A rare coupe by Giugiaro was spotted in Kyiv

This rather rare car for the Ukrainian market was photographed the other day on one of the streets of Kiev. It is a stylish first-generation Volkswagen Scirocco coupe, the exterior of which was designed by the outstanding designer Giorgetto Giugiaro. What is worth is the side window line raised to the stern, which gives the profile a particularly dynamic look.

The Scirocco was introduced at the 1973 Geneva Motor Show to replace the aging Karmann Ghia. Production of the new model began at the same Karmann plant in Osnabrück as its predecessor. The Volkswagen Scirocco was built on the A1 platform, which also underpinned the first Golf.

The car spotted in Kyiv was produced in 1977, but before the restyling carried out in the autumn of the same year. This is evidenced by the chrome-plated, not completely plastic, bumpers, as well as the central pillar, painted in the body color - after the update it became black. At the same time, the turn signals on the car already go to the sidewalls, as on restyled cars. Of the interesting features, we note the presence of only one front wiper - a solution that appeared in the summer of 1975.

The Volkswagen Scirocco was offered with four-cylinder petrol engines with an overhead camshaft and two valves per cylinder. These were engines with a displacement of 1,1 to 1,6 liters, developing from 50 to 110 hp. The most powerful of them - a 1,6-liter, with mechanical fuel injection - was installed on the GTi version. Such a "charged" car accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 8,8 seconds and had a top speed of 185 km/h. From 1974 to 1981, a total of 504 Volkswagen Scirocco of the first generation were produced.

The second generation model debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1981. It had the same platform, but its own design team was involved. This Scirocco was also produced at the Karmann plant. Unlike the first-born, such cars were already quite common on Ukrainian roads at the time.