Today on the digital shelves of In het Wild: a Volkswagen Polo that with its seventies color scheme would not have been out of place in a wardrobe. In addition, it is also one in size L! We thank Techzle reader Erwin Verweij very much for his submitted photos.
The Audi that became a Volkswagen. Nowadays, models are exchanged between the makes of the Volkswagen Group that have a nature, but in the early 1970s the interaction between Volkswagen and Audi, which had only recently been in the VW family, was somewhat less obvious. The Audi 80, launched in 1972, served as the basis for the original Passat (1973), and the Audi 50, born in 1974 at the NSU factory in Neckarsulm, Germany, was transformed into the very first Volkswagen Polo a year later. The copy that shines in this edition of In het Wild dates from 1977 and is therefore a relatively early Polo.
The fact that this Polo in ‘Panama Brown’ dates from 1977 does not mean that the hatchback has been bivouaced in the Netherlands for 43 years. In fact, he was only a few months ago helped to acquire Dutch citizenship by the RDW. The fact that the Polo is from before 1979, means, among other things, that it is not yet equipped with the black plastic bumpers and the deviating front that Volkswagen introduced in that year. For its age, this primeval Polo still looks good, although the rust monster starts to nibble on the brown-orange carriage here and there, as the crusts and blisters around the attachment points of the windshield wipers testify.
Volkswagen supplied the Polo in the Netherlands with, among other things, an extremely modest 895 cc four-cylinder water-cooled in-line engine that helped the car to 40 hp. That eight-valve basic power source, which had to tolerate a 50 hp strong 1.1 and a 1.3 with 60 hp above it, helped the Polo in 21.2 counts at a speed of 100 km / h. Its top was a very modest 135 km / h.
Although this 40-year-old primal Polo has the basic engine under the hood, this is not the entry-level version. That honor goes to the basic version, simply called ‘Polo’. The copy taken by Techzle reader Erwin Verweij is in fact a Polo in L-gear. Yes, with the L for luxury. On the outside, this Volkswagen luxury is reflected in the door handles with chrome inlay, the chrome strip on the sides, ditto finish around the windows and in the grille and in the rubber bumper that was glued into the also chrome-plated front bumper. The interior also benefited from the L addition. What about velor-covered seats, ‘sound-absorbing floor covering’ and window wipers with an interval setting? The list continues with a driver’s seat with ‘rest position’ and padded sun visors.