VW Rabbits (Golf Mk I) are starting to get a bit scarce here too, along with so many older cars. Actually, I’m amazed at how many there still are, for a car that started out life as a rather fragile thing. But almost all of these survivors are diesels, and they were tough little bunnies. But this is a really rare version, with the ultra-reclining seats.
That laid-back, deeply-reclined look is very cool with a certain younger demographic. But this is taking it a bit far.
Everybody knew that those seats wouldn’t hold up long with the break-neck acceleration of a diesel VW Rabbit (sarcasm intended).
I think the only way it would break any necks is if they were directly under the drive wheels…
Personally, I would not challenge the owner of a beater car by boxing it in.
Love the steering wheel–could have been pulled from a Buick or Olds or even a high-end Chrysler.
Very Broughamy!
The “Malibuization” of the Rabbit, lol.
It’s amazing how VW has had ups and downs in the US, but never quite found its bearings in America since “peak-Beetle”, say 1965-71, while rising globally to outsell GM and rival Toyota as the world’s largest automaker.
BTW, I am a huge fan of this generation of “Rabbit/Golf” and the Mark II that followed. If I could have only one car, it would be a US-Spec Rabbit GTI or 85-87 Golf GTI. Even as a teen, I thought the Americanization of the Rabbit was a bad idea. It didn’t work.
Just like the “BMWized Cadillac ATS/CTS” hasn’t worked for GM some 35 years later…
The Americanization of the Rabbit was nothing compared to the Americanization of the Passat….
At the time the Westmoreland plant was built VW recruited design and marketing people from Oldsmobile to “Americanize” the Rabbit. That worked for a couple years when gas was high and diesel Rabbits sold like hotcakes, but led to the then-still German made Jetta becoming the “it” car of the line. Probably a factor in the market developing a distaste for hatchbacks, along with BMW’s refusal to give the 3-series the hatch it should’ve had all along until it was too late.
As a foreign marque becomes more popular in a new market, they have to tread a very fine line. On one hand, they want to keep the consumers that like the vehicle’s particular characteristics, OTOH, in trying to expand and adapt, they run the risk of losing that original, core market. That’s what happened with the Westemoreland Rabbits. VW was trying to widen the appeal but, in doing so, alienated the original Rabbit buyers.
Then there was the build quality. VW might have been trying to soften the Rabbit for US tastes but those same domestic buyers didn’t much like the myriad mechanical issues (which is really saying something for buyers coming from domestic products of the time).
A real shame because the Rabbit came very close to being a game-changer. Even today, it’s a sharp car which, to me, is the real test of a classic car. I would easily like to have an original survivor Rabbit (rare as that might be) in my dream garage. It’s one thing to attempt to make a good car for a high price. Its quite a bit more difficult to develop a decent car for the other end of the market.
Hard as it is to believe, VW is NOT currently the number 1 car manufacturer in the world…it recently dropped to number 2 behind the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi combine. At least that is according to a recent article in the magazine CAR.
Toyota in currently number 3.
+1 on that brougham steering wheel. I actually thought it was a Chrysler transplant until I zoomed in to see the VW emblem in the middle. Man, does it look out of place in a Rabbit.
Anything prior to a Mk IV Golf or Jetta is pretty much extinct in Michigan, other than the occasional garage queen that shows up at a show.
I have seen a couple older models where the owner is taking a risk running them at all. The timing belt cover is plastic. The plastic crumbles away with age and replacements are unobtanium, leaving the belt and sprockets running exposed to any sort of debris that flies up from Michigan’s third world grade roads.
…so that’s why I’ve seen several ‘for sale’ picture with the belt exposed.
I didn’t realize cover was plastic.
Now I will go and look at my ’86 GTI and see if a magnet sticks to it.
I thought it was metal. It’s sandwiched under the valve cover, so the valve cover has to be removed.
Are there any water-cooled 1975-91 VW shows coming up in Michigan?
Are there any water-cooled 1975-91 VW shows coming up in Michigan?
Not specifically water cooled, but an all VW show will be in Ypsilanti on May 20th. https://www.mvvc.net/festival/
The Gilmore will host it’s annual Deutsche Marques show on July 7th. Open to all German makes, VWs comprised about 22% of entrants last year. https://www.gilmorecarmuseum.org/event/deutsche-marques-german-auto-event-2/?instance_id=391
Last year, the organizer of the Deutsche Marques show was abusing me because my VW was one of over 70 German brand cars parked in the visitor’s parking lot, rather than in the show. Thing is, I have a membership at the Gilmore, so I get into the show for free, but would have to pay to put the car in the show. (a daily driver 2014 Jetta wagon)
Almost had a complete set of Golfs at the Gilmore a couple years ago.
