One of the pioneers of today's ubiquitous sport utility vehicle (SUV) category was the Golf Country. It came onto the market 25 years ago and paved the way for Volkswagen's later Fun, Cross and Alltrack vehicles in particular. The basis of the Country was the all-wheel drive Golf II syncro.
Unusual
Volkswagen was always good for unusual ideas. At the Geneva Motor Show in March 1989, an off-road study of the Golf called Montana was presented. It went into series production as the Golf Country in 1990. The basis, a Golf II syncro CL, was manufactured in Wolfsburg. The vehicle then went to Graz, where it was upgraded accordingly: At Steyr Daimler Puch, the Golf was given a subframe made of steel tubes, reinforced springs and steel underbody protection, with ground clearance increasing to a total of 18 centimetres. The car was also fitted with bull bars at the front and rear, and the spare wheel was placed at the rear of the tailgate. In front of the hood, it was no longer just the main headlights that shone, but also additional headlights and fog lights.
Not very popular
Demand was limited, however, because the Golf Country was ahead of its time. Despite the relatively small production run of only 7735 units, there were two special models in the one and a half years of production: the Golf II Country Allrounder painted in "forest green", which was kept rather functional and simple in terms of equipment, and the Chrome Edition. The latter was more elegantly equipped all round - with cream-colored genuine leather upholstery and black paintwork, electrically operated Webasto folding roof and chrome-plated add-on parts. Only 558 units of the chrome model were delivered.
Around 50 examples of the Country were even more exclusive - the so-called "Wolfsburg Edition" had the GTI engine and was only given to Volkswagen factory employees.
Sought-after rarity
Today, the Golf Country is a sought-after collector's vehicle, to which a special exhibition at the Volkswagen AutoMuseum is dedicated until February 7, 2016. The current continuation of the concept is the spacious and active Golf Alltrack1.
More information about the special exhibition can be found on the museum website.