New York Times Scirocco article

[marquez337 at yahoo.com (Marko)]

What section of the Times is it in today pls?
The Metro section?


--- Roger concha <rogercv1@gmail.com> wrote:

> *By DAVID PUNER *
> 
> Published: April 15, 2005
>   
>  RIDING piggyback atop a flatbed truck, cloaked only
> by the translucent 
> dawn, a sunflower-yellow Scirocco recently arrived
> in Westmoreland County, 
> Pa., sending a 1970's ripple through the region. The
> '75 Volkswagen may not 
> have blown into town quite like the desert wind for
> which it was named, but 
> at least one driver out at 5:30 a.m. took note.
> "Some kid in a hot red Honda 
> pulled up beside the truck, and it looked like he
> was going to break his 
> neck the way he was staring at the car," said Trevor
> Hill, the Sirocco's new 
> owner. "Before the Hondas, these were big," he
> explained. 
> 
> Mr. Hill, 34, acquired his Scirocco on eBay after
> placing a last-minute 
> $5,600 winning bid, then made an overnight trip to
> St. Louis to haul it 
> home. "The more I looked at it, the more I wanted
> it," said Mr. Hill, who 
> runs a garage specializing in Porsches and owns and
> operates Subway sandwich 
> franchises. He figures he has owned more than 100
> Sciroccos and, at the time 
> of the eBay auction, had three (if you count the
> sandblasted 1975 carcass 
> leaning against a wall of his garage). But he
> couldn't resist the yellow 
> coupe. With its unblemished dashboard, a
> swinging-70's yellow plaid 
> interior, unworn pedal pads and a dealer-installed
> AM/FM/8-track player, he 
> said it was the most nearly period-perfect Scirocco
> he had ever seen. For 
> another $1,000 he plans to make it stock-perfect.
> "It's a first-year car," 
> he said. "I've seen four of them in my life." He
> owns two of those four.
> 
> When the Scirocco arrived in American showrooms in
> 1975, it was a distinct 
> departure from VW's previous sports coupe, the
> rear-engine, rear-drive, 
> air-cooled Karmann Ghia. The Scirocco was a
> front-engine, front-drive, 
> water-cooled design. In North America, it was
> marketed as a car with German 
> engineering and Italian style - a nimble performer
> that didn't guzzle gas 
> and looked good. Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, the
> Scirocco had stylish 
> quad headlights, a hatch and a wide-stance wedge
> shape. But the Scirocco was 
> never a big seller in the United States, with only
> about 230,000 sold from 
> 1975 to 1988. (In the same period, more than 1.5
> million Toyota Celicas hit 
> American roadways.) Still, the car has maintained a
> devoted following and 
> may be on its way to becoming a collector's car.
> 
> In 1975, the Scirocco, priced at about $5,000, was
> not inexpensive. Its 
> roomier econobox sibling, the Rabbit, also
> introduced in 1975, was cheaper 
> at $3,300. Unsurprisingly, the Rabbit had a bigger
> debut, selling 98,000 
> cars in the United States that year. Only 16,000
> Sciroccos found buyers. 
> 
> The first-generation Scirocco - officially
> designated the Mk1 - was sold in 
> the United States from 1975 to 1981 with few major
> changes. The next 
> generation, Mk2, was a few inches longer and had
> rectangular headlights, a 
> more powerful engine (including VW's first 16-valve
> as an option in 1986) 
> and softer lines. The Mk2 was available in the
> United States from 1982 to 
> 1988.
> 
> First-generation Sciroccos were notorious rust
> buckets. Of the Sciroccos 
> sold in the United States, 150,000 were Mk1's and
> 80,000 were Mk2's, and it 
> is far easier to find examples of the latter still
> on the road. And though 
> Scirocco fans are devoted to the cars, they have yet
> to push prices into the 
> stratosphere. Today, a decent-running Scirocco can
