In this era of increased environmental awareness, and attempts to go green by virtue of cutting-edge technology, sometimes it's fun to look back at the 1970s and 1980s, when tiny cars like the Honda CRX HF averaged over 50 mpg in regular use—even if those cars lacked anything resembling the safety, room, comfort, and interior tech of today's vehicles. But AutoblogGreen looks at two oddball green VWs from a bygone era&mdahs;including one that was an EV.

The first was an early attempt at a start-stop system; "Back in the early '80s, VAG-group cars had a formula to save gasoline which was called 'E' and was used for large cars such as the VW Passat or the Audi 100. The trick was a button on the steering wheel that turned off the engine at traffic lights. The engine came back to life when engaging first gear." The report said that the '81 Golf E had only three forward gears + E, and a motor that made either 50 hp (via gas power) or 54 hp (via diesel).

The other was an all-electric car VW introduced in 1995: "Called the 'City Stromer' (City Electric), it really showed the effects of the 16 massive (and, at 480kg, heavy) lead-acid batteries that fed the 24hp motor: 0 to 100 km/h (62mph) took 27 seconds," the report said. It used (I'm quoting here, so bear with me) a "SIEMENS three-phase alternating current synchronous motor with permanent magnet excitation which was water cooled." Whatever that was, it was good for a maximum speed of 60 mph, and a range of just 44 miles in the summer and 25 miles in the winter.

(Thanks to Warren W for sending this in)