Look What I Found: The Topless Topless Golf

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

While walking down memory lane to the dark days of diesel, I came across this gem in the archives of the Volkswagen History Department: The prototype of the first Golf Convertible. It was developed and produced by Karmann in Osnabrück. The company went bankrupt. Volkswagen bought Karmann, and inherited this find.

This convertible had no roll-over bar. The shape of the windshield and the trunk lid were changed before the car went in series. The convertible was based on the Golf Mk I. In 1993, a new convertible was built, based on the Mk III Golf. 2002 was the end of the open air season.

This year, a new Golf Convertible, based on the Golf Mk VI, will follow.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Robert.Walter Robert.Walter on Jun 11, 2011

    I bought a new '89 when going to school, after graduating, I had a company car and my mother took over the Cabriolet (that year it was not called Golf or Rabbit) and drove it for another 15 years... despite a lot of little stupid quality problems, all in all, it was a pretty good car. Re. the missing basket handle on the prototype, I liked mine, it made besides the roll-over effect, it made the car stiffer (and allowed the removal of stiffening materials elsewhere in the BIW), the windows seal better, the body stronger against side-impact, and a provided a natural b-pillar upon which to hang the upper guide for the shoulder belt...

  • Bythebay Bythebay on Jun 15, 2011

    Love, love, love my Cabrio (2000 Dark Blue with Tan Leather) - swapped cars with my wife in 2005 (she took my Acura TL; now driving a CR-V) - my Cabrio has 68K miles, and other than a complete trans at 51K miles (which VW warranteed!), not very much in the way of problems.

  • RHD They are going to crash and burn like Country Garden and Evergrande (the Chinese property behemoths) if they don't fix their problems post-haste.
  • Golden2husky The biggest hurdle for us would be the lack of a good charging network for road tripping as we are at the point in our lives that we will be traveling quite a bit. I'd rather pay more for longer range so the cheaper models would probably not make the cut. Improve the charging infrastructure and I'm certainly going to give one a try. This is more important that a lowish entry price IMHO.
  • Add Lightness I have nothing against paying more to get quality (think Toyota vs Chryco) but hate all the silly, non-mandated 'stuff' that automakers load onto cars based on what non-gearhead focus groups tell them they need to have in a car. I blame focus groups for automatic everything and double drivetrains (AWD) that really never gets used 98% of the time. The other 2% of the time, one goes looking for a place to need it to rationanalize the purchase.
  • Ger65691276 I would never buy an electric car never in my lifetime I will gas is my way of going electric is not green email
  • GregLocock Not as my primary vehicle no, although like all the rich people who are currently subsidised by poor people, I'd buy one as a runabout for town.
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