A very cool Volkswagen Jetta CT sedan, seen at a car shop in north Beijing in 2016. The good Jetta was in a great shape and nicely modified with a purple paint job, black bumpers, racy tires and multispoke wheels painted in black.
The interior was largely original bar for the gear lever knob. It is rare to see the inside of these old Jetta’s in such a great condition. It still has the original cloth seats and door upholstery, the original radio cassette player, and the original steering wheel. Note the storage compartment for cassette tapes on the bottom of the center stack.
The rear was dressed up with two big exhaust pipes. The alloys were factory standard but originally painted in gray with VW wheel hubcaps.
The second generation Volkswagen Jetta (A2 / Mark 2) was made in China by the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture. Production started in 1991 and ended in 2013 (!). Our purple car is a very early example, made from 1991 until 1999.
The characters read: 一汽-大众 捷达, Yiqi-Dazhong Jieda, or FAW-Volkswagen Jetta.
The Jetta CT was a very special variant. It was powered by a 1.6 liter four-cylinder petrol engine with five valves per cylinder, which was rare in those days, especially on a car in the Jetta’s segment. Output was 100 hp.
Not many were made and today they are largely forgotten, but sometimes they turn up on the internet. Transmission was a five-speed manual. There was also a Jetta GT, which was a more luxurious variant of the CT, with the same engine.
The CT en GT 20V cars had this ultra cool twin cam 20V sticker on the back. On most of these old Jetta’s the sticker has long faded away, but not on this one!
The Jetta CT cost 127.500 yuan, which was a good deal for a car this size and with such an advanced engine.
A rare and tastefully modified Jetta, with a special engine and a time capsule interior. Hopefully it is still around today. On the right side of the Jetta stands a pink Mercedes-Benz E260. Also nice.