Grill

August 20, 2020, 03:32:23 PM

The front grill of a Mk2 Golf is made of one piece of plastic and a metal trim strip along the bottom which is painted to match the body colour of the car. A VW roundel sits in the middle of the grill, between the two 7" round headlights.

The Jetta is much the same but with rectangular headlamp units.

The Jetta and Golf front is interchangeable and was a common mod back in the day. However note the headlights are attached to the metal slam panel so when changing the grill between Jetta and Golf this panel also needs to be changed.

As well as the VW badge, some models had an identifying badge; GTI, GTD, Driver etc.

GL, GTD, GTI and some other models also had additional inner spot lamps. These are rigged up to be additional full beam lights rather than being any kind of independent auxiliary lights. The inner spots are slightly smaller than the headlights and fixed to the grill not the slam panel.

Variations:
Up to 1987 the grill had 7 narrow slats closely spaced.

As part of the first major facelift when the quarter-light front windows were replaced with one piece larger front windows among other changes, the design of the grill changed to 5 wider slats.

The fixings for the VW badge, the spot lights if fitted and the model badge all changed slightly too so badges and spot light are not interchangeable. The main Headlights are the same for all years.

The basic grill is all black, GL and other premium models had a chrome trim. Sometimes matched with a chrome strip in the bumpers and window rubbers. While the GTI grill had a red border.

The pre-launch GTIs used as press cars, and therefore some of the very first GTI's only had the two headlights and no red trim. There is some debate as to whether the GTI badge was also positioned on the other side as there are some early press photos that show this, but it could be these press photos were left hand drive cars which were flipped over and photo retouched as often happened (and still happens now with many European car adverts).

The Rallye has a slightly different arrangement with lights and a grill unique to the model. Smaller rectangular projector lamps and a vent row in the grill which goes below the headlamps.

Variations pop up by way of aftermarket alternatives.

De-badged:

Some others, these would command high prices these days:

Re: Grill

Reply #1 – November 23, 2020, 07:35:42 PM

Worth adding these to the list of grills. If you can find one they command very high prices.

The Oricari Grill, motorised lamp covers.

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