As the most prominent tuner of Volkswagen products, ABT Sportline had to pay some kind of homage to the Golf at its 40th birthday. And they did just that by revisiting a special version of the original Mark 1 Golf they had made in 1982; a powerful, wide body Golf fitted with a lot of extras.
ABT Golf I features massive flared wheel arches that result in a 7-inch increase in width and accommodate 205/60R13 tires. Today the car may look a bit silly, or as ABT puts it “peculiar,” back in its day it must have been awesome – the most muscular hatchback in the world.
The manly appearance of ABT Golf I is backed up by a powerful engine fitted with KKK exhaust gas turbocharger, autothermal pistons and a special crankshaft. It makes 163hp which in 1982 was a lot more than the standard Golf GTI of the time. Even today, this Golf is only 0.3 seconds slower to 100 km/h than the latest GTI.
Other bits and bobs fitted to this magnificent ABT Golf I include some steel wheel spacers, what ABT calls “super suspension”, and a white-leather sport-type steering wheel. It was the 80s, back off!
