen Scirocco are so staggering I was literally left mouth agape looking through the photo reel. Enjoy:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1978 Volkswagen Scirocco on eBay

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1987 Volkswagen Scirocco 16V

I can say with utter confidence that I’ll never own a Scirocco II. Here’s the weird part – I’m not exactly sure why.

It’s not as though I don’t appreciate the design, though how it came about is somewhat suspect. Volkswagen canned Giugiaro as the replacement designer for the exceptionally beautiful and unique first generation car, moving in-house to Karmann for the second go at the Golf-based sport coupe. The result looked suspiciously like Giugiaro’s Italdesign Asso di Fiori from 1979, though – the car that became the Isuzu Impulse. Two years later, and Viola! the Scirocco II debuts from Karmann with a near identical shape. On top of that, the mechanicals continued to be based upon the first generation Golf, while the A2 series went upwards in refinement. To me, because of the short wheel base and long overhangs – especially highlighted with U.S. spec bumpers – the second-generation Scirocco has just never looked quite right. The visually similar Audi Coupe was better balanced both in design and driving characteristics, and ultimately there wasn’t a huge price gap between them. A 1986 Scirocco 16V, with a few options, was yours for about $13,500 – only about $2,500 shy of the basic Coupe GT. But the performance nod went to the later 16V version of the Scirocco.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 Volkswagen Scirocco 16V on eBay

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