There are some automotive engineers and product planners who truly deserve medals or, at the very least, a place in the history books. Those who figured it'd be interesting to add performance and handling to Volkswagen's popular little Golf hatchback belong in that group. You see, the Golf GTI, first launched in 1975, was a very simple idea: take a basic economy car and add high-performance. Keeping overall costs down was vital as well. After all, it was still the people's car, only now with some added oomph and fun.

The Golf GTI today is practically a premium car. It's still relatively affordable, but there are those who prefer the smaller, lighter and generally less expensive earlier generations. One such individual is Andrew Tucker, owner of an MKII Golf GTI. There was also nostalgia behind his purchase.

This latest Petrolicious video owner's story will likely appeal to many, especially because Golf GTIs were never rare or hard to find. No people's car should be. Tucker's father owned an MKII GTI during his childhood, and early on he decided he'd have his own one day. The overall GTI hallmarks have never really changed: manual gearbox, plaid cloth seats, decent power and front-wheel-drive. Tucker's main goal for his car is preservation, not modification. As such, only the suspension has seen any serious work. Aside from that, it's all original goodness.