Here we go again: Another find from the Iowa City Farmers’ market. Like the Spitfire, it’s a drop-top–but other than that, they’re as different as chalk and cheese. In the ’80s, these were the quintessential high-school cheerleader car, and they seemed to be everywhere–due, in no small part, to a 13-year production run from 1980-1993.
This car’s wheel design and chrome bumpers peg it as an early example; later models featured color-keyed bumpers and added ground effects. This time, the only comment from my uncle (our fearless photographer) was, “Bet those seats are pretty hot!” No, black seats and top-down motoring are often not the best combination.
Now were these Rabbits built in Pennsylvania? Mama tells me stories about her 76 Rabbit Hatchback that did not have AC (I think), but she did pay extra for an AM/FM Radio. Much to her annoyance the Rabbit was rusted to death by the late 1980s.
This is a good looking Rabbit, not sure how they kept it looking so sharp. Around here VWs older than 2000 are pretty dang rare aside from the occasional VW Vanagon.
Actually, none of the Rabbit convertibles (later called Cabriolets) were ever built in Pennsylvania. They were all made in Osnabruck, Germany, at the Karmann plant where the Karmann-Ghias and Beetle convertibles came from. This is why these German-made Cabriolets always commanded a price premium over regular Rabbits.
The new-generation Cabrios, starting in mid-1995, were built in Puebla, Mexico.
I had a neighbor with one of these. She was a middle-aged mom and loved her car, driving it until well past its prime. She later had a new beetle convertible, and now a Mini Cooper convertible. I don’t think she loves the later ones like she did the little Rabbit. She held onto it for awhile after she replaced it, but finally faced facts that she should let it go. Maximum Fahrvergnugen (or however you spell it).
Chick car! Especially in white. I don’t think I ever saw a man driving one of these. Chances are, any man seen driving one was probably the boyfriend/brother/father of the owner. Not a judgment call, just an observation.
I’ve seen more Rabbit/Golf convertibles in white then other colors for some reason. Nowadays if I spot a Rabbit on the road, more often then not it’s the Diesel version.
My daughter wanted one of those in the worst way. When we actually started looking at cars for her, there was a very nice-looking one, complete with white leather seats with diagonal rolls and pleats. She was very unhappy when I vetoed it based on the fact that the steering wheel was turned 90 degrees when the car was driving straight ahead.
i went to college with the son of the steven j. ross, the man who built the time warner aol conglomerate. i remember being shocked and impressed to find out that he drove a rabbit convertible. undoubtedly, he spent more time in the back of his limo.
After the crap his father pulled he should be so lucky to have just a moped now. The ass ruined millions of people’s lives. Hope there is a ring of hell just for him.
i wasn’t clear. it wasn’t the son who drove the rabbit. it was steven j. ross himself. the son drove a fiat when i knew him and was hardly the limousine type. admittedly, the aol merger was a disaster but in fairness, ross died of cancer before he could see the process through. on the plus side, ross was also responsible for the creative team at time warner which was a powerhouse in film and music in the ’70s.
That one looks like it had cloth seats. The 1982 Rabbit Convertible my mother and later my sister owned had black vinyl seats which did get hot in the summer. Hers was also metallic red and had steelies with hubcaps. Rather basic but very solid despite 8 years in New York when we bought it in 1990.
@Dabro some men did own them, a friend of my father who was a married civil engineer in his 50’s had a dark green 81ish with a black top and interior for years. Now triple white was a total chick car.
How ’bout husband… My wife had an ’89 Cabriolet, some sort of special edition all white with ground effects, white bumpers, white top, white trimmed alloy wheels and white leather interior. It was a pretty great car for cruising Cape Cod at 30-50mph. My wife sold Creative Memories stuff and used to take our Subaru Wagon when she had an event, leaving me to drive the VW. At higher speeds, the 3-speed automatic transmission (the curse of the 1st gen platform) really didn’t want you to drive much faster than 60mph or it sounded like the engine was going to come through the hood.
We had it until we divorced in 2003, but soon after that some mechanic told her it was too rusted to work on (underneath). I kept the top pristine, even replacing the trunk lid with a unit I sourced from Tucson, AZ when it rusted. I had replaced her fuel pump not a year before and there was no rust where I worked. I think she just found a mechanic that didn’t want to work on the car or had another car (she showed up at a negotiation session with a black one) to sell.
Search around these pages for my story of the crazy problem the car had not wanting to hot start.
I’ve had a 1980 one of these for the past 14 years, and it’s been a great, reliable little car. With only 76 hp at best (and I’m sure some of the original ponies have escaped the stable at this point), it is by no means a fast car, but I still enjoy driving it more than anything else. Maybe someday when I get it looking all nice and shiny I’ll snap some photos for the cohort.
I wonder whether these will ever start being collected in earnest. Thus far, it seems like most people who fix these up are into heavy modifications that, in my opinion, are aesthetically unpleasant.
One thing about these cars I find impressive is the efficiency of the packaging, and the backseat in particular. It’s not enormous by sedan standards, but it winds up being far roomier than many other four-seat convertibles that are much larger on the outside. The trunk, on the other hand, is miniscule.
My sister bought an ’83, white over white w/ white interior (black checked inserts) new and drove it hard until two years ago in San Francisco. I rode in it doing 90 mph on the way up to San Rafael. Way to loud for me. I prefer quiet, soft riding American cars!