Sometimes, I write about a car that I know will be polarising – the recent Rover 213 Spotted is a case in point. That was always going to be a love-it-or-loathe-it thing. But this pick from the classifieds is not one of those. I am not expecting it to be divisive. I am betting the house on this Volkswagen Scirocco Storm invoking nothing but calm, universal appreciation on the internet – at least for the car itself. The price will, no doubt, receive the usual ‘how much?’ criticisms, but I am not going to miss the opportunity to write about a spectacular car because of that. If the market says that a car, which was once worth some hundreds of pounds, is now worth several thousands, who am I to argue? I am not the chancellor after all. And it doesn’t make the car any less special or noteworthy, does it? Quite the opposite. 

While we’re on the subject of price, it seems widely accepted that a good Mk1 Golf GTI costs around £20,000 these days. Maybe more for an exceptional one. In theory, a Mk1 Scirocco Storm should cost even more. After all, it has the same engine, gearbox, and basic chassis ingredients, but it’s a lot, lot rarer. Volkswagen apparently sold something in the region of seven-million Mk1 Golfs, but how many Mk1 Sciroccos left the factory gates do you reckon? About half a million. So it’s a two-door coupé version of a great car, but much rarer and, don’t forget, coach-built. It was produced by Karmann in Osnabrück, rather than at Wolfsburg where the Golf GTI was churned out in such vast numbers. In any other classic car scenario, all that would lead to its value rising exponentially over the hatchback equivalent, especially because it looks like only 13 Storms are taxed today.

It’s unlikely to be a rose-tinted letdown, either. The 108hp 1.6-litre fuel-injected motor is capable of making the Storm’s performance…well, more than a storm in a teacup. It’ll do 115mph and 0-60mph in 8.8 seconds, which, I believe, classes it as perky. And quicker than that VW in Swabian drag, the Porsche 924 – the original 2.0-litre 924 managed the same acceleration benchmark in 9.5 seconds. To my eyes, the Giorgetto Giugiaro-designed Scirocco is rather prettier than those early 924s as well.

It was also light. We’re talking lighter than a moth in a hot air balloon by today’s standards, but also light for the time. Let’s use the 924 as a comparator again. That weighed 1,100kg, which is 27 per cent heavier than the Scirocco. The VW tips the scales at a mere 800kg. That’s the sort of holy grail weight figure us PHers can only dream about these days, and it explains why this Scirocco would feel so much livelier than a 924 on the road. This was no Luddite next to its rivals, either. The Storm was relatively advanced for the time, with disc brakes all round (vented up front), along with front and rear anti-roll bars. The overhead-cam engine, of course, had mechanical fuel injection, and that was far from commonplace as well. . 

I mentioned the Giugiaro styling earlier and I’ll do so again – for the simple reason that it’s lovely. There are ‘70s designs that look jarring these days, but this Giugiaro isn’t one of those. It’s clean, simple and, above all, harmonious. I’ll give you the money myself if you can find a line or a feature that looks out of place. And the Storm additions didn’t detract from it, either. Again, that’s not always the case when cars from the ‘70s – or in this case, one that stretched into the early ‘80s – were ‘improved’. The Storm’s 13-inch alloys look smart and the little chin spoiler merely adds some Roger Moore-style gravitas to the front, don’t you think?

Then there’s the interior. This car’s tan leather is just exquisite, setting off the exterior, with its hint-of-bronze metallic, to a tee. The fact that it has leather is something rare, too, considering this car was from a time when you were lucky to get a passenger door mirror or a cigarette lighter. This has both, by the way. And it isn’t a carbon copy of the Golf’s interior, either, which shows the effort that went into differentiating the two cars. The two round pods that house the main VDO dials are snazzed-up with an aluminium surround, and those dials are supplemented by the clock and oil pressure gauge in the centre console. That also has the tape-cassette holders for the top-tier Blaupunkt digital stereo, which is a lovely, original touch.

And that’s exactly what this car seems to be: original, in the unmodified sense. It’s had work done, but that can only be a welcome thing after 42 years when a car is known to suffer from rust. But what steel-bodied car doesn’t? It’s had a respray, according to the advert, and also ‘a cambelt, water pump, clutch kit and engine tune-up in 2018’ to spruce up the mechanical side. Genuinely, I think this is one of those rare occasions where a car seems expensive on the face of it, but the more you dig into the details the more you start to wonder whether the opposite is true. Is it too cheap? Either way, as a standalone piece of automotive memorabilia, it’s a winner in my book.

Engine: 1,588cc, four cylinder, naturally aspirated
Transmission: five-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 108 @ 6,100rpm
Torque (lb ft): 103 @ 5,000rpm
CO2: N/A
MPG: N/A
Recorded mileage: 116,000
Year registered: 1981
Price new: c.£6,600
Yours for: £17,995