Volkswagen K70 Debuted 50 Years Ago As The Brand’s First FWD Car With A Water-Cooled Engine

Having remembered the Type 4, which was also sold as the 411, earlier this month, Volkswagen has now brought the K70 forward, as the model is celebrating its 50th birthday.

Presented on October 20, 1970, during a press conference held in Salzgitter, it was assembled locally until 1975, at a plant built especially for its production, and is the brand’s first front-wheel drive car powered by a water-cooled engine.

Read Also: VW Type 4/411 Was A Beetle-Based, Rear-Engined Compact Car That Failed To Achieve Success

Representing a major departure over older Volkswagens, the K70 featured a state-of-the-art chassis with independent suspension and had a long wheelbase that opened up a lot of legroom inside and provided good handling. The car featured active and passive safety, with crumple zones at both ends, a reinforced passenger compartment, a fuel tank mounted at the rear in a protected area and preparation for seatbelts as standard.

Designed by Claus Luthe, whose signature would become evident in the later Polo and Golf, the K70 is considered the forefather of the Passat, and hundreds of thousands rolled off the assembly line, according to Volkswagen.

Seventy-nine-year-old Karl-Günter Queißer is a fan of the K70. He started his career at VW in 1970, as a vehicle painter in the new Salzgitter factory. He bought his first K70 in 1971 and looked forward to celebrating its 50th anniversary with his fan club, but due to the global situation, he had to trim the list to a small group of people.

Over the years, Queißer owned three K70s and numerous other Volkswagens. Today, he has a K70 LS and a Golf Mk8, and he is sure that, at some point, the all-electric ID.3 will take its place in his garage.