I arrived at this scene a bit late to know how full the trailer was when it first arrived. But who says you need more than a 52 hp Diesel Rabbit/Golf to pull it? It was probably rated for at least 1500 lbs. I can’t even find a rating capacity for a new VW Golf. It’s a part of the Great American Anti-Towing Conspiracy. Which reminds me: I need to re-run that piece here. Here’s the Rabbit from the front, which the owner told me was a 1984. He used to have a Vanagon, but “traded it in” on this one-owner ’84. We’ll do a full CC on the pioneering VW diesels soon. BTW, that Coleman utility trailer is a perfect vintage match to the Rabbit, a double CC.
I’d want a pickup instead of the coupe. If it were feasible (they just voted to raised the tax on diesel in my state) I’d convert it to biodiesel and provide a lawn service with a drive-on/drive-off tailgate for a small riding mower.
An uncle by marriage who (because of divorce) is no longer in the family had one of these Rabbit diesels. If it hadn’t been for the rust, he might still be driving it the powertrain was that reliable. You can tow quite a bit with just about anything if you don’t worry about trying to be able to go 90mph up a mountain pass like half the guys who own turbo diesel trucks and 35+ft. travel trailers.
Precisely what killed my 1980 Vee-dub, my long haul adventures between home in NJ and Syracuse during my undergrad days. That little diesel could barely handle going 55 mph never mind this moron’s idea to drive w/ the flow of traffic (over 75).
Shame really.
I miss the handling and euro feel to that car— certainly my next car after the Rabbit is the polar opposite Mustang Convertible (which is still a daily driver) doesn’t compare in those departments.
My parents’ next-door neighbors are dirt-hauling contractors. Back in the ’80s they bought three Toyota trucks to run minor errands. On at least one occasion they pulled a Mack R-Series tandem dump truck that broke down on the road back to their repair shed with one of their Toyotas. They drove about 3 mph, but it made it. I would not have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes.
Im currently driving a 90 Toyota Corona wagon non turbo 2l diesel its got no power whatsoever but happily tows a trailer full of firewood or trash to the tip it towed my parts Hillman home on an A bar [1040kg] our speed limit for trailers and over 3,500kg GVM vehicles is 90kmh, the old toymota reaches that easily.
My first car was a 2-door ’84 Rabbit diesel with the 4-speed stick. It was a great car, which had what one of my friends call “inner bigness”. The Germans know (or at least used to know) how to make a small car for big people. The Rabbit was simple, reliable and excellent on fuel. In my last couple of years of highschool I even operated a summer lawn care business out of it. Flip the back seat forward and there was enough room for a pushmower with the handle folded down, a weed-whacker and rake. The Rabbit served me well through most of university.
Then it developed a no-start problem. It would not start with the starter, only if it was tow-started. The glow plugs tested good. We did a compression test and found that compression pressure was down. Because of this, we thought the problem was warn out rings, so I scrapped it. I still found it strange that the problem started very suddenly, and in good weather too. I have since learned that the real problem was likely fuel delivery, caused by a failed o-ring seal inside the injection pump. My brother has had a few VW diesels of just slightly newer vintage, and they developed the same problem.
When the Diesel Golf appeared, it was such a big deal that Autocar bought one for their fleet , and ran it for around 100k miles. These engines had a habit of cracking their cylinder heads , and when the head was changed the dealer couldn’t separate the exhaust manifold so that had to be replaced as well. When the injector pump hit trouble ( this was before common rail or PD injectors) the VW dealer didn’t know how to fix it , and sent them to a diesel specialist. Of course they had an early one – I’m sure they got better.
For the entire 80’s decade my car was a 1980 Rabbit diesel (German-made version), with a trailer hitch. Despite only 48hp it had the pulling power of a tractor at low speeds. I hauled rocks, dirt, fencing materials, sod, refuse, etc with little regard for weight limits (as it was just short distances at city speeds). Thanks for the reminder of just how versatile that (big) little car was. I sold it to a neighbour after putting about 300K km on it over 12 years with nothing but regular maintenance (tires, brakes, battery, valve adjustments and oil changes).
I regularly pull a small utility trailer behind my New Beetle TDI. However, I’ve also pulled a stacked hay rack out of the field (estimated 2 tons), an unloaded manure spreader and several other small farm implements home from auctions, etc.
Given that my NB is white, wears stripes and the number (53), it truly is “Herbie Fully Loaded.”
This photo needs a caption:
“The 1984 Rabbit Diesel: it accelerates like it’s pulling a trailer full of rocks, even when it’s not.”
All kidding aside, these were reliable cars and obviously had great fuel economy. My uncle had a copper 1982-83 Rabbit pickup, and it was a great car. It is still in my aunt’s garage and in good shape, though it hasn’t been driven for several years.