On May 16 1974, a small article on page 8 of The Daily Telegraph announced that Volkswagen was to launch a new front-wheel-drive car. The Golf is now in its eighth incarnation, with production figures of more than 37 million; Dale Smith’s 1977 Golf N is a rare surviving example of the Mk1 as it would have emerged from the Wolfsburg factory 50 years ago. 

The Golf was Volkswagen’s fourth car with front-wheel-drive. The 1970 K70 saloon, inherited from VW’s NSU division, was the first, followed by the Passat and the Scirocco. Project EA337 commenced 54 years ago and Kurt Lotz, Volkswagen’s chief executive, informed Giorgetto Giugiaro, the designer: “We want you to design a successor to the Beetle for us. And we will be satisfied if the space in the interior is about the same as that of the Beetle.” 

Production of the Golf began on March 29 1974. The first examples arrived at VW dealerships that May; to a motorist used to a clattering, rear-engined, air-cooled Beetle, the only familiar aspect was the badging. The new car’s engines were water-cooled, Audi-designed 1.1- and 1.5-litre units and Car referred to its “hard Germanic lines” which included a modish tailgate, or “hatchback” rather than a conventional boot. Of course, its stylist Giugiaro was Italian, but his work was reminiscent of the Bauhaus functional design movement.