It's the dawn of the hot hatch with the lightweight Golf and a 1.6-liter engine producing 110 hp. It's the prototype for dozens of hot hatches yet to come.
The new high-compression, overhead-valve, 303-cubic-inch Rocket V8 made up to 165 hp when the best Ford only made 100. The 88 was prototype for the next 25 years of American performance.
