The Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet/Rabbit Convertible has had an eventful life. Unveiled to the public in 1979, it was one of the first budget convertibles to be equipped with a roll bar, a feature that was inspired by Porsche’s 911 Targa. Volkswagen repeatedly explained to customers that the roll bar made the car safer but it was a tough sell at first and the Cabriolet earned the unflattering nickname “strawberry basket” in its home country of Germany.
Once the public got past the roll bar the Golf Cabriolet was hailed as the spiritual successor to the Beetle convertible. It was catapulted to cult status and almost 400,000 examples rolled out of Karmann’s workshop during the 14-year long production run.
Finally replaced by the much rounder mk3 Cabrio in 1993, the Golf Cabriolet became the poster child of cute and affordable chick cars in the 1990s and the early 2000s. Today, as mk1 GTIs get treated to flawless restorations and trade hands for astronomical sums, the Cabriolets have been largely forgotten and are left to die with rusty wheel arches and torn soft tops.
Will the original topless Golf eventually get collectors’ attention, or will it continue to be a has-been that is poached for parts?
Ran When Parked 
These cars are a piece of cultural history. The triple white cabriolet was the ultimate Valley Girl car of the 80s. They also make a pretty good summer fun car if you get a more discreet color. My mom had a metallic red with black 82 that drove almost as well as my Scirocco.
I’ve never driven one but I’d like to test one out one day, I personally think they’ll become classics.
collectors item
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