[Scott S]

My Dad went to Europe to get an Audi in 1984 - I was 15. While on his trip he called and said he found a sporty looking 1978 "golf" (rabbit) that was a light metallic green for 3500 usd. He said it looked brand new (50k kilo's). I had been looking for a Rabbit or Scirocco for my first car, but everything in my price range was junk and my folks wouldnt allow me to buy them.
Dad lent me 1000.00. Both cars showed up about a month later. To my surprise it had a four headlamp grill, and some funny mounts I had never seen before that were exposed when the US bumpers were put on. It had no badges and "sport" seats that looked to be original, 13" alloy wheels, a deep "chin" spoiler and smaller sway bars. It also seemed to have a bit more kick than any of the other rabbits I had test driven and had no problem keeping up with the new ultra cool Rabbit GTI's.
It wasn't until a year later when we were having some work done on it by a "German" German car mechanic that he pointed out what the car was. I had one of the original pre-US issue GTI's. The funny mounts on the body were the side hardwear for the plastic covered "euro" bumpers. We quickly ordered aftermarket replacement bumpers and ditched the BBS "GTI style" front spoiler I had put on and re-installed the two piece duck bill. The only cometic change I made was to install the 83-84 14" GTI wheels.
As of last Christmas, the remains of the car still sat in a junkyard outside of Durango, CO - in 1991 I lost a wheel in a street solo II and put it on it's side in a ditch.

I bought an 85 GTI to replace it - but it was nowhere near as cool.

-Scott S in CO