The ubiquitous Polo celebrates its 40^th this year and while, like most of us, it’s gained a bit of a middle aged spread, it still retains an enthusiastic and loyal following. The big 4-0 was celebrated in style at Essen earlier in the year, so we thought we’d take the opportunity of having a virtual walkabout around the stand, a joint operation between Volkswagen Classic and VW Polo IG Deutschland e.V, to get an insight into the model history…

The first Polo appeared in 1975 with a 900cc 40bhp engine – it was light and devoid of creature comforts so it actually felt pretty perky. This is the ‘luxury’ L with chrome bumpers (the poverty spec base model only had a matt silver finish!), headrests and a delicate chrome strip along the side. This beautifully restored example is in a very rare Oceanic Blue – a hue that was only available at the car’s launch.

The second generation Polo was represented at Essen by a 1988 high efficiency concept Eco model with a two cylinder direct injection diesel engine, a start stop system, semi-auto transmission and, get this, a G-lader for top end performance.

Another second generation car, this 1985 Polo is actually a world record beating G40. It took part in a successful 24-hour world record attempt on Volkswagen’s own test track in Ehra-Lessin where it attained an average speed of 208km/h in the 1300cc class, smashing the previous record of 168.6km/h.

The Polo Coupe always appealed to the sportier Polo buyer and this one is another supercharged G40, built in 1992; the fact that it was a second series easily identified by the fact that rectangular headlamps, larger rear lights and large, integrated crumple zones.

This is the third generation Polo – it also went on to be a massive seller, but have you ever seen one of these before? It’s a special edition Open Air, dating from 1998, with an electrically operated full length folding roof…

Another unusual vehicle, representing the fourth generation Polo, is this Karmann cabriolet GTi from 2007. It’s actually a concept produced for the Frankfurt show, the sloping line of the closed roof giving the Polo a coupé like silhouette. With the click of a button, the roof folds under the rear shelf, with the glass rear window being raised electrically to give access to the boot. Shame it never made it into production!

Finally, the Polo 5 was showcased by a WRC 1.6-litre Polo R that made its debut at the Monte Carlo rally in 2013 where it went on to win the construtor’s and the driver’s and co-driver’s titles!

Obviously early Polos are the most sought after among collectors, with second generation ‘breadvan’ models still struggling to attract much interest. Obviously the G40 is the iconic small hot-hatch, and there’s always been a following for these. There’s already quite a few third generation Polos on the show scene, and no doubt we’ll see more MkIV and Vs in the years to come. It’s those angular first Polos that really do it for us, though, and we’d love to know who owns the earliest surviving UK example – if you have it, let us know…

Ian

The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of VW Heritage.