The Scirocco 16V is something of a sleeper when it comes to looks and performance. Based on the utilitarian VW Golf platform (Rabbit in the USA), the Scirocco has rather humble roots.
Even before VW was known as VW, special bodied cars based on the "standard issue" chassis have been built. Sleek bodies were grafted onto the KdF Wagen, two seat convertible cars were built by the Hebmüller company using Beetle parts.
| As Europe recovered from World War II, we saw the Karmann Ghia. This sports model VW was hand built at Karmann GMBH, of Osnabruck, West Germany, using mainly Beetle running gear. Karmann is a separate entity from VW. The result was a rather sexy hand made sports car that was financially reachable thanks to its simple undercarriage. | |
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This concept was used once again with the Scirocco. Basic drive train and a sporty body, while not as sleek as the Ghia designed body, certainly not dull by late 70's fair. |
| 1982 saw a redesign of the Scirocco. A new more modern body was fitted to essentially the same drive train. Through the years, the VW engines fitted to the Scirocco were the same as seen in all VW's. |  |
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In 1987, VW released their 16 valve engine. VW chose their flagship car to debut the new engine. It was first only available in the Scirocco later was placed in nearly all US spec VW's.
The last Scirocco's sold in the US were 88 cars sold as 89 models. The 89 is quite a rare find as only a few hundred were sold.
The Corrado released in 1990 is seen by many as the replacement for the Scirocco. Based on a totally new platform, the Corrado was a new car entirely. You can see some similarity between the original Scirocco and the Corrado if you compare profiles.
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