you might be a rieger rocco owner if...

[spewey at comcast.net (Spewey)]

I heard, "Modern-day VW salespeople should know what a Scirocco is."
Judges?

Allyn wrote:

> well, honestly, the scirocco is one of the few cars vw ever made that
>  did some decent placing in racing events. the only way vw gets away
> with the 'racing history / heritage / inspired' plug is from things
> like this. Al
> 

Well, let me tell you all another story....

Back in 1988, I was lucky enough to do a year of college over in
Scotland.  I was a newbie; hadn't done my first clutch yet.  But I
missed my '77 Rabbit bad enough to pick up a '78 Polo (RHD, 1.3, carb)
for GBP 200.  I tore up and down the land, amazing the natives with my
driving skillz even backasswards.  80mph past Loch Ness on a one and a
half lane road...ferry to Skye with two girls...stopped by the constable
at 2am for a brake light out with a head full of [never mind]...all that
stuff.

Right after I flew home to Minnesota for xmas, a terrible thing
happened:  PanAm flight 103 was destroyed in mid-air over Lockerbie,
Scotland by Libyan terrorists.  It creeped me out and when I got back;
the bus went past the wreck-site where orange-clad rescue workers were
still sticking flags in the ground to mark debris.  On that flight were
two VW executives: James Fuller, vice president in charge of VW of
America, and marketing director Lou Marengo.  Their deaths changed the
way VWoA treated racing.

It wasn't until I started working with a local hole-in-the-wall
speedshop several years later that I learned what this meant.
Essentially, VW told VWoA that ya don't sell cars because of sprint,
rally, or club racing so we aren't going to sponsor it anymore.  This
stood in stark contrast to the European scene where many more regular
folks take interest in snazzing their cars and spectating at road
rallies.  With the hard-nosed execs taking a big dirtnap, they had no
problem pulling the plug.

And you know what?  They were right.  VW sales have been great because
they build a good product that spunky soccer moms and dads can dig
without giving a fart whether such and such team won whatever.  And 
gearheads in North America will gravitate to the cars they like without 
any impact on overall sales figures whatsoever.

There is no 'racing plug'--fageddaboutit.

http://www.google.com/search?q=lockerbie+vw+executive