Here's something you don't see every day. For whatever reason...probably a combination of rust and the attrition that afflicts inexpensive sporty cars at the hands of youthful pilots whose courage exceeds their skills and judgment...you just don't see a lot of Sciroccos running around this part of the country.
This one's a second-generation Scirocco, pre-facelift, which makes it an '82 or '83.
US-market '82 Sciroccos had a 1.7L SOHC fuel-injected inline-four putting 74 SAE net horsepower to the twee little 13" front wheels through a 5-speed manual gearbox. Peak Malaise-era stuff. (The same motor would be used in 68hp carbureted form by Chrysler as the base engine in the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon penalty boxes, for buyers who didn't want to splurge on a 2.2.)
Built on the same floorpan as the Rabbit (US-market Golfs were still called Rabbits back then because Volkswagen of America wanted a cute and cuddly name for the vehicle replacing the beloved roly poly Beetle), the Scirocco was intended to replace the Karmann Ghia in the same way the Rabbit succeeded the Bug.
The sharply creased disco-era styling is very distinctively Giorgietto Giugiaro. He was big on low-slung wedges for his sporty car designs at the time, as can be attested by his other well known period pieces: The Isuzu Impulse, Lotus Esprit, and of course the DeLorean DMC12.
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