1996 Volkswagen Golf Harlequin Is Today's Colorful BaT Find

• A riff on the European Polo Harlequin, the Volkswagen Golf Harlequin mixed and matched panels in four colors: Chagall Blue, Ginster Yellow, Tornado Red, and Pistachio Green.

• While the Polo Harlequin was very popular, the U.S.-only Golf version was a dud. Just 264 were made, and some were soon converted to single colors.

• New-car buyers shunned it, but the Golf Harlequin is fun, easy to live with, and one of the most coveted collectible water-cooled Volkswagens today, and this one is up for auction until April 9.

It was certainly the most colorful, and unusual, special edition most Americans had ever seen in 1996. But Volkswagen had every reason to think the Golf Harlequin could succeed. A North American riff on the European Mk 3 Polo Harlekin, it offered the same multicolor body panels and natty interior as that very popular car. But like Modern Talking or Robbie Williams, this well-liked Euro act just didn't translate stateside. Looking at the seemingly mismatched panels, Americans gave the Harlequin a collective "Vas ist das?"and ignored it.

Today, the Golf Harlequin's bold, cheerful style is much more appreciated, and Volkswagen diehards even make Harlequin tributes out of modern VWs. This Harlequin, up for auction on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos) and one of just 264 made, is a clean, well-equipped example of what has since become one of the most coveted 1990s VWs.

Although Volkswagen featured a similar multiply hued Beetle in one of its famous 1960s Doyle Dane Bernbach ads, the Golf Harlequin and Polo Harlekin (the German spelling) were the result of a later accident of creative inspiration. In the summer of 1994, Wolfsburg created an initial batch of multicolor Polos to demonstrate the then-new Mk 3's production techniques and customization choices. These cars were meant for brochures and dealer demonstrations, but consumers immediately started asking where they could buy one.

At the time limited-run specials, created with decals, fabrics, and paint, were big business in Europe, especially among Polo's supermini rivals like the Citroën Saxo and Ford Fiesta. With buyers actively approaching the company, Volkswagen decided to build 1000 of them, naming the car "Harlekin" and giving it special "Joker" plaid interior fabrics. Demand was so strong that a second run of 2800 cars followed.

This success inspired Volkswagen of America to create four similar Golfs to test at auto shows in late 1995. Reaction was positive enough to justify a small run of '96 models at the company's Puebla, Mexico, plant. Like the Polo, the Golf Harlequin used the Joker fabric and four mixed colors (Chagall Blue, Ginster Yellow, Tornado Red, and Pistachio Green) in four specific patterns. The design was absolutely not haphazard, but that's not what buyers thought.