I think most of us have known of a case similar to this one; the car in perpetual maintenance. You know, the one vehicle that’s in an eternal state of being fixed. One walks or drives by every few days or weeks, and there it is, once again with the hood open or sitting on jack stands. And every so often, one sees the owner, diligently tinkering away. Pointlessly trying to correct whatever issue that has proven impossible to fix.
This 1st. gen. Jetta Diesel sits a block away from my home, and it’s been part of my neighborhood since my arrival. I rarely see it in the same parking spot, so I assume it moves on its own power.
As can be seen in the above photo, the car belongs to the owner of ‘Tecno Diesel,’ San Salvador’s least frequented diesel shop. One would think he’d be the one to finally get an old Jetta diesel working properly, and yet, at least once a week he’s back at it. Usually with some underling working by his side. And regardless of all the man-hours, the car doesn’t seem to be getting better.
That said, they seem to enjoy the Jetta-fixing hours as they chat away while wrenching. Maybe it’s a good way of fraternizing?
I’m aware that here at CC, we have a tradition of featuring any old Rabbit that shows up, especially diesels. With Jettas being far less common, no such custom has emerged. But let this diesel find even out that Rabbit/Jetta correlation at least a bit. We don’t want to seem to favor one over the other, right?
And this Jetta looks to be a plain diesel, not the fancy schmancy turbo one. That’s VW’s 1.6L engine providing 50HP of leisurely power; way lower than the sexier 69HP found in the turbo. Yet, someone back in the US thought that eschewing power was a good tradeoff in order to acquire the sensible goods of this Jetta.
That’s right, those who speak ‘VW’ know this is most likely a US version. It obviously arrived in El Salvador as a gray import (no new cars entered the nation between ’80-’85), and I’ve no idea when Mr. Diesel acquired it. But so far, rather than serving as transport, it looks like it’s a labor of love of his.
I can see why someone back in the day would be seduced by an early Jetta diesel. They were spiffy-looking, reasonably accessible, with nice interiors, efficient FWD platforms, and well, that fuel-sipping diesel engine. They were also German-made, with many of the early MK1 assembly woes already corrected.
I’m actually quite familiar with the MK1 platform after owning a 1980 Rabbit for a few years. Not the most reliable ride, but a really fun one that left bittersweet memories.
Talking about reliability, I have a fear I may be reinforcing stereotypes with this post. But I don’t know, I truly feel that Mr. Diesel isn’t quite the expert he claims to be. I rarely see any clients, and after all this time, I just wonder about his actual skills. Then again, maybe he just loves to spend time tightening those Jetta bolts and having a nice chat.
Further reading:
Curbside Classic: 1980 VW Jetta – Just Slap A Big Butt In The Back For Those Damn Amerikaner!
I had a ’84 two door sedan with the diesel and a four speed. Got it with about 750,000km on the odometer and drove it for a whole summer. It was dangerously slow, being a non turbo, but was still reasonably comfortable and got unbelievable fuel mileage. I basically broke even when I sold it back to the dealer i worked at. Don’t know if I’d have another one, unless the oil burner was tossed and a 16V GTI mill was transplanted with a proper 5 speed.
There was someone who lived near my previous home that had a late-’60s (or ’70) Buick Electra sedan in his driveway. One day a second big Buick of similar vintage joined it, I think a LeSabre, soon followed by a third. I assumed the owner was going to pull parts from two of the cars to make one good one. But I never saw the owner or anyone else actually working on it. The trio of Buicks sat there for years, rusting away as if abandoned. One night I drove by and noticed that whatever was in the owner’s house was piled up over four feet high, visible through the front windows. Then about a half year later I drove by and the cars were gone (likely to the neighbors’ relief) and the house looked empty.
I see little shops like this in my area too, which are usually a mess and have a very slowly evolving collection of motley cars around the building. They always make me wonder what is actually happening inside – is someone eking out a living by fixing customer cars cheaply? Or is someone eking out a living by charging small amounts to customers while not really doing much good.
I prefer the upbeat idea that this car being a German made one, is just needing the typical touching any old German vehicles needs after some years/decades even when it’s running tip top .
-Nate
There is an old chap who uses a Jetta MK 1 C D as an everyday driver I’m my town. Portugal is full of” modern classics” used as daily drivers as average car age is …20 years.
Early Landcrusiers and Patrol sightings are an everyday eccurence. How about this mid Volvo DL in US spec,? . US cars aren’t unusual.
I’ll catch up on a local Escort sedan …
Perpetual maintenance is what happened to my two old VW diesels. I would think they were fixed , and then something else would go wrong.
The only mechanic near me who can fix the older VW diesels is always busy. For the last year I had the last one I managed less than 100 miles between my health problems and the vans.
I don’t miss it now it’s gone and my bank balance looks a lot better.
I’ve have nothing but VW’s since 1981, though I do hold onto them for awhile, so haven’t had one of every generation, but did have an A1 (Scirocco) A2 (GTi) and my current A4 (Golf).
Maybe I’m different than most, though I can’t claim my cars have been troublefree nor even that they haven’t left me stranded (once) but they’ve worked OK for me. I’d be the first to say they aren’t for everyone…my Dad was once interested in a Passat, I talked him out of it, knowing what he looks for in a car. I guess I’m willing to deal with some things others are not. For instance, my current car has the notorious plastic window regulators which break and cause the windows to fall into the doors. Can’t avoid them (in the US) I think they were on all A4’s sold here. And the power locks have bad solder joints on circuit board causing opens and non-operating locks (2 of 4 on my car) which I’d have to remove the windows to get to…which I hesitate to do..so I live with 2 bad locks. Another almost humerous one is that the bass on my stock radio is stuck on high…I can adjust midrange and treble, but not the bass…kind of silly for a 65 year old guy driving with the bass at maximum.
My A2 did have some issues, though I dodged some too. I dodged the self-machining close ratio transaxle problem, but I did have to replace the upholstery more than once, once when the seatback release cable broke inside the seat, another time due to the deteriorating foam (I’d find foam dust under my seat…the hard foam produced) caused the side bolsters to wear out. I like fabric seats but haven’t been impressed with what VW uses on the ones I’ve owned. I went through many voltage regulators (maybe 12) that caused my headlights to pulse. And the weatherstripping went, probably due to age and that I live in sunbelt where rubber goes bad quickly, the ones in the salvage yards were as bad or worse than mine, so I ordered one from a northern yard and replaced it. The transaxle seal went and fouled my clutch, so I replaced it and changed the seals. And the odometer was intermittant (it had multiple odometers).
Sounds like a lot….but I did own it for 14 years. I’m up to 23 the end of this month on my current Golf which itself has had different problems (some the A2 had never occurred on A4 and vice-versa). And my A4 has stranded me once (when the ignition cylinder went and I didn’t have the tools to break open the steering column) and almost another time (the gearshift cable went, I ended up opening the hood and putting the transaxle into 2nd so I could drive the car home at reasonable speed while slipping the clutch.
I never did have a diesel, so maybe my experience would differ if I had.