Remember Michael Dreisbach’s immaculate Riad Yellow 1977 Polo L that we featured recently? Well, now we’ve got a little more information about the exhibition in which it features. In cooperation with German motoring magazine Auto Bild Klassik and 14 car clubs, AutoMuseum Volkswagen is looking for the ‘Super-VW’, a car which is deemed the best out of 14 historic Volkswagens. And Michael’s stunning early Polo is one of the cars in contention.

From 19 November 2011 until 29 February 2012, visitors to the Dieselstrasse museum can choose their favourite ‘Super-VW’, and the readers of Auto Bild Klassik are also eligible to vote – the 14 competition entrants will be profiled in the 01/2012 issue of the magazine, on sale on 2 December. Both air and water-cooled models are represented and are the most orginal examples of their kind, hand-picked from the clubs taking part in the competition.

Michael Dreisbach’s Polo has provided wedding transport for Michael and his bride Heike (they met while at a Polo show in 2001), and the front passenger seat was removed in order to get the bride’s dress inside comfortably. A short friend then drove the pair to the church! The car was owned by the same lady owner for 30 years, and has never been restored. The full list of ‘Super-VW’s includes: 1945 W Porsche Eigenbau, 1955 Beetle 1200 Cabriolet, 1963 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet, 1971 411 E, 1972 Type 2 ‘Fire’ van, 1972 K70 L, 1974 Passat Variant, 1976 Rabbit, 1976 Beetle 1303 Cabriolet, 1977 ‘Black-White’ Scirocco, 1977 Polo L, 1984 Santana CX, and 2003 Beetle 1600i. We’re heading off to Wolfsburg soon, and so hope to see Michael and Heike’s stunning car for ourselves.

We thought the AutoMuseum Volkswagen had enough ‘old timer’ Polos in its collection, but we’ve recently heard that another has joined the ranks. Michael Dreisbach’s immaculate Riad Yellow Series 1 Polo L has been installed in VW’s oldest car museum in Dieselstrasse, Wolfsburg (the AutoMuseum Volkswagen opened in 1985) on a temporary loan. The Polo made the 400km journey from Michael’s home under its own steam and without problems. Audi-50.de reports that there should be a news item on the latest acquisition soon on the AutoMuseum Volkswagen website. We’re hopping across to Wolfsburg in the next few weeks as part of a pan-German trip, so we’ll keep an eye out for the latest arrival when we visit.

[Source: Audi-50.de]

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.

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.

The latest issue of UK tuned Volkswagen magazine, Performance VW, features a 1979 Series 1 Derby. Nothing unusual in that you may think, but this Riad Yellow Polo saloon is based in the US; the Polo family has never been imported Stateside. Josh Paashaus owns the car and has transplanted a 6N2 Polo GTI 1.6-litre engine into the little notchback, putting out around 125bhp. With extra-large wheel arches covering wide wheels, the car looks fantastically retro but with a little extra menace. The November 2010 issue of Performance VW magazine (edition 169) is on sale now until 11 November.

[Image: Performance VW]

Dan Higgins has been the proud owner of this concours clean 1980 Series 1 Polo GLS for almost two-and-a-half years. Totally standard and original from its polished hubcaps to its dealer sticker in the rear window, the car has just covered over 22,000 miles in 30 years. It very nearly didn’t stay a remarkably unmolested piece of Polo history, though; when he bought the car in November 2008, Dan had all sorts of Euro-look plans brewing, including taking the car to the deck on a set of 13” rims. But, he couldn’t bear to do anything to it. ‘I soon came to realise that this wasn’t going to happen, I just couldn’t do it. The car was immaculate and it would have been a shame to alter such a great example. With the car being in flawless original condition and with only 16,000 miles on the clock, I know I wouldn’t have made many friends if I would have begun to alter the car in the slightest,’ he says.

[Click 'Read More' below for gallery of pictures at end of post.]

Since ‘Higgo’ took ownership, the car has been taken to many events and driven with great pleasure during the summer months, picking up a few prizes along the journey. ‘The car isn’t perfect and I’m rather picky with little niggles. Therefore, my future plans for the car are to sort out the little bits that need sorting and then after that just keeping it dry and clean,’ Dan says. Not perfect? It looks it to us! PLD 686W is almost the stereotypical one lady owner from new car, and was first purchased from Volkswagen in part exchange with a 1976 Polo, so the GLS was somewhat of an upgrade for the then owner.‘I still have the original bill of sale as well as a folder full of service history and previous MOTs. Since the first owner, the car changed hands once more within the family before it fell kindly into my hands, to where it shall stay for a long time,’ Dan enthuses. At the Stanford Hall 2010 event, Dan and the GLS finished a credible third in the Polo class, testament to the car’s fantastic condition.

The GLS was the top of the range Polo production model back in 1979 and was fitted with a 1093cc 50bhp engine, and lots of standard equipment that borrowed much from larger, more expensive cars. Appointments included chrome trim; Dan’s car received some additional and optional extras on top of the standard spec making it that little bit special including Wolfsburg crest mud flaps, a push-button radio and rear fog lights. And it’s originality and rarity is just part of the reason to leave the car as it is, according to Dan. ‘Due to my eagerness to modify all of my cars I’m also the proud owner of an 1981 base-model Polo N. This is my project car and is where I shall execute all of my initial dreams and ideas of a retro/Euro-look Mk 1 Polo. The GLS will stay like this for a long time, though, and I intend to keep it as original and factory fresh as possible,’ Dan concludes. An idea as flawless as the car in our opinion.

