Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, a German science professor looked out of his plane's window and sees lovely forests, meadows, and lakes. Being the engineering mastermind that he is, Dr. Ernst Fiala dreamt of a Golf that could not only romp among trees and bask in fields, but one that could go swimming too!

Back at Wolfsburg, Fiala and his four-member crew got to work. Three years later, Fiala's dream became reality: the See Golf (See being German for lake). After undergoing tests in the local reservoirs, the car was completed in time for its public debut at the 1983 Wörthersee GTI Treffen in Hamburg, at the Kieler Yacht Harbor in Kiel Bay (southwestern Baltic Sea).