Volkswagen Golf Clipper 1.8 Cabriolet

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

A masterpiece of industrial design, the 1974 VW Golf revolutionised the small car market, establishing the reputation upon which VW have traded to this day (well, until very recently at least...).

At a time when BL was turning out stodgy shockers like the Morris Ital and the Allegro, here was a car of such precision and quality that it forced every other rival to raise their game or give up. Crisp, glassy and clean, it oozed a good taste and intelligence that made the Habitat generation go weak at the knees.

Rather like its Beetle predecessor, VW engaged Karmann to produce a rag-top version, a job which they did with their usual Teutonic eye for detail, the Golf Convertible being structurally stiff, consistently waterproof as well as attractive on the eye.

Pick of the crop was the GTi version, based on the archetypal tin-top ‘hot hatch’ which came out in 1976. Quick, nimble and beautifully made, it had a peppy 1.8-litre engine whose 112bhp could whisk it up to 60 in 8.3 seconds and keep it flying along at three figure speeds for hours on end without anything breaking or falling off.

As is so often the way with cars (and their owners!), the Golf lost its chiselled good looks as the years passed and became increasingly big and lardy as time went on, the MkII version of 1984 beginning a trend towards obesity that has continued to this day. The good news for fresh-air lovers was that the Karmann-built Convertible continued to be produced using the MkI bodyshell to keep development costs to a minimum.

By 1988, VW had decided that it really was time for some cosmetic surgery, the new Golf Clipper, as it was known, gaining smooth body-coloured bumpers, side-skirts and flared arches which kept it at the top of every Yuppie’s shopping list.

This 1993 Clipper uses the powerful 1,781cc engine and has had four former keepers from new. The last owner purchased it in 2013 and immediately took it to his local garage for a comprehensive service and check-over. They fitted a new cambelt, changing the waterpump and radiator for good measure, the bill totalling £515. The alternator also looks to have been replaced in the recent past.

The history file contains its original handbook and service book with six stamps, the last stamped service taking place at 66,488 miles in 2002. There are numerous invoices that show more recent maintenance along with six old MOTs and a current MOT which was issued in April of this year at 94,570 miles. The car has covered just 200 miles since then.

Retaining its original hood cover and wind deflector, the vendor describes it as “driving nicely with the electric hood working as it should”. There are two keys and the car is fitted with an immobiliser.

The handy electric top and crisp handling make these later Golf Cabriolets particularly pleasing to own, this well cared for example looking like a great deal of fun for the money.