It’s not often that you’ll see a Derby; indeed, you won’t even find much written about it. In fact, the model profile in the February 2008 issue of Volkswagen Driver is about the only significant article that we know of. The Derby was the booted version of the Mk 1 Polo, introduced in 1977 as an LS with a 50bhp 1.1-litre engine and later supplemented in 1980 by the 60bhp 1.3 GLS. Although immensely practical, with a boot as big as that of a contemporary Ford Cortina, the Derby was never particularly popular at the time, and the Volkswagen Driver model profile concluded by saying that it is ‘quite rare now and largely forgotten…’

Which makes it even more unusual to come across a completely original, low-mileage example like this one, now owned by Rachel Inglis. But in case you should think that she bought it just because it was a ‘nice-looking little car’ think again, because Rachel is a VW enthusiast through and through.

She even works for Volkswagen, for four years now, as service advisor at Parkway VW in Derby. It’s an interesting and challenging job, and regularly brings her into touch with all the latest models, not least her current favourite, the Scirocco TSI, and her only regret is that she doesn’t get to deal daily with many of the older classic VWs. The new Polo is also an attractive prospect, but it has a lot to live up to because Rachel does seem to have rather a fixation with old Polos of various types…

Her first car was a Mk 2 Polo saloon, which her parents bought for her 17th birthday. In truth, it was a bit of an old banger (Rachel reckons that their reasoning was that it wouldn’t matter too much if she crashed it!), but after passing her test in the car, she grew to love it and is currently carrying out a full-scale restoration. Of course, as with any car of this age, it is becoming rather a long-winded process, including fabricating many parts as all the panels are now obsolete.

Other previous cars include an L-registration Mk 3 Polo Fox, which had done 27,000 miles from new. ‘It was in lovely condition and a good runner, but I couldn’t keep it long as I needed the space’. Another was a red Mk 3 Polo saloon which she bought for next to nothing and planned to tidy up and then sell, but unfortunately it was badly damaged by vandals and had to be scrapped. Her current daily driver is a Mk 3 Polo saloon, not modified apart from a set of alloy wheels, but future plans are to re-spray it just to smarten it up and lower it on a set of – 40/60 mm Weitec springs, so that it handles a bit better. Yet another car that she has bought, planning to drive daily while the Mk 3 saloon is having its paint and engine work done, is a basic spec Mk 3 coupé, with the 1.0-litre engine and a 4-speed box, which she says ‘goes quite well, considering’.

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

Rachel Inglis' 1981 Derby GLS

With such a modest mileage, there isn’t a huge amount of service history with the car, as it has had just basic work carried out to get it through the MoT every year, things like brake hoses, top mounts, and the cambelt has also been replaced. It has clearly been serviced regularly, though, obvious just by looking under the rocker cover and the fact that it still runs so smoothly. Apart from a good clean-up, the Derby has needed very little work and not long after she bought it Rachel entered it in the concours at the Ultimate Dubs event in Telford, where it was much admired amongst all the gleaming big-budget show cars. It has also won an award for ‘Best Watercooled’ in the Run to the Hills event, came in the top 15 at Dubmania, and among the top 20 at the GTI Spring Festival, but its most significant achievement is a second place in class in the prestigious concours at the 2010 Stanford Hall event.

So superbly preserved is it that the car needs no restoration as such, but there are some minor scuffs on the paintwork which need to be attended to and Rachel has plans to remove the engine to fully detail it to original standard condition in time for the 2012 Volkswagen show season. The paintwork is, according to Rachel, ‘a little shabby after 30 years’. In the meantime, now with just over 21,000 on the clock, Rachel really enjoys driving it – not every day, of course – but as a special treat, and when visiting the various VW shows throughout the season, and the car appeared in the concours at 2009’s GTI International.

Rachel would like to say a big thanks to Steve Morris for being a huge help, her friend Charlie Baldwin who came to view the car and taught her about Derbys, to another friend, Karl Halewood, who helped her out at last year’s shows, and lastly her parents, for putting up with all the old VW parts around the house for the last six years!

Thanks to Neil Birkitt, editor, Volkswagen Driver magazine. This article originally appeared in the June 2010 issue and is reproduced by kind permission.

The mammoth annual classic car event that is Techno Classica Essen, takes place over five days in Essen (no!) in Germany, and 2011’s event from 30 March to 3 April saw, as in previous years, a predictably large Volkswagen Group attendance. As well as official stands from Volkswagen Classic – showing Karmann-based prototypes and vehicles from Osnabrück, including a 1973 Passat, 1974 Scirocco, Series 1 Golf Cabriolet prototype and the premiere of the new Series 6 Golf Cabriolet – Hall 8.1 offered a smattering of VW-brand clubs, and among them, IG Typ 86, and a trio of motorsport Polos. Sebastian Winkler of www.g-lader.info has kindly given us permission to use these photos of the Series 1 Polo track-based wide-arch Polos, and a rally-spec Group H Series 2 Polo G60. More pictures and Sebastian’s HD video of the Techno Classica Essen 2011 event can be found here.

