UK's rarest cars: 1978 Volkswagen Passat B1 GLS – one of fewer than 10 left

Telegraph

04-04-2025

Some cars featured in this series of critically endangered models, such as Stuart Gerrish's 1978 Volkswagen Passat GLS, wear their historical importance lightly. On first look, it is middle-class family transport from a time when a fake-wooden facia denoted respectability. But this car is not simply one of only probably fewer than 10 B1s remaining on the road in the UK, it is a reminder of a car that changed VW's fortunes.
The Passat was not Volkswagen's first front-wheel-drive car, as that was the 1970 K70 we featured a while back, a design VW inherited from NSU. Meanwhile, the B1's challenge was to replace the long-established, rear-engined 1600 Type 3 and the slow-selling Type 4 412. On its launch in May 1973, VW stated: 'The Passat winds form a connecting belt around the earth. Undoubtedly, it is a good name that is not plucked out of thin air.'
More prosaically, Volkswagen based the Passat on the 1972 Audi 80 B1; the two had identical body pressings from nose to the side pillar between the doors. This did not prevent many Type 3 owners from experiencing a shock to their systems with the latest VW. If the front-drive layout did not startle them, the Giorgetto Giugiaro -styled fastback, two- or four-door bodywork, and watercooled 1.3- and 1.5-litre engines certainly did.
However, in the B1's first full sales year, it became the best-selling car in the former West Germany; the Variant estate launched in late 1973, boosting its popularity. In the UK, the Passat suffered from high prices due to the strength of the deutschmark against the pound. But Tony Bastable on Thames Television's Drive In thought the Passat represented a formidable threat to its competitors, even if he did complain about its ventilation and lack of space to rest his left foot.
By early 1974, VW GB had applied substantial reductions to the list price, while discerning motorists appreciated its road manners and spaciousness. The B1 was also quite a favourite of the motoring press, with The Telegraph finding it fast and stylish. Car thought the Passat could give a driver 'plenty of enjoyment, thanks to its sporty handling, its excellent roadholding and fine brakes'. In 1975 VW enlarged the 1.5-litre engine to a 1.6 and introduced hatchback options.
Three years later, the five-door GLS cost £4,450, when the Chrysler Alpine GLS was £4,328. The Austin Maxi HL was far cheaper at £3,749 but suffered from British Leyland's dire quality reputation; the Passat's closest alternative was probably the well-appointed Renault 16 TX at £4,377. When What Car? tested the B1 against the Austin and the Renault, its testers concluded the British car was best suited to load-carrying, its French rival was the most comfortable and the Volkswagen had the finest 'styling, handling and performance'.
The B2 Passat replaced the B1 in 1981 after sales of more than 1.8 million units. Sadly, the familiar issues of corrosion and neglect drastically reduced their numbers. Gerrish says: 'I had given up looking for one as I didn't think there was any chance. Then, my son walked into work one day and said: 'Dad, you had a Passat when you were young?' He had seen this one on Facebook Marketplace; it was only 30 miles away.'
Gerrish has long been a B1 enthusiast: 'I was first attracted to the Passat because my grandfather had a gold one and as soon as I passed my test I knew I had to have one. My Passat is an automatic and is effortless to drive. She is quiet, handles very well, and I can't stop smiling while driving her.
'Most people who know their VWs are pleased to see it, often saying that they haven't seen one for years or 'My dad had one' and 'Doesn't it look like a Scirocco?'.'
And it was an early Autocar test that, not only found the Passat better engineered than previous Volkswagens, but presciently noted it 'undoubtedly sets the tone of future cars to come from Wolfsburg'. In addition to setting the template for nine generations of Passats, the B1 was the harbinger of the Scirocco, Golf and Polo. In addition to possessing a facia of mock-wood charm.