If you’re looking for a coupe with trend-leading 1970s styling, but can’t justify a Lotus Esprit or Maserati Bora, you’d be remiss in not considering the Mk1 VW Scirocco. It has many similar design elements, including the trapezoidal windshield, sloping hood, and fastback rear end. Of course, you won’t get exotic stuff like a Renault 4-cylinder (wait, what?), fiberglass body, or thumping Italian V8, but the aftermarket and knowledge base for modifying older VWs are not exactly lacking. If you go looking for a Mk1 Scirocco, you’ll no doubt find plenty of series 2 cars with updated plastic bumpers, wheels, and more, but VW geeks will appreciate the purity of the original version’s styling. That’s why you should look at this 1976 VW Scirocco for sale for $3200 in Vancouver, WA.
Upgrades include BMW projector-beam headlights with HID kit, new control arms with HD rubber bushings, balljoint, tie rod ends, Weitec GT coilovers all around, new inner tie rods and steering rack boots (recent replacement of the latter two mean an alignment is required). Revolution RFX wheels look good on the car, but if they’re not your thing, the seller will take $500 off the price of the car. Slightly widened steel wheels (as seen on early European market GTIs and Sciroccos) would look great. The car has also received a new driver’s side rocker, and the passenger side item is included, as are two front fenders to replace the existing ones, which have some rust.
Hopefully that’s a shadow just aft of the fuel filler, and not some kind of weird rust hole. It’s nice to see the car hasn’t succumbed to other typical VW modifications like tartan headliners and roof racks. A previous owner upgraded the engine to a 1.8-liter, CIS Lambda fuel injection, and a long-ratio 5-speed. The engine is said to be warmed over, and the seller calls it faster than other Mk1s he’s driven, but doesn’t provide any detail on upgrades.
The interior has also been redone in a correct pattern, though the driver’s side bolster has since worn through. While you could complain about the cut door panels, there’s something retro-cool about the 1980s mega-stereo speakers and early 1990s Blaupunkt head unit. Note the rust on the lower a-pillar, just to the left of the passenger door speaker – the seller only discovered this when he let gravity open the door for him and the door pull popped out this area. The dash really looks pretty good for a VW this age, and the extra gauges are cool. There is no mention of leaks, or the lack thereof, a common problem with Mk1 cars. The car is said to have been an Oregon car from new, and its original yellow/blue plates are included. While most early air-cooled VWs don’t qualify for vintage car rallies, this one stands a good chance of getting in, and being the only one. What would you do with it?
Rusty But Trusty 
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