It’s not clear whether they were inspired by one of Doyle Dane Bernbach’s clever ads for the VW Beetle in the 1960s or by the biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors, but in the mid 1990s, Volkswagen decided to make some multicolored cars. TTAC previously looked at the Halequin Polo and Golf and you can read more of the story at the link, but the short version is that in 1995 the German automaker decided to offer a colorful option for folks buying the Polo, VW’s hatchback slotted just below the Golf in Europe, *NAH. The car with body panels of different colors turned out to be a bit of a hit, with an initial production run of just 1,000 cars extended to 3,800 units. Probably because of that modest success, VW of America decided to introduce the Harlequin color schemes on the Mk III Golf for the following model year.
I don’t know how many they planned to make. The Puebla, Mexico factory that assembled them turned out 264 Harlequins. Each car was first assembled in one of four base colors (including Pistachio Green, exclusive to the Harlequins) and then at the end of the line, panels were unbolted and swapped to different vehicles per a color chart prepared in Germany that made sure that no two adjacent panels would be the same color. Even when Germans are silly, they do it with precision.
With a total build of just 264 cars, Harlequin Golfs are rare. So rare, in fact, that our previous post on the topic used publicity photos and shots owners have posted online. They’re not cars you come across every day. When I spotted this Harlequin at the 2014 Vintage VW Show in Ypsilanti this summer, I knew it was special enough to photograph, but I had no idea that there were so few of them. A Wolfsburg Edition it’s not. I’m happy that I took the time because we can now show you some views of the car that you may have not seen before.
This car was sold by Jim Ellis VW, in Atlanta, Georgia. Maybe it’s the same Pistachio Green Harlequin that’s second from the right in the photo above. According to the Harlequin Registry, the original owner flew from Michigan to Georgia to buy it.
That dealership had somehow been allocated an unusually large number of Harlequins. Perhaps VW thought it was a good idea to use them as promotional and courtesy vehicles during the Summer Olympics that year in Atlanta or perhaps it was a reward for Ellis having recently opened up another VW store, but either way Harlequin Golf didn’t turn out to be as popular in America as the Harlequin Polo was in Europe.
Jim Ellis Volkswagen eventually had trouble moving the rather conspicuous cars and the dealer reportedly swapped around some panels (or, more likely, resprayed them), which explains the existence of at least one monochromatic Pistachio Green Harlequin in the Harlequin Registry.
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can get a parallax view at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS
Was there a price premium to get one?
I remember seeing one cruising around the town I went to college in in 1998. The first time I saw it I figured the owner cobbled it together, but shortly there-after I somehow learned it was factory. A very interesting car, I wonder how they would have sold in GTI guise.
Cool car. Wasn’t aware of the Harlequin Beetle in the Doyle Dane Bernbach ads.
These sold better in the UK than in the US. The Polo Harlequin was more popular than the Golf, probably due to its younger and more female buyer profile. Wikipedia says 2500 Harlequin Polos were registered in the UK between 1996 and 1998.
The few I saw in Germany belonged to child daycare centers (Kindergarten und Grippe)
Goofy vehicle. I’ve only seen one in my life, someone arrived at the dealership I worked at in Cornelius, North Carolina driving one. Back then I wondered why such a newish-looking car had all those junkyard parts on it, I kid you not.
And I wonder, what color would you put on its title and registration? I’ll bet that caused more than one headache…
Makes me wonder if any states have a MULTI choice for the registration. If not, I would tend to choose whatever color the hood was.
VA lets you register two colors. I ended up picking gray and green for my GMC. It started life as tan/white, but the sides are mostly primer now, and the hood came off a truck painted in that ’60s GM aqua color.
Unless I’m mistaken, the unibody was all painted the same colour on all the cars. Logic would dictate that that was the official colour of the car.
If my parents saw one of these, they’d think it was owned by a poor hippie.
As one who misses two-toned cars, or, hell, any interesting color on cars, this ought to appeal. But I find it ugly, because the colors don’t fit together harmoniously. But look at that Beetle of Many Colors — it’s a beauty! The Beetle’s flowing lines help knit the separate colors together, but, motte importantly, they’re just better colors, with more richness and subtlety. Why can’t we have that now? Look at VW’s euro website, and they still offer dozens of interesting colors beyond black, silver, white and red.
Funny to see this today, right after I remarked about a harlequin Prius at my kid’s high school. It’s a first-yen farm, and a beater, with mismatched doors and damaged paint. It’s funny to see such leek shape broken up like that, and such a futuristic car declining into disarray. It may be my favorite Prius of all.
My friend told me about these a few years ago when he was hoping his ’96 Golf was a mono-pistachio. But it was the wrong green and just a very basic manual Golf 4-door. There was one of these I’d see regularly in Louisville. I thought there were two, but since it’s so rare, I probably was seeing the same one around. No way to not see it.
Yeah, I didn’t know these were rare! I’ve seen that same Louisville car numerous times–I agree it’s probably the same one, though I assumed it was multiple cars. I’ve also seen one or two that look like maybe they were hand painted to resemble a harlequin?
A friend of mine in the early nineties inherited an old LTD from his grandma. 15k original miles, but as it resided in the NE was mainly rust. Grabbed a half-dozen spray cans and harlequined this LTD. Looked pretty good actually.
When he moved to Connecticut, he’d constantly get pulled. Apparently it is illegal in Conn to have more than 2 colors applied to a car’s body. Such an unfortunate state, that Connecticut.
I believe the offical color of the car was whatever the roof was since that is not interchangable. But that could be another fun fact I pulled out of my ass…..
I remember seeing an example or two of these on the dealer lot back in 96 in Schaumburg, IL. At the time I wondered who would buy this “United Colors of Benneton’ version of the Golf! It looked horrible. Now I know how few they truly made, I guess I should have bought that monstrosity as an investment!
VW Brazil did this with the Gol Top, a special edition of the Gol. It wasn’t a big hit either. Nobody wanted those cars and today it is still remember as one of the worst cars ever.
IIRC all of the paint colors used for the Harlequins were unique to those cars. I do remember that VW kept track of the which cars got which colored parts.
I was car shopping at Jim Ellis in Atlanta when they had all those Harlequins, I was told they were huge in Europe and I should buy one. I elected to get a 1996 Trek Edition Jetta instead.
I lived in Germany while these cars were being sold new. It is such a German idea.
I believed at the time, and still do today, that you have to see cars as a toy, in order to accept such a preposterous visual image of one. The car is a giant Lego.
These cars work visually, just as an interior designer can pull off various styles of furniture and fabrics in expensive homes. As long as the build quality is visually strong, then it looks deliberate. However, once these cars begin to lose that, they look like crap. They end up looking like wrecks waiting for the yard.
Yes, the body color is the color you register. Mine is green, and I know the guy with the one in the photo. I bought mine for my mother, because she kept losing her car in the parking lot, because they all look the same. It was used by an Olympian, but we got it as a “new” car.
I remember seeing these things running around Atlanta. I can’t say I miss them.
Imagine getting the car fixed after an accident and having to pay for three or four colors being sent through the spray gun.