Car Legends: Volkswagen Golf GTI MK1

The first Golf GTI was conceived on March 18, 1973 by an engineer called Lowenberg. It was equipped initially with a 1,588 ml engine and later with a 1,780 ml, which yielded 110 and 115 hp respectively at 6,100 rpm and 140 Nm of torque at 5,000 rpm.

It weighed just 810 kilos and it offered a pretty good performance for its time, being able to do the 0-100 km/h in 9 seconds and having a top speed of 180 km/h.

The weight to power ratio of the first GTI was 7,36 kg per horsepower. The initial project was developed as an experiment and the car was presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1975. Only 5000 units were produced and launched for sale in 1976.

The GTI initials stand for “Gran Tourer Injection”. The car had red strips on the radiator grill and GTI logos at the front and rear, to stand out, in comparison to the simple Golf Series 1.