Bojan Vrbnjak
"But can yours also float?" This quote from the German film Manta can certainly be mentioned in this case, since most of the more than 35 million compact cars delivered to date still cannot do so even after 50 years. One can.
Namely, the VW See-Golf (in our opinion it could be called the Jezerski-Golf) from 1983, because apparently Dr. Ernst Fiala also asked himself this question and set to work with his four-member team to teach the icon of the compact car to swim. After all, the company from Wolfsburg has already shown with the Volkswagen Type 166 Schwimmwagen that a car can also float. However, the new idea to teach the Golf to swim had a scientific background, at least according to tradition: the 1,8 hp 150-liter four-cylinder engine was intended to gain technical knowledge about the behavior of the production engine under constant load with low cooling.
Fiala's team worked on See-Golf for three years. The basis was a VW Golf Cabriolet, on which two massive floats were installed. A hydraulic device made it possible to raise these pontoons as they left the water. This caused the eclipsed Golf to rise out of the water with gigantic antlers, almost like a deer. With this monstrous structure, it is said that it is still possible to reach a speed of 140 km/h on land. However, it will probably need two parking spaces for parking. The body and powertrain were sealed to protect the working technology from moisture ingress. The interior was covered in leather, which can be easily maintained. At sea, the propeller is driven via a shaft that can be connected separately to the drive train. With the See-Golf model, it is possible to reach a speed of 22 knots - just over 40 km/h. With constant water displacement, the water-cooled 1.8 engine should therefore be put to good use with a little external freshening.
Testing was carried out in local reservoirs and the Bay of Kiel, and then the unusual vehicle found its way to the 1983 GTI meeting at Lake Wörthersee, where it was presented to the general public. We'll leave the scientific background to the team, and of course, we won't assume that they just wanted to make an extremely cool appearance at the legendary car meeting. During the GTI Fan-Fest, the curious could view it from afar in its natural environment on the small lake next to the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg. Outside the lake, this little guy is at home in the Volkswagen Museum. The bottom line is that as an amphibious vehicle, the classic Schwimmwagen probably had slightly better day-to-day use than the See-Golf.