[Images: Sebastian Winkler]

Techno Classica Essen 2011: IG Type 86 stand

Techno Classica Essen 2011: IG Type 86 stand

Techno Classica Essen 2011: IG Type 86 stand

Techno Classica Essen 2011: IG Type 86 stand

Techno Classica Essen 2011: IG Type 86 stand

Techno Classica Essen 2011: IG Type 86 stand

Volkswagen has launched volkswagen-classic.de, a new website for owners of older VWs. Aiming to offer an ‘exciting and fascinating mix of magazine and interactive community’, visitors to the focused portal will find a selection of unpublished photographs, brand new information and comprehensive facts on Volkswagen history and classic models from 1949 to 1999. All the historical Volkswagen activities will be found at volkswagen-classic.de, from events, car collections/tours and even original part sales. A central part of the new website is the official magazine of Volkswagen Classic, which will appear exclusively online. It offers exclusive stories and features articles about classic Volkswagens. In each issue of the magazine there will be a special theme – the star of the first issue is the Golf Cabriolet.

Each individual model also gets its own profile page, complete with detailed chronology, technical specifications and advertising history. The online community will offer a central online platform, where owners and friends of classic Volkswagens are offered numerous opportunities to engage in dialogue, exchange ideas, discuss, and to actively communicate with Volkswagen. Registered users can create a personal profile with which to network; brand and specific model clubs get their own website space to present and promote their vehicles and activities. Professional support is provided, too: the Volkswagen Classic online team, support staff and experts will ‘always be ready to answer discussion questions.’

volkswagen-classic.de: Polo I profile page

volkswagen-classic.de: Polo I chronology

volkswagen-classic.de: Polo II GT G40

volkswagen-classic.de: front page

volkswagen-classic.de: Magazine

volkswagen-classic.de: Scirocco

To celebrate the launch of the 2011 Volkswagen Polo GTI, PoloDriver.com delves into the archives to trace the history of the performance Polo. In the first issue of a special series of digital mini-magazines, we focus on the Series 1 Polo GT of 1979-1981. Each issue will focus on the history of the sports variants – GT, G40, and GTI – of each Polo generation, culminating in the introduction of the current 1.4-litre 178bhp Polo GTI. Read the first of our performance Polo special issues by clicking on the magazine graphic below, or if you can’t see the preview, visit this link. Head over to the PoloDriver virtual bookshelf for our previous titles covering the fifth-generation Polo range (including the TSI and BlueMotion) and the smallest Volkswagen, the Fox.

2011 unbelievably marks 30 years since the Series 2 Polo took over from the successful Series 1 model. Why unbelievable? We can remember when the second-generation hatchbacks, coupés and saloons were a common sight on UK roads. The Series 2 Polo was even Volkswagen UK’s best-selling model for a time during the 1980s. So, to celebrate, we’ve started a Series 2 Polo official publicity image gallery as part of our ‘Heritage’ section of the site. We’ll be adding shots throughout the year and may even have a model focus or two on the cars themselves. Head over here to see the first four images, most probably taken from the car’s European press launch in Sardinia.

We’ve recently updated the Series 1 Polo (1975-1981) heritage and specials pages with a few more historical facts. The original Polo’s first public viewing was at the London Motor Show at Earl’s Court in the autumn of 1975 (or so a period cutting we’ve recently got hold of tells us – note the early pressed steel wheels in the photo above). A year later, the first of two runs of the special Polo Jeans was launched in Europe. In a similar vein to the Jeans Beetle of 1974, the Polo Jeans had denim upholstery, unique badging and a special colour palette. We’ve also done some digging and found out that the car came with wider tyres (depending on which of the 895cc and 1093cc engines were fitted). The first batch of Polo Jeans models appeared in August 1976, the second following in June 1978.

On 3 July 2010, Volkswagen Classic (the company’s ‘heritage’ division) sent 12 teams to compete in the Youngtimer Tour 2010, a 220km-long road rally organised by German motor magazine Auto Zeitung. Seventy teams took part in the circular run to the Nürburgring from Euskirchen and among Volkswagen’s entries were an example of the stylish Porsche 914 (we’re big fans of the chunky 1970s VW/Porsche baby here at PoloDriver) and a 1973 Apal Buggy. The bulk of the company’s entires were made up of early VWs, though, with old Golfs, Passats and even a K70 joining a classic Polo. Nestled in the exhibits at the Volkswagen exhibition at the Euskirchen start and finish venue were the Eco Racer concept from 2005 and the Golf GTI W12 from 2007.

Only cars built between 1969 and 1990 were eligible to take part in the Youngtimer Tour 2010, and all of Volkswagen’s teams completed the event, the K70 of Volkswagen Executive Vice President Dr Rudolf Krebs, Plant Manager of Salzgitter (and Manager of the brand’s Future for Electric Vehicles division) crossing the line in third place overall. The more modern era of the Volkswagen Group was represented by a Lamborghini Jalpa, a Series 2 VW Scirocco, and a Škoda Fabia vRS. It’s not the first time Volkswagen has entered vintage Polos into road rally events; in 2005 it entered two older examples of its supermini on the Hamburg to Wolfsburg Creme 21 Youngtimer Rallye (pictured above), both of which were taken from the AutoMuseum Volkswagen.

