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1984 VW GTI Quick Drive: More Fun Than 95% Of The Cars I've Driven This Year
조회 수 16 추천 수 0 2020.06.17 09:36:23id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body">
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America's hot hatch family tree has its roots planted firmly in this first-generation VW GTI.
Chris Paukert/Roadshow
Spend enough time with car nuts, and "the one that got away" will inevitably come up. Somebody's beloved first car they had to sell to pay a bill. Someone else's grandpa's pride and joy. That time a last-second bidder sniped away a dream driver on eBay Motors. We all have those stories of bad timing, worse luck and general regret that, for one reason or another, prevented us from pulling the car-buying trigger.
It stings.
I've got my fair share of those stories, but the one that looms largest is a certain 1984 Volkswagen GTI, formerly owned by VW of America and kept in stock, minty shape as part of the automaker's own collection. After the owner of that particular car managed to buy it from VW during a mid-HQ-move asset sell-down, I routinely hounded him throughout the late Oughts, checking in once or twice a year for several years. The owner was a casual friend, and he'd kindly promised me first dibs when he tired of it. We had even agreed upon a price. At the time, I didn't even necessarily know how I'd scrape up the money -- let alone a spare parking space -- but it didn't matter, I'd find a way to do the deal.
Enlarge Image
America's hot hatch family tree has its roots planted firmly in this first-generation VW GTI.
Chris Paukert/Roadshow
Spend enough time with car nuts, and "the one that got away" will inevitably come up. Somebody's beloved first car they had to sell to pay a bill. Someone else's grandpa's pride and joy. That time a last-second bidder sniped away a dream driver on eBay Motors. We all have those stories of bad timing, worse luck and general regret that, for one reason or another, prevented us from pulling the car-buying trigger.
It stings.
I've got my fair share of those stories, but the one that looms largest is a certain 1984 Volkswagen GTI, formerly owned by VW of America and kept in stock, minty shape as part of the automaker's own collection. After the owner of that particular car managed to buy it from VW during a mid-HQ-move asset sell-down, I routinely hounded him throughout the late Oughts, checking in once or twice a year for several years. The owner was a casual friend, and he'd kindly promised me first dibs when he tired of it. We had even agreed upon a price. At the time, I didn't even necessarily know how I'd scrape up the money -- let alone a spare parking space -- but it didn't matter, I'd find a way to do the deal.
