What do you get for a birthday party? Why, a balloon, of course. Yes, even when you’re notching up the big 5-0, that shouldn’t mean that you don’t get any balloons. Everyone loves a birthday balloon.
So whose birthday are we talking about?
Well, clearly, Volkswagen feels the same about party balloons, and with 2024 marking the 50th birthday of the VW Golf, this was going to have to be a very special birthday balloon indeed.
Is it one of those fancy foil ones with helium?
Not quite… Imagine it - it’s 6am and the sun is rising over the gorgeous landscape of Cappadocia in Turkey. The region is famed for its dawn flights of hot-air balloons, and this particular morning, rising into the endless blue is a special balloon. It’s white, with black trim and a vast Volkswagen logo, plus the phrase ‘ 50 Years Of The Golf’ emblazoned onto the vast outer skin, along with the hashtag #Golf50.
The Golf balloon - launched from the ground while a Mk1 Golf and a brand new Mk8.5 took honour guard alongside - joined hundreds of other hot air balloons rising into the Cappadocian sky, a sight which has long been regarded as a ‘bucket list’ attraction.
Is this a one-off flight?
No, the Golf’s birthday balloon will be making a series of flights this week, tracked on the ground by a convoy of every version of the Golf from Mk1 to Mk8.5. It’s a fitting tribute to the Giugiaro-designed original, which has gone on since to define what a family car should be and which has found 37 million homes in that 50 years.
Mike Orford, from Volkswagen’s PR and communications team, said: “The Golf is celebrating a major milestone this year - a phenomenal 50 years of production. So what better way to celebrate such a significant moment than with a sky-full of giant birthday balloons? Very few manufacturers can claim to have such an iconic model that has evolved and innovated over eight generations, so we thought it was definitely something worth celebrating in style.”