1989 VW Golf - Golf 1.8 Cabriolet Quartett

Golf Cabriolet in truly exceptional condition

95 hp engine and effortlessly cool Quartett specification

“Temporarily” taken off the road in 1995

Recently carefully recommissioned

Just 55,000 kilometres

A Golf Cabriolet was always a little more than simply a Golf without a roof. When the open version appeared in 1979, built by Karmann in Osnabrück, it had some rather large shoes to fill. After all, it was replacing the Beetle Cabriolet. Yet the open Golf quickly became so successful that Volkswagen saw no reason to replace it with a Golf II-based successor. In the end, it outlived the Golf I on which it was based by more than a decade.

In 1989, however, the end was still nowhere in sight. By then, the Golf Cabriolet had acquired larger bumpers and side skirts, making it look considerably more modern than its earlier siblings. What remained was the distinctive roll-over bar, which had quickly earned it the less-than-flattering German nickname “Erdbeerkörbchen” – strawberry basket. It clearly did its career no harm.

The Quartett specification added colour in its own particular way. Colour-coded bumpers, door mirrors and wheelarch extensions, together with matching details, turned the open Golf into a thoroughly fashionable child of its time. Sports seats trimmed in Quartett cloth or leather and a more generous specification completed the package – lifestyle, long before Volkswagen started printing the word on every other brochure.

Mechanically, even in Quartett form, the Cabriolet remained reassuringly familiar: front-wheel drive, proven four-cylinder engines and mass-production engineering that every Volkswagen workshop knew its way around. Exotic it was not. But that was precisely part of its talent.

Four exterior colours, four hood colours and four interior colours allowed no fewer than 64 different Quartett combinations. This one answers to P1 V9 FB, which translates as Alpine White paintwork (P1), a Dove Grey hood (V9) and Dove Grey cloth (FB). Power comes from a 1.8-litre engine producing 95 hp.

On 24 October 1995, its owner temporarily took the Cabriolet off the road, presumably because winter was on its way. The following year, the TÜV found nothing wrong with it, yet it remained laid up. “Temporarily” eventually became 30 years.

Fortunately, the Golf spent those three decades safely tucked away in a garage. When it recently emerged for the first time, it was still wearing its old number plates. A glance at the odometer revealed just 55,000 kilometres.

During its careful recommissioning, it became apparent that even the brake pads being replaced were still the originals. The braking system was overhauled, the engine serviced, all fluids changed and the rollers, belts and air-flow meter renewed.

Mechanically, then, this Golf Cabriolet is now every bit the equal of its appearance. And for a 37-year-old Volkswagen, that appearance is remarkably close to that of a year-old car – almost too good to be true. Except it isn’t. Which makes this one of those opportunities that really ought not to be missed.