By: Megalen Govender, IOL Mojo
I am a South African Indian and I drive a Golf GTi. It's a 1989 Golf 2 GTi though, more rare than the Mk1 Golf that I am used to seeing in Chatsworth, the place in Durban where I hail from.
There is undoubtedly a stereotype associated with the South African Indian and the Mk1 Golf and this perception is largely, but not entirely, true - as far as I'm concerned.
So does the typical SA Indian drive a pimped out Mk1 Golf? Partly true. The Mk1 Golf has been popular with the South African Indian community since its introduction in 1978. The fact that it was inexpensive, economical and simple was a huge factor in why it was harnessed by the local community.
The great 'equaliser'
In 2016, there are still plenty of Mk1 Golfs, from the first ones to the last 2009 CitiGolfs, prowling the streets of Chatsworth and Phoenix, each as unique as the owner's fingerprint.
In my time as a car junkie, I have always thought of the Mk1 Golf as the 'equaliser'. I refer to it by this name because a Mk1 Golf is not an expensive car yet it is a beautiful thing to own and drive. It delights with nippy handling, can accommodate five adult occupants and has, quite possibly, the largest assortment of customisations available for it in South Africa.
It is the equaliser because whoever bought a Mk1 Golf did not break the bank to do so, and because the way a custom Mk1 Golf turns out depends entirely on what the owner wants from it. It is a starting block, a fresh slate for the owner to make something of it. Every Mk1 Golf owner starts off on a level playing field.
Where some people like to load up their Mk1 Golf with aesthetic modifications and potent sound systems (Yes, South African Indians are known to love the way that a Mk1 Golf transmits acoustics), others seek to make more mechanical customisations.
Popping the bonnet
By nature the Mk1 Golf is a very ‘mechanical’ car. By that I mean it’s the kind of car where you can pop the bonnet and see all the working parts, rather than the plastic shrouding blanketing the engine bays of newer cars.
The easily accessible and rather spacious engine bay means that every time a Mk1 Golf owner pops the hood, he may have a different vision of what he wants to see in there. I know of Mk1 Golfs with 2.8- and 2.9-litre VW VR6 powerplants, I have seen a Mk1 Golf that has the DSG gearbox from a Golf 5 GTi and the powerful brakes from the VW Golf R32.
The point that I am making here is that it is a blank canvas. You can put anything that you like on it and it hardly matters because it is your Mk1 Golf.
Because we can!
Now why would someone spend a fortune putting expensive components from newer cars into what is essentially a metal box on wheels? The answer is because we can. A Mk1 Golf is a box on wheels, it is not particularly safe, does not have standard airbags or side impact beams. It does not even have ABS brakes. Yet consider this: Imagine a 2-litre 16-valve turbo engine, pushing roughly 350kW of power, being slapped into a vehicle that weighs less than a ton. The power to weight ratio is tremendous. On a drag strip or a race track, a Mk1 Golf tuned to the extreme can take on supercars.
That really is the nature of the appeal for purist enthusiasts. The pride in having a car that anyone could have, that has been beefed up to take on "the Porsche that your rich daddy bought for you" is what makes the Mk1 Golf driver grin when he flies past on the highway and offers you a triple flash of his unsympathetic hazard lights.
The bottom line
It's the nature of the thing. The Mk1 Golf is what you make it to be. It just so happens that some members of the South African Indian community got hold of it and said "looks like we got something here. Pass me my spanners."
38 years later, we're still passing around spanners and seeing what we can do.
Speaking from experience, yes, I rev my golf for no reason whatsoever sometimes, just to make noise. I let the 12 inch subwoofer in my car set off car alarms in an undercover parking lot. As Golf drivers, we disrupt the flow of things and we take pride in doing so because "its not just any Golf, it's my Golf."