There are legions of cool cars that never made it to the United States, and if you split those hairs even further, you can find variants of vehicles that most of us didn’t even know existed. The GTI name is a familiar one, typically attached to the VW-built hot hatch that still exists today. But at one time, it was also a trim line, and in this instance, it was attached to a Scirocco. The Scirocco was already a fairly sporty car, but the special edition GTI trim made it even more of a boy racer. Find this extremely low mileage example listed here on Facebook Marketplace for $35,000 or best offer.
The Scirocco had a lot going for it before VW decided to attach the GTI badge on the hatch lid. Designed by Giugiaro, the low-slung coupe used conventional front wheel drive architecture and basic 4-cylinder engines, but looked far more exotic than its feature list would suggest. It occupied a unique spot in the lineup, as it wasn’t quite an economy car nor was it a commuter vehicle, though you could use it for both. And, it was also not a GTI – at least, not in the U.S. Overseas, the GTI badge unlocked a variety of cosmetic tweaks that made it even more of a standout.
The first one that catches your eye inside is the upholstery pattern and sport bucket seats. Offering a generous amount of bolstering and looking groovy as heck, I’m guessing very few Sciroccos exist with original fabric still looking this good. Going back up to the top photo, the aggressive front air dam is another Scirocco GTI upgrade, which extend back into the side skirts and fender flares. While these features would all become standard equipment on the 16-valve Scirocco released in the middle of 1986, the European-market Scirocco got the racy bits several years earlier.
Despite the model name, the Scirocco GTI did not get the desirable DOHC engine, instead utilizing a fuel injected 1.6L engine good for around 110 b.h.p. With a manual transmission, it could still make the sprint to 60 in under 10 seconds, but it didn’t have quite the razor’s edge feel as the more powerful mill that came later. This car is clearly a time-warp survivor with just 4,700 kilometers, or roughly 3,000 miles, on the clock. While not a car that everyone will want, a dedicated VW collector will likely have little issue getting close to the asking price to have this specimen in their collection. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Wraith for the tip.
Been for sale for a few years… Euro market car!! Has the small bumpers that don’t look like diving boards (euro)
Cool car just too much for the ask!!
I would have thought its natural market would be in Europe. From what I’ve heard from a few guys I know that export cars to Europe, they don’t shy away from importing rare performance models, such as the British with the early-1970’s Mercury Capri. They too, still have limits to what they are willing to spend.
Steve R
Probably be the nicest one at the VW gatherings.
In the late 70’s a friend had a Scirocco that he ran in 24 hour Monte Carlo rallies in SoCal. I was navigator on a few of those, fun times.
The AI Overview value summary: ” $12,000 – $22,000+ for pristine, low-mileage originals.” So we’re way deep into the “+” range here.
$35k is a very interesting number for a very brown 2 door sedan with a “1.6L engine good for around 110 b.h.p”. Captivating.
Especially when, for that kind of cash, you can get a very nice, colorful convertible something-or-other with a couple hundred HP that actually looks like a real vintage car when you drive into a cars and coffee.
Having had 3 Generation I Sciroccos I love these cars. (Although not as much as the Gen I cars. The standard 1.6 engine is not applicable to this price. ) Pretty car that’s priced out of reason.
It only got bid up to 22 grand on BAT and that was 5 years ago…
The 1.6 in this Rocco is interference engine…Heron head. No combustion chambers.
Heron heads do have combustion chambers; they’re just in the dished piston crowns, instead of in the cylinder head, which is flat aside from recesses for the valves and sparkplug.
Non- interference engine. Go ahead and break the cam belt.
Nice car. Too bad he couldn’t be bothered to take it out of the garage for some decent pictures.
These Mk2 Sciroccos were not designed by Giugiaro. He did design the Mk1 Scirocco, and lore has it he was working up a proposal for a successor when he found out VW already had their own design in the works, so he pivoted his work in progress on that to a different client, Isuzu, who’d contracted him to design a replacement for their 117 Coupé that he’d also designed, ultimately resulting in the Isuzu Piazza (aka Impulse in the US market).
Thanks for this additional context!
It’s background info like this which keeps me coming back for more at BarnFinds.
For what it’s worth, I loved the looks of the original Scirocco;
didn’t care for the 2nd gen much at all.
These were great back in the 80’s. I had the opportunity to get a 82′ for $2500 in 1989. Needed a little work , but went like stink. I declined because the A/C wasn’t hooked up, figuring a larger issue down the road. Four years later I got a 84′ US GTI Golf. Great car, also went like stink. The A/C was d/c’d in that one as well. Well, when I got it hooked up, the power loss to comfort level didn’t add up. I miss that car.