> still be found for less 
> than $1,000. For $6,000 you can buy a pristine one,
> even an Mk1 if you're 
> patient and lucky. 
> 
> "I don't think people see these cars as collectible
> yet," said Brett Van 
> Sprewenburg, 36, who operates Scirocco.org
> <http://scirocco.org/>, a 
> comprehensive enthusiast Web site, and is a software
> engineer for Eastman 
> Kodak in Virginia. He added, "Cars are not a good
> investment unless you're 
> buying Ferraris." 
> 
> Scirocco enthusiasts admire both generations. "If
> you're a Scirocco head, 
> you tend to like the Series 1, but the lack of
> Scirocco 1's brings you right 
> into the Scirocco 2, which has close to the same
> feel," said Eric Ryzerski, 
> 33, who owns a swimming pool company in Bedford
> Hills, N.Y. 
> 
> That distinctive feel has a lot to do with its
> weight. "They're very small 
> cars by today's standards," Mr. Van Sprewenburg
> said. Indeed, a Scirocco Mk1 
> is almost 20 inches shorter than one of today's
> smaller cars, the 2005 Honda 
> Civic Coupe.
>  Page 2 of 2) 
> 
>  Mr. Van Sprewenburg has owned a dozen of the cars
> over the years. "They 
> look like little go-karts," he said. Driving a
> Scirocco, regardless of 
> model, he said, is an experience that connects a
> driver with the road. "The 
> car really talks to you," he said.
> 
> It speaks to nostalgia as well. "Guys generally like
> cars that came out when 
> they were in high school," said Mr. Ryzerski, who
> has owned six Sciroccos 
> (two Mk1's and four Mk2's) and has had his current
> Scirocco, a 1988 16-valve 
> - the last of the Mohegans, since 1991, when he was
> in college. He said that 
> over the years he had spent easily $50,000 on the
> car. "The bottom line is 
> you spend a lot of money on it, even if it's in
> perfect condition when you 
> buy it," he said. "And it won't be worth more."
> 
> Also the owner of a 1988 16-valve, Mr. Van
> Sprewenburg got his first 
> Scirocco, a 1978, when he was 17 years old. "I was
> bit," he said. "This car 
> is unique, unusual, cheap to run, easy to maintain
> and fast. Remember, the 
> Mustang in the day was a four-cylinder. The American
> cars were big and slow. 
> The Sciroccos were light and could turn," he said.
> "Did I mention that it 
> was fast?" A stock 16-valve Scirocco had a top speed
> of 124 miles an hour. 
> 
> FUN-TO-DRIVE, inexpensive sports cars became
> increasingly plentiful in the 
> 80's, and the Scirocco's rising price put it at a
> disadvantage. "The 
> downfall of the Scirocco," Mr. Van Sprewenburg said,
> "is they were too 
> expensive. No one could reconcile paying so much for
> a Volkswagen." The 
> price on a loaded 1988 16-valve had grown to around
> $18,000 - with leather 
> seats, a sunroof, air-conditioning and other
> options, the Scirocco had 
> become weighed down with creature comforts that some
> purists considered 
> un-Scirocco. Volkswagen, which had continued to sell
> the car in other 
> markets, discontinued it after the 1992 model year.
> Over its entire run, 
> about 800,000 Sciroccos were sold worldwide. 
> 
> With time, Trevor Hill said, Scirocco values will
> increase significantly, 
> "when people who grew up with these cars will have
> expendable money and want 
> to buy them." Mr. Hill added, however, that there
> would always be a limit on 
> how much someone would pay for a Scirocco.
> "Volkswagens are nice, but if you 
> want the really cool Volkswagen," he said, "you buy
> a Porsche." 
> 
> Sitting behind the wheel of the yellow Scirocco
> inside his shop, wearing a 
> Volkswagen baseball hat, Mr. Hill looked as if he
> could still be in high 
> 
=== message truncated ===


87 Scirocco 8v
84 Jetta GL


		
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