Square vs round?

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I know. I’ve got the fenders too. 

Round, and singles not duals.

dculberson said:

For resale, leave it as is and sell the parts to convert separately.

For personal use, round but the dual big/little rounds like so:

all of the above

Round, jands down.

Keep your conversion kit and sell separately.

SVreX said:

1st gen VW GTI:

 

 

What’s your opinion?

 

 

Square, because the US market GTIs were all built in Pennsylvania, which all had square lights.  (Not counting CKDs)

Datsun310Guy said:

Wheeler Dealers converted square to round.   Side marker gone and some welding needed to close hole.  

Buy a nice '83 and convert.

Converting to round until recently was the only way to repair bodywork because US build fenders weren't available new.

They are now!

I like that.  But I would leave it square, just because.  And sell off the rounds to re-coup part of the purchase price.

I'm part of the save the squares movement. My upcoming build thread will support this view.

Are PA cars viewed as more desirable than Wolfsburg cars? Serious question.

Keith Tanner said:

Are PA cars viewed as more desirable than Wolfsburg cars? Serious question.

I am not sure about "more desirable", but that is what GTIs looked like in the US.  That is what all the cool ads had, that's what we saw tooling up and down the roads.  They screamed "This is the awesome part of the 80s!"

When I see a round conversion, it reminds me of the people who put Jetta noses on Golfs and Golf noses on Jettas - just being different for the sake of being different.

I grew up in Canada and lived for a bit in Australia and Europe so apparently real GTis have round headlights to me :) The square ones always looked goofy to me.

FYI, a Jetta with a Golf nose is a Getta and a Golf with a Jetta nose is a Jolf. I remember this from my time in the VW hobby.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

That's understandable, evryone has their opinions and their reasons for it.

I didn't want to use the terms Getta and Jolf because that would seem a bit obscure, unless you were stuck in VW -enthusiast-land.

In reply to SVreX :

L7

Keith Tanner said:

Are PA cars viewed as more desirable than Wolfsburg cars? Serious question.

In general, No. The German made cars are more desirable. The PA built cars had cheaper interiors, crappy velour fabrics and a far uglier dash.  What they did have going for them was a bonded windshield whereas the German made cars used a rubber seal. Where the german cars had a proper sewn headliner with bows, the US cars had a piece of bent cardboard with fabric glued to it.

An 85-86 Cabriolet is a convertible version of the closest we got to a euro GTI. The same 1.8 JH engine and close ratio trans, rear sway bar and vented front brakes the US spec GTI had with proper sport seats with leather uppers and the nicer all around german made interior.

I liked the round headlights better (my brother bought a Rabbit in 1976), but we didn't get the GTI in that version in the US.  

It shouldn't even be asked.

I like my old double rectangles!

This is an image of a t shirt I made from a photo a friend took at an SCCV autocross from about 1998 or so. That car was fun.

The 79 spec canadian gti is the only proper one we got here in north america. Round lights, big motor, little tails. 

Round looks better.  Square IS better.  Backdate 

Save the squares! 

If an American spec GTI, I'd keep the squares with the cornermarkers.  

If a standard Rabbit/rabbit truck, then it's less blasphemous to change it.  I'm a fan of the rounds from a style standpoint.  I had planned to run single rounds on my Rabbit truck.  

I also love the early Westmoreland squares, which did not have wrap around lights.  1979/1980 only if I remember correctly.  Plus small bumpers.  :)

My son and I had this conversation on the 1986 GTi I gave him.  I kept the aero (?) lamps because a lot of people converted to round headlamps.  And my son is going to convert the car to round lamps.  I like the cars BOTH ways.

Don't the round lights provide better lighting?

Function over-rides form.....

The square lights are cute but not at the cost of vision.

bentwrench said:

Don't the round lights provide better lighting?

Function over-rides form.....

The square lights are cute but not at the cost of vision.

Many would argue that comparing one sealed beam to another is pointless.  OTOH I don't think I have ever owned a car with square sealed beams (my GTI is nonfunctional, my Golf had aero headlights) so I have no opinion regarding light output.

However!  If you have Euro style lighting, and no side repeaters, there are angles of view where your turn signals will not be visible.  US regs do not say anything about repeaters, just visibility, so most US market cars have a turn signal element right there on the corner because that way they can shave pennies and have only one bulb/housing per corner.

My Quantum was converted to E-codes by a previous owner.  E codes are meant to be used with repeaters and the turn signals are in by the grille.  USDOT light assemblies have the turn signals on the corner because no repeaters.  I have a couple sets of USDOT light assemblies for the car.

Round.

One more vote for converting will make you lose both time and money on a car that is for sale. You won't really change value since we are long past the time when these cars were the hot thing to modify, especially if the body is not great.

On a separate note, I may be interested in the Berg Cup pieces if you are up for shipping and have time for questions. I will be widening my GTI's suspension about 1.3 inches per side and will need to be doing something for fenders.

Matthew