What: 1996 Volkswagen Golf Harlequin #123 of 200
Color: Volkswagen Chagall Blue (chagallblau; non-metallic UNI; LD5D; Porsche)
VIN: unknown
Mileage: 142,000 miles
Current Bid: $15,000 OBO
Location: Enumclaw, WA
Link: Facebook Marketplace
The Volkswagen Golf Harlequin has a most interesting history. Back in the 1990s Volkswagen, at the time king of the most creative “sticker pack” special editions and at the top of their game, created their Harlequin range whereby each panel seemed to be painted a different color.
Each panel wasn’t a different color though. Each panel was one of four colors – blue, red, yellow and green. And, without a paint shop or a custom tailoring division to support this sort of configuration, the builds were achieved by painting four different cars four different colors and then moving panels from car to car until the net effect was achieved.
In their day these cars were misunderstood. Dealers didn’t always want them as their oddity kept them languishing on showroom floors. One dealer, Jim Ellis Volkswagen in Georgia, decided to alleviate the problem by swapping the panels back. Effectively, they gathered all the panels of the same color and reattached them to the car with the matching chassis. In this case, that car was Chagall Blue.
In as much, this car is unique then even amongst the Harlequin community, though in an era where rare and even one-off paint and factory options have found to be something worth celebrating, we suspect this Golf qualifies. Even better, it’s largely stock, which is also a rare find in the world of Mk3 Volkswagens.
