Junkyard Find: Two Etienne Aigner Golfs Down, 1,459 To Go

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

According to VWVortex, 1,461 Etienne Aigner Edition 1991 Golf Cabrios were sold in North America. I found one in a Northern California junkyard last year, and now here’s another. You’d think such an exclusive, one-year-only Golf would have legions of collectors driving the values well above scrap price, but the junkyard evidence shows otherwise.

I found only one Etienne Aigner Golf for sale on Craigslist, and the seller wants a maybe-not-so-realistic $2,900 for it.

Once again, we learn that partnerships between fashion houses and automobile makers, whether we’re talking about Oleg Cassini and AMC or Cartier and Ford, don’t translate into long-term— or even immediate— value for the automobile makers. How about other branding partnerships? Forget Apple or Google— I mean, of course, a Lemmy Kilmister Edition Aston Martin Vantage!






Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • Fincar1 Fincar1 on Apr 16, 2011

    As odd as it seems for a "collectible" car to be scrapped like this, it happens more often than one would think. Many people who own such cars haven't bought them for their rarity, the car just happened to be available when they were looking for one. An old high-school friend is an example. He had a nasty-looking 1968 Dart 2-door hardtop with a foot-tall rusty homemade roof rack on it. The fact that it was a GTS with a 383 engine didn't matter to him. I remember him complaining when he sold it for $150 that the buyer had been unhappy that the Torqueflite transmission was going out. And no, I sure as hell didn't know he'd wanted to sell it - I'd have been there with cash in my hand.

  • Urien gutierrez Urien gutierrez on Feb 04, 2015

    I have one, is in mexico , guadalajara, interested write orghi_@hotmail.es has california license . or call 001 3331173908 cell phone, speak spanish. :D tank´s

  • Peter Buying an EV from Toyota is like buying a Bible from Donald Trump. Don’t be surprised if some very important parts are left out.
  • Sheila I have a 2016 Kia Sorento that just threw a rod out of the engine case. Filed a claim for new engine and was denied…..due to a loop hole that was included in the Class Action Engine Settlement so Hyundai and Kia would be able to deny a large percentage of cars with prematurely failed engines. It’s called the KSDS Improvement Campaign. Ever hear of such a thing? It’s not even a Recall, although they know these engines are very dangerous. As unknowing consumers load themselves and kids in them everyday. Are their any new Class Action Lawsuits that anyone knows of?
  • Alan Well, it will take 30 years to fix Nissan up after the Renault Alliance reduced Nissan to a paltry mess.I think Nissan will eventually improve.
  • Alan This will be overpriced for what it offers.I think the "Western" auto manufacturers rip off the consumer with the Thai and Chinese made vehicles.A Chinese made Model 3 in Australia is over $70k AUD(for 1995 $45k USD) which is far more expensive than a similar Chinesium EV of equal or better quality and loaded with goodies.Chinese pickups are $20k to $30k cheaper than Thai built pickups from Ford and the Japanese brands. Who's ripping who off?
  • Alan Years ago Jack Baruth held a "competition" for a piece from the B&B on the oddest pickup story (or something like that). I think 5 people were awarded the prizes.I never received mine, something about being in Australia. If TTAC is global how do you offer prizes to those overseas or are we omitted on the sly from competing?In the end I lost significant respect for Baruth.
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