zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Buying
/
This 'Holy Grail' Of Volkswagen Golfs Needs To Be In Your Driveway
This 'Holy Grail' Of Volkswagen Golfs Needs To Be In Your Driveway-May 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:09:29

Image for article titled This 'Holy Grail' Of Volkswagen Golfs Needs To Be In Your Driveway

The Volkswagen Golf is a blast of color on our monochrome automotive landscape. Finding one anywhere is rare, and this 1996 Golf Harlequin for auction on Bring a Trailer is begging to spice up your neighborhood.

The Golf Harlequin is one of the rarest cars produced by Volkswagen. It’s a car so weird and rare that I’d call it the ‘holy grail’ of Golfs. The striking color scheme actually has some history, Harlekin:

That circus of a car was designed to showcase Volkswagen’s — a modular system that cut the Polo into four categories. Customers configured their Polos through a color-coded system to select the desired drivetrain, equipment, options and paint color. The Polo was a visual representation of that system, and the cars came painted in Ginster Yellow, Pistachio Green and Tornado Red.

While we did not get the Polo Harlekin, we did get the paint scheme on the larger Golf. It’s believed only 264 of these exist in America, and you’ll probably have better luck finding an actual unicorn than a Golf Harlequin for sale. I tried searching for another for sale in the States and came up empty.

Image for article titled This 'Holy Grail' Of Volkswagen Golfs Needs To Be In Your Driveway

The base color on this Harlequin is Tornado Red with the rest of the colors filling out the palette.

It’s been driven 79,000 miles but looks remarkably clean for its age. Part of that is because it’s spent most of its life in Alabama and Georgia before the seller purchased it from the original owner in 2011. It then did a stint in Ohio before finally arriving in California. Check out those sweet plates!

Image for article titled This 'Holy Grail' Of Volkswagen Golfs Needs To Be In Your Driveway

The Harlequin theme continues inside, as the vehicle’s occupants sit in gray buckets with funky patterned upholstery.

Image for article titled This 'Holy Grail' Of Volkswagen Golfs Needs To Be In Your Driveway

Image for article titled This 'Holy Grail' Of Volkswagen Golfs Needs To Be In Your Driveway

Entertainment comes in the form of a cassette deck.

Under the hood is a 2.0-liter inline-four that pumps a modest 115 HP to the front wheels. Documentation showing recent services is included.

Image for article titled This 'Holy Grail' Of Volkswagen Golfs Needs To Be In Your Driveway

Another bonus is that it’s stock. Some of these end up slammed and stanced, so it’s nice to see one preserved. The buyer also gets all of the car’s documents, including the original window sticker.

The best part is that since this Harlequin already has the better part of 100,000 miles under is wheels, you can drive it without worry. Street park it, hell, daily drive this thing for the whole world to see.

Harlequin Golfs s, but it looks like even these are rocketing up in value. The price of entry for a circus in your driveway is $ on Bring a Trailer.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Buying
For $25,000, watch this escargot topless
For $25,000, watch this escargot topless
A stern appearance and imposing gravitas are qualities of Mercedes' W126 S-coupes. Today's 560 SEC may be a little less funereal due to its convertible conversion, but will its price be largely sobering? Large but seemingly not in charge was yesterday's freak show participant , which turned out to be...
May 1, 2026
For $19,500, quoth the raven, never lift
For $19,500, quoth the raven, never lift
In The Pit and the Pendulum Edgar Allen Poe imagines a diabolical death machine involving an arcing scythe. If Poe were alive today, he might find this Porsche 930 equally fiendish for its pendulum-like handling properties, but would he also find its price horrific? Sunday, Monday, happy days! Tuesday, Wednesday,...
May 1, 2026
For $16,000, this Benz is a 6.9 on the reich-ter scale
For $16,000, this Benz is a 6.9 on the reich-ter scale
The Germans may have failed at world domination - twice - but they've pretty much dominated the executive sedan market for decades. Todays Mercedes Benz is decades old, but comes with a price that could be considered a dominant feature. Dropping a big engine into a small car is a...
May 1, 2026
For $1,500, it’s the El Camino centipede
For $1,500, it’s the El Camino centipede
Cars with pickup beds are awesome, right? So that means that even more bed would be even more awesome... right? Today's El Camino doubles down on both the bed and rear wheels, but is its price something that you'd have to sleep on? Another kind of sleeper is a car...
May 1, 2026
For $7,000, it’s a step van-go
For $7,000, it’s a step van-go
Don McLean famously sang about driving his Chevy to the levee, where sadly he discovered they couldn't serve booze. If he had been driving today's hot rod Step Van he could have been drinking whiskey and rye in no time, but may have found its price to be too much...
May 1, 2026
For $12,999, be a fresh prince
For $12,999, be a fresh prince
The Shoebox Chevys were also known as the Tri-fives because they encompassed three years in the mid fifties - 55, 56 and 57. Today's Bel Air is from the first of those three, but does it come with a price that's triple what it should be? Mercury may be gone,...
May 1, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved