VW Golf 1 GTI Mod PE v0.5

Due to the negative political reaction to the 1973 release of the Beetle “Gelb-Schwarzer Renner” (“GSR”, or “Yellow-Black Racer”), Volkswagen had little inclination to develop a faster Golf.

VW Press Department head Anton Konrad and VW engineer Alfons Löwenberg began development of a high-performance “Sport Golf” as a skunkworks project rather than as an official factory program. The two were joined by Gunter Kühl from the Press department, suspension expert Herbert Schuster, Hermann Hablitzel, who smuggled parts from the project into regular tests, Jürgen Adler, whose chassis analysis led to additional reinforcements, Horst-Dieter Schwittlinsky from the marketing department who coined the “GTI” acronym, and Franz Hauk, developer of the EA827 engine.

A prototype was built based on a Scirocco, rather than a Golf. This proof-of-concept had an EA827 engine with dual carburetors and a lowered and stiffened suspension. When this prototype was driven by Volkswagen’s Chief of Research Ernst Fiala, he objected to the harsh suspension and excessive noise from the intake system and declared the car “undriveable”.

The ad-hoc development team arranged to use the fuel-injected version of the EA827 engine that had been developed for the new Audi 80 GTE.^[34] That engine’s Bosch K-Jetronic system reduced intake noise and raised power output.

The car’s name is typically described as an acronym of either the Italian phrase “Gran Turismo Iniezione”, or the English “Grand Tourer Injection“, and is usually written in all capitals.

The GTI was presented to Volkswagen’s management early in 1975, and the project was approved 28 May 1975.

At this point a ninth person joined the original eight-member GTI team. Working under Chief designer Herbert Schäfer, Gunhild Liljequist was tasked with creating a set of features that would set the GTI’s interior apart from the normal Golf. Her contributions included the bright Tartan plaid upholstery, and the dimpled golf-ball-like gearshift knob.

The Golf GTI debuted in March 1975 at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

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