In the history of automobiles, there have been a lot of convertibles and a number of Targas, but I can’t think of many cars that were both, like this 1993 Volkswagen Polo Treser GT.
The car was conceived by Walter Treser, who is better known for his work with Audi. Leading the development of special vehicles at the brand from 1976, he was part of the team that created the Audi 100 Quattro and even thought of the “quattro” name, per Classic Car Auctions.
After his time at Audi, he left to create his own business that modified cars in Ingolstadt. Working mostly with Audis, he only ever produced one modified VW, the Polo Treser GT.
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The company took 55 hp (55.7PS/41 kW) and 75 hp (76 PS/55.9 kW) models and then modified them to have a removable panel, creating a Targa top body style. The Targa top can also be removed to turn the car into a full convertible. But Treser did the modification cleverly, ensuring that both the panel and the larger roof section could be folded up and stored in the trunk so that you were never caught without them in the rain.
Unfortunately, that cleverness didn’t come cheap. A 55 hp Polo cost about 18,000 Deutsche Marks in 1993 (the equivalent of €13,690 today, or $16,190 USD) and the Treser conversion cost another 16,000 DM (€12,169/$14,396 USD) on top of that, nearly doubling the price of the car.
Still, about 290 of these VW Polo Treser GTs were sold in all, 10 of which were made at Treser’s workshop and the rest at a partner company in Austria. This one is a very early 75 hp model that was initially used as a demonstrator for the company and has been in the Treser collection since 2003.
It has about 91,890 km on it and is being sold by Garage11 for 11,900 euros ($14,124).