History

The Scirocco was built for Volkswagen by the respected coachbuilder Karmann in the German city of Onsabrueck, they also built the Beetle based Ghia.

Like this earlier air cooled coupe this inspired 70s wedge design by Guigaro was a model derived from the intended volume seller, in this case the Golf. The Scirocco provided the means of breaking in the new chassis and engine assembly line for the Golf, the car that was required to rescue Volkswagen from air cooled oblivion in the early 1970's.

The engine had been tried out in an Audi predecessor the 80 where it had shown its viability as the front wheel drive, water-cooled saviour VW needed. The Scirocco was an unexpected hit in Germany, with 25,000 having been built 11 months into production, so from the very beginning the Scirocco was a key element of Volkswagens successful transition to a maker of quality and dependable water cooled cars. That it originally played this secondary role to the Golf, remains true to this day, however to end the story here, as many do, is to miss out on the similar but very different driving experience and the head turning good looks which this kamm style tailed coupe offers.

Both the Mark 1, 1974 - 1981 and Mark 2, 1981 - 1992 models are easy to identify as classic wedge coupes which both share the same floorpan and running gear, there were 3 versions of the first body style available in the UK.

Scirocco Mark 1 timeline

Unlike the easy classification of the early body shape, Wolfsburg make things more complicated by blowing change upon the second generation Scirocco with regularity in its 11 year life from 1981 to 1992. This was the age of regular trim and body adornments and upgrades from basic specifications, especially in the UK that seems to have more Mark 2 versions than other markets.

Its body styling revision was undertaken in-house and cosmetic styling and engine designations were regularly amended to provide today's Scirocco buyer with an often bewildering choice. Differences in the UK between a GL, a GTL, a GTS and a Scala all with a 2B2 carburettor are only cosmetic.

The table below shows the key changes to the Mark 2 in its lifetime. Armed with this you will be able to recognise the 1800 GL from the lower capacity but higher revving screamer the GL 4+E just by the number of front wipers.

Scirocco Mark 2 timeline