As its multi-hued bodywork evidences, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Polo is one of VW’s famous ‘Harlequin’ models. Let’s see if this unique private import is priced to stir a bit of romance.
There’s an old joke that goes, “Yo momma is so basic, she’s got a pH of 15.” Hey, is this thing on? Okay, I said it was an old joke, not a good joke. Truth be told, there’s nothing inherently bad about being basic. In fact, sometimes, having just what you need and nothing more is the perfect recourse.
We might all agree that the 1993 Geo Tracker we considered yesterday was a textbook case of basic transportation. But what it lacked in features (no A/C, manual EVERYTHING), it more than made up for in charm and convertible-ness. Its $4,500 asking price wasn’t a slam dunk, though, especially not after a run-in with a trash truck while parked, which left it with a dented fender. In the end, you all thought that was too much, and it fell a paper-thin loss with a 52% “No Dice” vote.
Polo party
Save for a few brave buyers, Americans tend not to gravitate to extremely small cars. Oh sure, the Mini Cooper and Fiat 500 were small cars, but neither falls in the supermini class that’s proved popular outside the U.S. That lack of demand has kept many of the superminis popular elsewhere off our highways and byways, save for a handful of privately imported models.
This 1996 Volkswagen Polo Harlequin is a prime (and multi-hued) example of just such a car. Volkswagen introduced the first Polo in 1975 as nothing more than a re-badged version of the Audi 50. By the end of that initial version’s run, Audi left the supermini segment, leaving VW to go it alone for the second-generation car. That model lasted for an amazing 13 years before being replaced by the almost entirely clean-sheet third-generation car. For the third act, VW added for the first time a five-door bodystyle and, as we can see here, a limited-production Harlequin model featuring a melange of four different colors with no two similarly-tinted body panels touching.
Candy colored shell
Initially conceived as a marketing gimmick, VW put the Harlequin into limited production (well, production, disassembly, and then reassembly) following public clamor to buy the unique model. Rumor has it that the idea for the parts-sharing Polo stemmed from a 1960s Beetle ad showing a car with parts from different model years, demonstrating how accessible parts were for the car, but that’s debatable.
For the Polo, the colors chosen were Ginstergelb (Ginster Yellow), Chagallblau (Chagall Blue), Flashrot (Flash Red), and Pistazie-grün (Pistachio Green). Each of the cars was built around the base of one of these colors (our candidate being the Ginstergelb base), with each bolt-on panel painted in one of the three other colors. Eventually, Volkswagen built a little over 3,000 Harlequin Polos, none of which were officially sold in the U.S., as the basic car was never federalized here. The company did offer a Harlequin model of the Golf in the U.S., but that didn’t prove popular as the Polo, with just 264 leaving the Puebla plant before the special edition got the ax.
Small car, big attention grabber
According to the ad, this Polo Harlequin was imported from Belgrade and has a couple of tricks up its sleeve in addition to its crazy color scheme. The seller says the car has the larger 1.6-liter, 75-horsepower four-cylinder and A/C, both rare upgrades for the supermini car. It also, oddly enough, has some sort of propane system, making it, as the seller claims, a dual-fuel car.
It looks pretty good in the pictures, both inside and out. Its condition is touted as being “very good,” with the seller noting a few spots of rust, but claiming nothing Swiss-cheesy about the car. An under-body shot shows everything to be solid. The interior is likewise in OK condition, save for a small bit of wear-through on the driver’s seat side bolster.
On the plus side, the ad notes a new fuel pump and relay, a new exhaust, and refreshed brake pads and rotors. Countering those mechanical updates, there’s a chunk taken out of the bottom of the rear bumper, the result of an older accident. Nothing else seems amiss on the bodywork, and the tiny factory alloys all have their plastic center caps intact. Unfortunately, no mileage is given in the ad, but the title is reported as clean, and all the import paperwork seems to have been handled long ago.
Repent, Harlequin!
Volkswagen is an automaker with a sizable and ardent fanbase. As evidence, this Polo is advertised on The Samba, a site dedicated to all things Vee-Dub (mostly air-cooled, though) which feels like the perfect venue for the car. A few of these pop up from time to time, and prices for them are all over the place when they do. It really seems to boil down to which way the wind is blowing on a particular day rather than a general consensus as to the model’s value.
At $10,000, our car isn’t cheap. Then again, for the right buyer, it may be in the ballpark. What’s your take on this Harlequin for that kind of cash? Does that feel like a fair price for a horse of a different color? Or does that price have you asking, “Are you joking?”
You decide!
Nice Price or No Dice:
The Samba out of Spring Hill, Florida, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Ben L. for the hookup!
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