Tag Archives: Wolfsburg

Dust Thy Neighbour – Volkswagen Golf GTi 16V

In 1983 while I was an intern at the Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg there was great excitement as the announcement of the revamped VW Golf Mk 2 was anticipated.

Volkswagen Golf GTi 16v, Oulton Park

As I arrived the first of the new cars were being assembled in Halle 54 a giant factory space in which the body panels were held together with over 400 spot welds made by an army of robots as was most of the assembly work.

Volkswagen Golf GTi 16v, Oulton Park

The 110hp GTi version of the Golf II was available powered by the same 110hp motor as the face lifted VW Golf GTi I. In 1986 in Europe and 1987 in the USA 16 valve versions of the motor giving 137 hp in Europe and 129 hp in the USA became available.

Volkswagen Golf GTi 16v, Oulton Park

UK advertising for the GTi 16v emphasised the quality of the body, while US advertising emphasised the performance of the car with the strap line “Dust Thy Neighbour“.

Volkswagen Golf GTi 16v, Oulton Park

Today’s featured vehicle is seen at an Oulton Park track day a couple of years ago with non standard rims. It has been estimated that around 6.3 million Golf II’s were manufactured at VW plants in Wolfsburg, Brussels, Sarajevo, New Stanton Pennsylvania, Puebla, Mexico and Uitenhage, South Africa.

Thanks for joining me on this “Dust Thy Neighbour” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Wolly Bulli – Volkswagen Type 2 (T2)

In the Autumn turn of 1982 twenty odd college class mates and I made our way from the Untied Kingdom to Paderborn University for the first half of the third year of our European Business Studies course. I overslept on the train and ended up a hundred kilometers further east than intended in Kassel having missed my stop, but I digress.

VW Type 2 (T2) Kombi, Paderborn, Germany

Once in Paderborn we soon made friends with our fellow German students some of whom had banded funds together to buy a late bay VW Type 2 (T2b) Kombi seen above, in Germany these vehicles are known locally as “Bulli”. The Type T2 (T2) was first seen in 1967, it was wider and longer than it predecessor the Type 2 (T1) which I looked at last week. The motor was slightly larger starting at 47 hp wich increased to 70 hp by the mid 1970’s, but the real improvements were in low end torque which helped this heavy vehicle keep pace with the rest of the traffic.

VW Type 2 (T2) Kombi, Paderborn, Germany

Above I can be seen sitting at the wheel of my friends Type 2 wrapped in a blanket in the middle of February as I was about to return from Wolsburg where I had a placement at Volkswagen to Paderborn. To reduce the intake of exhaust fumes, because the heat exchangers were breaking up, the heating pipes were blocked up and the windows were kept open hence the blanket was necessary to keep warm in the well ventilated unheated bus.

Type 2s went through three distinctive body developments from ’67 to ’71 the early bay T2a was characterised by low front indicators and rear light clusters inherited from the Type 2 (T1), from ’71 to the early 1990’s the late bay Type 2 (T2b) is characterised by high front indicators and larger vertical oblong rear light clusters. By the early 1990’s production in Mexico and Brazil moved to the Type 2 (T2c) which has a raised roof and the latest models now built only in Brazil have duel fuel water cooled engines which run on petrol or ethanol.

Type 2 (T2) Camper, Shakespeare County Raceway

Chris Maddog Antell’s VW Type 2 camper van seen above at Shalespeare County Raceway is an early bay Type 2 (T2a) with low front indicators and small rounded rear light clusters he runs it with a 2276 cc / 138 cui motor of yet to be determined origin, if you know please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Volkswagen Type 2 (T2c), The Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The Type 2 (T2c) as seen above at The Classic Motor Show is still in production in Brazil a couple of years ago they were being manufactured at a rate of 100 a day, some of these vehicles can be seen in Europe where they are often used as camper vans. The latest news courtesy of mariner at The Nostalgia Forum is that Type 2 (T2c) production is planned to come to a halt in Brazil next year.

Thanks for joining me on this “Wolly Bulli” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”. I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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