The Volkswagen Golf Mk1 is a compact car, the first generation of the Volkswagen Golf and the successor to the Volkswagen Beetle. Presented in May 1974,it was intended by Volkswagen as a modern front-wheel-drive, hatchback replacement for the aging Beetle.
Like its predecessor (the Volkswagen Beetle) the Volkswagen Golf Mk1 has proven to be influential. In continuous production since 1974, the Golf was one of the first widely successful front-wheel drive hatchbacks.In 1975 a sports-oriented variant of the Volkswagen Golf, called the Golf GTI was introduced in March of that year at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
The idea behind was rather straightforward - take a basic-transportation economy car and give it a high-performance package, making it practical and sporty. It was one of the first small cars to adopt mechanical fuel injection. In 2004, Sports Car International declared the Golf Mk1 GTI to be the 3rd best car of the 1980s.The Golf GTI was perhaps the first hot hatch with mass market appeal, and many other manufacturers since have created special sports models of their regular volume-selling small hatchbacks.
