There are not many secrets left in the car collector world, and this one got out a few years back when everyone woke up and noticed what a bargain the Mk1 Golf was, particularly the Rabbit GTI.

One of the hot hatch pioneers ... The final design of the Golf was known as the Type 17. The Golf Mk1 went into production in March 1974, and sales officially began in May of the same year.

Ask any performance car enthusiast under 35 what their first fast car was and there’s a good chance they will respond with the name of a hot hatch of some kind. But their answer would be very ...