We’ve been doing a bit of late summer sprucing here at PoloDriver. There are still some parts of the site that we’ve still got to go through, but today, we’ve added more information about two Series 2 Polo special models; the Polo Mikado and the Polo Peppermint. The Peppermint (pictured above), was, as far as we know, only available in France and was basically a rebadged Fox. Available from September 1991, the Peppermint was available with a 1043cc 45bhp petrol engine and a 1398cc 48bhp diesel unit. Also built around the base-model Fox, the Polo Mikado was on sale year later, and featured special paint finishes (including the unique Violet Blue) and brightly-coloured interior trim. Other embellishments included exterior colour-matched wheel trim rings. Head over to the Series 2 specials page to find out more, and to let us know of any unique models we may have missed.

Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen is a special place for Volkswagen fans. Tucked away from the global headquarters of the German giant in a side street in Wolfsburg, its long been a mecca for Volkswagen enthusiasts. How long? 2010 marks 25 years since the innocent-looking building opened its doors to the public, and laid bare its secrets for all to see. Jam-packed to its industrial rafters are Volkswagen Group models of all shapes and sizes, most of them prototypes which have rarely been on public view. A sizable chunk are Beetles of the air-cooled variety, but there really is something for everyone. There’s now more than a handful of Polos, including a Series 1 of 1975, a pair of record-breaking G40 Polo coupés from 1985, and the very first Series 3 Polo from the production line in 1994.

To celebrate Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen’s quarter of a century, its doors are open for a special ‘25 years AutoMuseum Volkswagen’ exhibition. Running until 19 September 2010, it worships the car’s ever-changing role in the culture, economic, social and technological arenas and celebrates its contribution since 1985. Twenty-five specially-selected exhibits tell the story, and to ensure that visitors can see all the jewels in Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen’s crown, its opening hours have been extended. Now accepting visits from 10am to 6pm, if you find yourself visiting the ‘Volkswagen town’ of Wolfsburg, make sure you take a trip to Dieselstrasse. Although there’s a new, purpose built and brilliant car museum – the ‘Zeithaus’ – at nearby VW theme park AutoStadt, you just might uncover something extra special at Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen…

• Keep visiting PoloDriver for a series of features on the different Polo exhibits in Stiftung AutoMuseum Volkswagen

One of the defining features of the 1970s was the vibrant colour palette which affected everything from fashion to home furnishings. The bright, flat colours also identified the cars in that decade, too, and the Audi 50 certainly joined in the eye-popping fun. It’s by no means a definitive list, but we’ve updated our Audi 50 ‘Heritage’ pages to document the shades in which the car could be ordered. There are trim combinations, too, and delving deeper, there are some peculiar (and not particularly tasteful) mixes as a result. Ozeanicblau/Cognac from 1976 is one such pairing; Bahamablaumetallic/Tabak from 1978 is another. Point your mouse here to find out how tasteful (or not) an Audi 50 could be.

Audi celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2010, and part of its celebrations include the publication of Four Rings – The Audi Story, a 368-page book documenting the company’s illustrious and at times, ground-breaking past. Available in English and German language versions, Audi has posted new pages on its corporate website to document both the publication and the evolution of its models and, more excitingly, has released vintage colour publicity images of the Audi 50 at various locations.

The ‘new’ photographs depict the car in France as well as at the press launch in Sardinia in 1974, and have a typical Seventies look about them. The 50 is in the Four Rings book, too; a spread on pages 226 and 227 tell the development and production story of Audi’s premium supermini, on sale from 1974 to 1978. An online digital preview is available here; the book is published by Delius Klasing and can be ordered by clicking on this link. Head over to our Audi 50 publicity image gallery to see the new colour pictures.

Following the addition of a gallery of publicity images to our Audi 50 pages in the ‘Heritage’ section of the site this week, you can now find the basic specification of the baby Audi in the same area of PoloDriver. Click here to read about what made the Audi 50 tick, from its engine choices to its tyre sizes. There are also details of factory-fitted optional equipment, from car radios to headlamp washers.

Following our recent updated ‘Heritage’ page, here is a group of publicity images from the Audi 50’s launch, back in a more naive 1974. A sister car to the original Series 1 Polo, the Audi 50 was produced from 1974-1978 when the more successful baby Volkswagen deleted the Audi from the catalogues. Our thanks to Michael Höcker and the gang at Audi 50 Friends for permission to use the pictures – be sure to visit the brilliant German home of the Audi 50 for all the facts, figures and pictures on the first-generation Polo’s prestigious sister.

The Audi 50 played an important part in the history of the Volkswagen Polo. Born into a energy crisis-hit world, the smallest production Audi ever built soon had a cheaper and more popular sister to play with, as Volkswagen launched its own less expensive version. Setting a template for the premium supermini, the 50 was a test bed for many technological developments and ultimately gave its life for the baby VW. We’ve just updated our history of Audi’s forgotten supermini. Pop across here to read the full story of the Audi 50.