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.

With an estate-like rear end with long rear windows, the Series 2 Polo from 1981 was never a pretty car like the Series 1 from 1975, at least not until the coupé came along two years later. But, what would the Series 1 Polo have looked like if Volkswagen had been Series 2 radical a decade earlier? Over on Flickr, Littlepixel™ has been designing what he calls ‘Photochop’ cars since 2001, and his range of ‘chops include four Series 1 Polo-related models; a rally-inspired Audi 50 quattro, an Audi 50 saloon (think rebadged Volkswagen Derby), and ‘breadvan’ and Dodge Charger-inspired Series 1 Polos. Modified from the original press shots, we think they’re neat, and a glimpse as to what could have been. Head over to Flickr to see both Littlepixel™’s profile and his ‘chops photostream.

Long-running UK modified Volkswagen magazine Performance VW features a pair of pristine Series 1 Polos in its ‘Mk 1 Madness’ August 2010 issue, on newsstands now. Part of Belgian pair Kevin Winnepenninckx and Luc Jani’s collection of Mk 1 Volkswagens, both the Miami Blue and Marino Yellow ‘70s cars are flawless and show, that with very few mods, how right the original Polo/Audi 50 styling was at the time and just how pretty those early cars are. As well as the pair of Polos, there is a smattering of Mk 1 Golfs (including a 500+bhp French fancy), a rapid Caddy and advice for giving your Mk 1 a big power performance transplant.

[Images: Performance VW]

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.

The current issue of monthly independent VW title Volkswagen Driver features three pages on Rachel Inglis’s 1981 Derby GLS. We saw the car at the recent Stanford Hall event (coincidentally where the photos for the magazine feature were taken) and it really is a stunner. With only 21,000 miles on the clock since new, its paintwork gleams and the interior looks like brand new. Find out more in the June 2010 issue of Volkswagen Driver magazine on sale now.

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.

It’s set all sort of class best times at Volkswagen and drag racing events in Germany and blitzed, no, annihilated the competition. Just look the videos in this post; it leaves everything for dead and shoots off at such a speed it’s almost cartoon fast. If not cartoon fast, then definitely with performance even more scorching than Disney’s modified Herbie stunt cars. But what makes it go so quickly?

The basic Series 1 Polo bodyshell has had a 1.9-litre turbocharged 16V engine shoehorned into the small engine bay (a debate rages as to whether it’s actually a V6), mated to a four-wheel drive transmission from an Audi TT. AME’s drag star can rev to 9400rpm, do the standing quarter mile in 9.5 seconds, get to 62mph in 2.3 seconds (with 125mph coming up four seconds later) and has a top speed of 160mph and 950Nm of torque. It’s the stuff of legend.

Getting the power down is clearly and occasionally a problem. The car visibly bucks and jumps and you’ve only got to look at the size of the madly large tyres to see what’s needed to try to get maximum traction. The AME Polo runs on 15-inch alloys with M+H slicks or 16-inch rims with 205/55 16 boots stuffed under the tiny arches. The engine has far too many mods to list here; visit AME’s page on the car to find out exactly what’s been done.

Volkswagen’s engineers never expected the Seventies Polo to go like this; the highest-powered factory-approved model was the 59bhp 1272cc Polo GT of 1979. The AME super-Polo has 988bhp more and although it’s got around 300kg more (980kg with driver) to lug around, the performance is simply off the scale. The world’s fastest Polo? We wouldn’t bet against it. Watch all the videos linked from these and be amazed.

Old school: lowered Polo Coupe 2 with 14″ ‘Pirelli’ alloys and GT decals

Made by the Polo-Land forum in France, the brilliant Polo Selecta is based on a similar piece of kit for previewing modifications on old Beetles. First, you choose your steed (hatchback, coupé and saloon are all there, pre and post-facelifts), then apply a colour, and you’re away. Wheels can be chosen next – 1980s Ronal Turbos or classic ATS 15-inchers? Suspension can be slammed to the floor (but be wary of those violent sleeping policemen), and the rake of the car adjusted, too.

Modern with a classic twist: lowered Polo Coupé 2F with ATS 15″ alloys

Accessories can be added, as can different sets of lights, side repeaters, aerials, and side mouldings and spoilers can be added or taken off. Great detail has been made to make every detail right. With the colour palette, there’s even a selection of decals from the varying Polo models that had them. The possible combinations are staggering. It’s great fun, can while away more than a few minutes, and I can see it becoming quite addictive. Your Polo can instantly become a Po-low, and the age-old ‘What flavour is yours?’ Polo mint gag can be taken to new heights.

It’s a while since I modified a car, as these days I prefer my 1994 Polo GT near-standard (on the outside at least), but I could quite easily catch the online modifying bug. Although not radical, how are these for starters?