Most 1st generation Rabbits, no matter where they were built, have succumbed to rust around the windshield. The “A” pillars were filled with expanded foam, for sound deadening(?), and once moisture got to the foam….that was it.
My sister and BIL’s first diesel VW was a black Westmoreland Rabbit with light gray vinyl upholstery that would have been at home in anything built in Detroit at the time. I believe it was an 81. It was slow but supremely economical. It must have been pretty good because they owned at least four others that I can think of, the last one going away just a couple of years ago.
I rented 2 of these Rabbits for the day about 15-20 yrs ago, when my Golf was in shop all day. The Malibuized seats were rather uncomfortable-no side support.
Of course, in 2000, they would have been almost 20 yrs old, but I can’t see them being great when new.
There hasn’t been a running Gen 1 Rabbit here in years. Even one that sat beside a house for at least 10 years that I know of finally disappeared last year. I do have some seat and drive time in these, but that was back in the 80’s with my friend Brians 81 Diesel that his dad put a turbo on. I could outrun MB 300D’s but got waxed good by a Karman Ghia once at 90 or so, won’t ever forget that one. One other experience, back in 84 when I was driving my 71 170 powered (?) Maverick I got in a race with a gas/auto Rabbit Convertable with 2 gals and one guy and a 5 ton U-Haul truck. I barely kept up with the Rabbit, but we were both outrun by the U-Haul truck! Happy Days.
I was visiting Seattle a few weeks ago and found this pre-Westmoreland example in the hotel parking lot. Later the same day I spotted a first-generation Scirocco on I-5 but as was driving I could not get a picture. The Pacific Northwest does seem to be an automotive way-back machine.
I had an ’87 Jetta Carat I bought when it was 10 yrs old. It looked in mint conditiion and even had working air! The first problem I had with that car (one of many) was the driver’s seat which hurt my back after a few weeks of ownership. So I tore the seat apart to see what the problem was. The back was a wire mesh affair suspended to the frame by little springs and the mesh had “stretched” out of shape over the years – maybe the first owner was heavy? So I used reinforced fiberglass tape to tighten the frame up and it was somewhat better. Oh, and the padding used in the back of that seat? It was horsehair + glue molded into the shape of the seatback. The only foam was a quarter-inch bit sewn right into the upholstery.
…the padding used in the back of that seat? It was horsehair + glue molded into the shape of the seatback. The only foam was a quarter-inch bit sewn right into the upholstery.
Saw this mint 75 Dasher at the Gilmore’s German show a few years ago. Seats also stuffed with horsehair. While the car had sat in a VW dealer’s showroom for decades, it had not escaped time. All the horsehair had disintegrated, so sitting on the seat had you sitting directly on the springs.
Interesting. Fortunately enough the bottom cushion of those front seats was made of foam, molded to fit the steel bucket frame. It had gone a big soft too so I was able to source another good piece from a local wrecking yard. I checked out the seats in a couple of Golfs and they all seemed to have foam in the back of the seats, not horsehair.
It looks to me like VW is still using the exact same bucket seat design in it’s current cars so I wonder what’s behind the upholstery on them and if they’re any better.
Oddly enough, despite all the salt there are still a few of these around here.
A good friend of mine asked her Dad to find her a decent used car in 1994. He found much to her distaste a 1982 4 door Rabbit Diesel with an automatic. It was a yellow beige color with those same seats in a dark orange brown color. It was a one owner senior driver car from Victoria BC. It had crazy low mileage and looked like it just rolled of the showroom floor. It was SLOW and sounded like a tractor. Climbing any kind of incline was near impossible at more than 20 km per hour. She had to plan trips carefully to avoid steep hills in Vancouver. She kept that thing for around 4 years. Crazy at it was people used to leave notes on it all the time and approach her asking if she wanted to sell it. She finally relented to a persistant senior that lived in her neighborhood. He said name your price, she got a $ 1,000.00 more than she paid for it. He drove it until the late 2000`s until it was the victim of a hit and run driver and was written off.
This just reminds me of my 84 Rabbit GTI that I got from an uncle, but had to sell it as I was moving out on my own for the first time. Those are fun little cars and I really regret not keeping it, but such is life. Now I have to try and find another one in my area.
Here in Austria those have now transcended into classicdom – it has been some time since I’ve seen one being used as an everyday car. Two door cars are particularly sought after as the basis for Gti replica.
Well, my A1 Scirocco (and the A2 GTi I had after it) had this seat lever that basically hinged the front of the seat bottom so you had this additional recline (manual) besides the usual vernier dial of the seatback itself….but they didn’t recline anywhere near this much (i.e. allow the seat bottom to almost go up 50 degrees).
My current (A4) Golf doesn’t have that lever, so maybe it was lost in some cost reduction.