Volkswagen Harlequin '1995-96

'Dope Dub'

One of the original Harlequin Golf's with some neat touches. Source:canibeat.com

Nike Air force one's. Source:undergroundsoles.com

What happens in serious car company's assembly line when two dope heads get bored... "Chee, dude you have cool sneakers!" "Thanks bro, just stood 36 hours in line for these limited editions" "Wouldn't it be cool to have multi-colored Golf instead of these plain ones?" Yeah, would match ya shoes!" Hey man let's get busy, I have an idea, I'm sick of this shit anyway...

Based on this little trick in 1996 Volkswagen magazine ad said, “Can’t decide on a color? Try a Harlequin Golf.”  Thought, VW had difficulties to get all these 264 bizarre coloured Golf's sold and marketing department had to work their ass off before understanding the great marketing potential of these head turning creations: looks like a joke so let's call it a Harlequin and use it as a show stopper promoting different colour options and then sell it as a collectibles. 

Original ad pic. Source:rossvw.com

Not really, but almost, only the two dope heads were not involved. The original idea of the Harlequin Polo was to show that the Polo can be customimzed for your personal taste with paintwork, engine, chassis, interior, and optional equipment options.

Colour chart of the Harlequin models. Source: thetruthaboutcars.com

So, it started with Polo's back in 1995 when VW produced a limited series of 1000, but after positive feedback they procude some 2800 pieces more. Each body panel was painted with different colour: Flash red, Ginster yellow, Pistachio green and Chagall blue and cars had a "joker" interior with 90's style pattern. The Harlequins were produced by swapping the body panels of four different colored cars. They are usually designated by their base color (the color of the car with no body panels attached) and the base color is not repeated on any of the other body parts. 

After Polo's success VW decided to make the same trick in States with mk3 Golf and released the limited series that became the ultimate rare VW. Most of the Harlequin Golf's are listed in Harlequin Golf registry, maintained by the VW maniac owning five harlequin golfs and 52 Volkswagens! Seems to be that the same trick was repeated third time in Brasil with a VW Gol. All the cars are totally standard, except the colour scheme, but as Wolf cars stands for ultimate rare cars this needs to be featured.

Polo Harlequin ad. Source: polodriver.com

In details (Golf):

Engine
- R4, 1984cc, 8-valve (2E/ABA/ADY/AGG)

Numbers
- 115hp/5400rpm
- 166Nm/3200rpm
- 0-100Km/h: 9,9s
- Top speed: 210Km/h

- Coefficient of drag: 0,32

Transmission
- 5 speed manual or auto, FWD
 
Chassis
- Several different wheel options, e.g. cabrio alloys
- Discs front and drums rear

Exterior
- Limited edition Harlequin paint scheme

- U.S model bumbers and tailgate for narrow license plate

Interior
- Harlequin sport cloth seats
- Silver faced dials

Other
- Polo: Originally limited to 1,000, but most probably 3,806 produced

- Golf: 264 produced 

- Gol: ???

How about this harlequin RS4 from Woerthersee 2011? Source: peace534.pixnet.net