The VW Golf is THE classic car
04/22/2023
If you ask people to list typical classic cars, they usually mention Porsche 356, Mercedes-Benz /8, Mercedes-Benz Pagoda (W113, 230 to 280 SL) or perhaps the VW Beetle.
But if you take a closer look at the statistics, in this case the registration figures for cars over 30 years old in Germany (analyzed by BBE Automotive), then things look a little different. At the top of the list is the VW Golf with 90,638 roadworthy cars. In second place comes the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (primarily the W123 and W124), followed by the VW Bus (various generations) and finally the VW Beetle and the BMW 3-series.
Of course, three generations of the Golf are represented, as the Golf III was already available in 1993. The fact that only 27% of these Golfs have an H license plate probably indicates that there are also many unkempt used cars among them.
The table also shows other anomalies. For example, more (Sachsenring) Trabants are registered in Germany today than at least 30-year-old Porsche 911s, while the VW Polo, Citroën 2 CV and Opel Kadett also make it into the top 15.
Some classic car enthusiasts still see a VW Golf as a youngtimer rather than a "real" classic car, but the first Golfs will soon be 50 years old, as is already the case with the Passat.
Many more interesting statistics can be found in the large-scale classic car study by BBE Automotive.
