Heritage

This woman is responsible for the iconic Volkswagen GTI's plaid interior

Eileen Falkenberg-Hull
Oct 17, 2019, 11:05 am

Her name may not be familiar to the average customer, but Gunhild Liljequist's plaid design helped Volkswagen reach a new audience in the 1970s.

Photo courtesy of Volkswagen AG

Plaid is nearly as iconic in the Volkswagen enthusiast world as the Light Bus and the Beetle. When it debuted in the 1976 Golf GTI, it was thanks to one woman, one of the company's first female designers, Gunhild Liljequist.

Life wasn't always all horizontal and vertical lines for Liljequist. She was a porcelain painter and chocolatier candy-box designer by trade who made a career change to join Volkswagen's Germany-based Department of Fabrics and Colors in Wolfsburg in 1964. She was 28.

With the first Golf GTI set to come into production, Liljequist was tasked with designing a variety of interior elements of the compact car. Her work primarily focused on paint hues, trims, and interior detailing. At a time when bold patterns in muted colors was commonplace, Liljequist gave the GTI two distinct design elements - a tartan seat pattern and a golf ball-style gear knob.

Gunhild Liljequist Volkswagen Clark Plaid Liljequist sits in the Golf GTI she helped make popular.Photo courtesy of Volkswagen AG

"Black was sporty, but I also wanted color and quality," Liljequist said. "I took a lot of inspiration from my travels around Great Britain and I was always taken by high-quality fabrics with checked patterns … you could say that there is an element of British sportiness in the GTI."

She, unsurprisingly, faced resistance. However, the tartan seat pattern, now known as Clark Plaid, and the new style of the car's shifter knob made it through to production.

Though she's more of a black and white pattern gal, Liljequist dove deep into the color spectrum during her time at Volkswagen. The culture and rapid pace of vehicle evolution allowed Liljequist to experiment with her influence reaching into some of the brand's most iconic paint hues, trims, and interior accents.

Clark Plaid is available in the 2019 Volkswagen Golf GTI Rabbit Edition.Photo courtesy of Volkswagen AG

She also contributed to the 2987 limited edition Etienne Aigner Mk1 Golf Cabrioet, a car that was influenced by women's leather accessories. Liljequist formulated the iridescent pearl color that is on the vehicle's exterior and applied it using a transparent foil.

Liljequist retired in 1991 but her legacy endures. U.S. buyers can currently purchase a 2019 Volkswagen Golf GTI Rabbit Edition, which features Liljequist's Clark Plaid in its seats.

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Vintage & Classics

Motul launches new lubricants line for vintage and classic cars

Motul has released a new line of lubricants for "rad" era vehicles.

Photo courtesy of Motul

Motul has been around for 168 years, far longer than automobiles. The new Classic Line of lubricants have been specifically formulated for cars slightly newer, those that are members of the "rad" era. Motul's Classic Line features oils, detergents, and additives that the company has engineered to enhance the performance of older powertrains while offering improved protection.

Each Classic Line lubricant features an additive package with high-zinc (ZDDP) and molybdenum (moly) for reduced friction and increased power. Synthetic base oils and adapted detergent levels of each formulation are suited for metals and gasket materials that are common of the era of vehicle manufacturing. Advanced additives ensure that the lubricants meet or exceed American Petroleum Institute (API) standards.

Motul Eighties 10W30 Motul's Eighties formulation is made for forced induction engine vehicles.Photo courtesy of Motul

The Classic Line's products have high-adhesion properties that are designed to provide excellent cold flow properties to prevent engine wear during start-ups and to coat and protect engine internals and running gear during the periods of prolonged storage that collector vehicles often experience.

Motul Modern Classic Eighties 10W40 meets the needs of forced induction engines while Modern Classic Nineties 10W30 was designed for the demands of high-revving engines with more modern valvetrains. Both Modern Classic oils are the first products to offer high ZDDP and moly for "rad" era collector cars from these two decades.

To get the new 2100 Classic Oil 15W50, Motul revised its 2100 oil to better lubricate and protect naturally aspirated and forced induction engines with flat tappet cams common to the vehicles in the 1970s and beyond.

Motul Classic 10W50 Classic vehicles have different needs and their lubricants have a different formation than Eighties and Nineties branded oils.Photo courtesy of Motul

Classic Oil 20W50 is designed for hot rods, muscle cars, and collector vehicles, and uses additive packages fortified with ~1,800 ppm of ZDDP. According to Motul, this oil provides "improved protection for flat tappet or high-lift cams and high-performance engines with tighter tolerances and older elastomer gaskets; the medium detergent level also makes Classic Oil 20W50 an appropriate break-in oil for newly refurbished engines".

Straight-weight Classic Oil SAE 30 and SAE 50 are mineral monograde engine oils with low detergent levels, blended specifically for gasoline or diesel four-stroke engines generally produced before 1950.

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Bespoke

Paint, jewelry, and handcrafted interiors transform vintage Land Rovers into custom 4x4s

Heritage Customs offers a bespoke take on the vintage Land Rover Defender.

Photo courtesy of Heritage Customs

The Land Rover Defender's body style is iconic. The most desirable boxy, utilitarian Defenders are two generations old, right before the Defender mutated into a model that looked like an old version bred with a London's black cab. It's these models that create the basis for the new Heritage Customs handcrafted luxury take on the Defender, called the Vintage.

Heritage Customs was co-founded by car designer Niels van Roij, who recently described the customization process:

"This likeable Dutch Vintage commission features a rich, soft green metallic paint. It feels right at home next to the Heather flowers in the forest as well as on the pebble stones next to the patron's striking monumental villa. For this Heritage Customs Vintage we selected our bespoke milled aluminium side- and bonnet vents whilst non-automotive tan Nubuck leather was applied to trim the seats, dashboard as well as rear benches."

Heritage Customs Vintage: Exterior

Heritage Customs Vintage: Exterior

Photo courtesy of of Heritage Customs

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Each auto has a teak wooden cargo floor with white rubber inlays, There's a Marshall speaker integrated into the cubby box. A hand-stitched tan canvas hood complements the interior color scheme while a wooden steering wheel replaces the traditional standard plastic unit. The SUV's center stack has been color-coded to the body and has metal switchgear on its fascia.

Distinctive aluminum details and color-coded extra wide steel wheels create a hardier looking luxury SUV in the example shown. A section of Heritage Customs-specific wheels are available.

Heritage Customs Vintage: Interior

Heritage Customs Vintage: Interior rear seats

Photo courtesy of of Heritage Customs

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Customers are also able to select the bumper design of their choosing, whether it's a simple, clean unit or one of the custom made bumpers and side steps that Heritage Customs Vintage offers.

LED lights on all four corners complete the package.

The price of a Heritage Customs Vintage SUV start at €40,000, excluding taxes, depending on the preferred base vehicle and individual customer requirements. All Heritage Customs projects are 100-percent tailor-made and start out with sketches, based on conversations with the future owners.

The design and construction process takes about 1.5 months. Watch the video below to see how the undertaking occurs.

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