Swallowtails

[jets]

I picked up a UK magazine called German Classics from the newsagent & in the Golf Mk1 buyers guide it says "Right-hand drive Swallowtails are very hard to find & expect to pay 8,000 pounds or more for one." Now that's serious money. Can someone explain what's going on, why are they bringing so much? What do they bring here?

[mitch750]

Is it cause they were built in Aus?
-Best to wait for a vw connoisseur to reply ;P

[Notso Swift]

UK has very few cars not rusted out and a high demand from a high number of people
In Aus the demand is high from a limited number of people so the prices are considerably lower for an equivalent car.
(This isn't just a VW thing, other cars are the same, Early Escort and Cortina, sliding window mini's for example, prices have shot up here but only a fraction of the UK)

[sports racer]

Aussie swallowtails are a bit of a mismatch of parts and I don't know if an overseas buyer would consider them as being real.

We got the swallow tail (hence their name) and the bonnet but none of the other features that say it's a very early Golf.

[revnit]

Agreed sports racer, recently looked at a Swallowtail ( in desperate need of saving) had a late bonnet on it and the only parts that probably can be saved with a full resto is the rear panel

Sent from my SGP521 using Tapatalk

[SMOK]

Agreed they are a bit of a miss-match but heaps more parts than just the back panel and the bonnet.
My one also has the vented rear hatch and few other small bits off this list:

Swallowtail Oddities

[Stanton]

Swallowtails in Europe / Britain were the original 1975 models with the so called swallow tail rear panels.Our poorly build Australian cars are 1976 models using left over panels from the 1975 models as they were made up with TKD parts,so were quite bitsa's really.I do know of an imported 75 2 door but I think all the tags are lost.

[Browneye]

So my 76 swallowtail came with original dealer import documents from Germany saying it was built in 75. Does that make it a "genuine" swallowtail because it's not Australian built?

[sports racer]

If it was built badly then it's an Aussie build. It's German built if all the original rubber door and window seals lined up properly and the panels were fitted by someone who cared about the quality of their work.

[Stanton]

It will have the German id plate on the rad panel and most likely not one of our Nissan/Volvo colours.