VW Vortex - Volkswagen Forum banner
21 - 25 of 25 Posts
Re: What model year was the first GTI sold in North America? (retrohasen)

quote:[HR][/HR]Just found out some more info from VWOA. They are not positive this info is correct, since they don't have access to the records for the Westmoreland plant anymore, but this is what they told me. My car is officially an 83. It was the 2483 Rabbit and the 102 GTI manufactured that year, so my car is the 102 Rabbit GTI ever made.

I will continue to do more digging, as now I am really interested to get more info on my car.[HR][/HR]​
How did you find out this information? My car was one of the first cars built in Westmoreland. It was built in '78. It'a also got an odd VIN#. It starts with 179..., I thought the cars all started with #VW...so the VIN decoder I found online doesn't recognize it. I'd love to find out more. Who did you contact?
 
Re: What model year was the first GTI sold in North America? (Yellow Rabbit)

Somehow several years ago, a friend ended up with a 1980 VW GTI from Canada. The body was rusty but the interior was perfect, especially the two front seats with high side bolsters and cloth material. Installed the two front seats in my project '79 street Wabbit.
The car had a "Rabbit GTI" rear emblem and plastic-type flares. For what it is worth, WWR. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
 
Re: What model year was the first GTI sold in North America? (retrohasen)

quote:[HR][/HR]1983 and a half was the first year in the US. They were a late release. The original owner of mine said he had to wait for 3 months after placing his order and that the dealer had to trade with another dealer to actually get the right car. It was originally registered in March of 1983 and the owner was told it was only the third one to be sold by the dealership(which at the time was the largest one in the San Francisco area). [HR][/HR]​
Bzzzzzt, I call bull****. I owned one of THE early '83's - I ordered it from Carlsen in Palo Alto in about October of '82 and took delivery in November '82. By March of '83 they were scurrying around all over creation. Either the guy blew smoke up your ass, or the stealership blew some up his - which is not hard to fathom!
 
Re: What model year was the first GTI sold in North America? (vwvortex1)

quote:[HR][/HR]Apprently the old records that VWoA uses had it listed as a Rabbit GTI and then in 1984 it was marked as just a GTI. So it was a little bit unclear upon first investigation, but VWoA has found all the original PR photos and such.[HR][/HR]​
The '83 and '84's were both "Rabbit GTI". It was the intro of the Mk2 in the US for the '85 model year when the name was reduced to simply "GTI". The regular Golf became "Golf" here that year, but the GTI also became just simply "GTI". The '85 was also Motor Trend's DOMESTIC "Car of the Year", a dubious distinction at best if you look at the list of some of the turds they gave that award to over the years (can you say "Vega"???!!).
 
Re: What model year was the first GTI sold in North America? (Yellow Rabbit)

quote:[HR][/HR]It'a also got an odd VIN#. It starts with 179..., I thought the cars all started with #VW[HR][/HR]​
IIRC, the current VIN system did not come about until 1981. Cars and trucks made for '81 MY had a letter "A" as the 10th(?) digit in the VIN. Cars and trucks for 1982 MY had a "B" as the 10th and so on.
*edit* Also, my car has a build date of 2/83 and I have a Road & Track from Nov. of 1982 with a great road test.


[Modified by SpdRAYcr, 10:12 PM 11-28-2001]
 
21 - 25 of 25 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top