Since we discovered the (semi)secret south side McCredie Hot Springs on the edge of Salt Creek near Hwy 58, it’s become a predictable stop on the way home after a hike in the Cascades. Such was the case last night, after a rather long twelve-miler up to Waldo Mountain and a detour to Waldo Lake; our vintage bodies were feeling it. The south side spring is a bit remote, and requires a drive down a forest road and a bit of a hike. But it’s worth the seclusion, although some others know of it too. And what more likely only other car to be there but a vintage diesel Rabbit?
McCredie is also accessible on the north side, but that’s right on the highway and can get a bit popular. I don’t take my camera down to hot springs, as that’s not considered cool given that most users are in the buff. But here’s a shot posted on the web that exactly replicates the position I was in last night (actually, my head was resting on a rock), as the sun was setting behind the trees on a perfect fall day. Ahhh! These two rock-lined pools are at the edge of the river, visible on the left. Volunteers rebuild these pools every winter as needed, if a winter storm cause them to be flooded and damaged.
My stupid current camera flubbed another shot, the front of the Rabbit, but you know what they look like.
I did walk over to get a close up of the badge on the back, to confirm it was a diesel. I didn’t really need to, as there’s very few gas Rabbits still around, except for a couple in the hands of VW-tuner types. But the diesel Rabbit has been a fixture in Eugene since almost forever, perhaps the ultimate vintage Eugene-mobile along with the W123 diesel Mercedes.
We’ve had a fair number of these at CC over the years, but one of the more memorable ones was Len Peter’s (Canucknucklehead) COAL of his ’78 diesel. These are tough little bunnies, and although their number hereabouts are in inevitable decline, I wouldn’t be surprised to run into one here again five or ten years from now.
Call me old-school, but I prefer this 1st gen VW Golf/Rabbit Diesel than the current version. Sure it’s slow, but so what? I like slow. You don’t run the risk of getting a speeding ticket when you have to accelerate fast. I also like going farther on a tank of fuel than you would otherwise.
It reminds me my father’s 1980 Rabbit L Diesel. This model had different side markers and also smaller taillights and round headlights.
It probably is a 1979. Diesel’s were still German built, Gas models only were US with rectangle headlamps starting in 79, 80’s all were US built with rectangle headlamps. He had a much better built car than if it was an 80. It’s been a long time since I have seen any A1 Rabbit, gas or Diesel on the road. Those are nice, simple basic cars, easy to work on. And they handle really nicely. 50 mpg on hwy is possible with these lightweight Diesel cars. Great find.
My father’s car was a 1980 model and it was a Canadian model. He bought it new in the summer of 1980. My uncle had a similar 1979 Rabbit 2 door and I remember his had door-mounted seatbelts like some early-1990s cars.
Here’s a 1980 Canadian Rabbit owner’s manual.
Didn’t realize this was in Canada. What I stated only applies to the USA. I had a 1975 Rabbit with door mounted belts. No lap belts but had a kneebar. These belts were common in US into the 80’s. It still had mounting points for normal 3 point belts. I replaced the door mounts with belts from another 1975 that had conventional type. So your father still had a German built model.
My first two cars were both 1984 VW Rabbit diesels. The first was 2-door with 4-speed stick, which I owned for about 4.5 years. This was followed by a 4-door with 5-speed which I owned for about a year. I loved the first one but hated the second one, except for the extra cog in the transmission.
I liked the solid metal (chrome-plated aluminum I think) bumpers. Just to freak people out, sometimes I would purposely park crooked, then pick up the back of the car and straighten it out in the spot as I was walking away.
So did I!
I owned a 1981 diesel Rabbit from 2002 to 2006. Assuming that one changes the oil, timing belt, and doesn’t overheat the engine, you just can’t kill one. Not a single electronic component necessary for it to run – hit the glow plugs with +12V for a few seconds, apply +12V to the fuel solenoid, crank and you are off and running.
After the EMP event that wipes out all electronic devices, diesel Rabbits will still be fully operational.
With that being said, I have to LOL at many of the Craigslist ads for these with asking prices of running Honda Civics (which is what I replaced my Rabbit with and am still driving today – twice the horsepower and 10mpg highway loss).
In my experience, an o-ring seal in the injection pump fails at about 200,000mi, causing an air leak in the fuel system when it sits overnight, leading to a no-start condition. This afflicted my two Rabbits, plus a Jetta and a Golf that my brother owned.
If I had been able to diagnose this problem with my first Rabbit, I may have gotten many more years of service from it, and avoided buying the POS that was my second Rabbit.
My driving lessons car in 1984, a refrigerator-white VW Golf Mk1 diesel with a 4 speed manual.
^X2. The infinitely recyclable car, and if you really feel the need, the last mechanical turbo-diesel Golfs/Rabbits had the same engine block but 90hp, which means easy 80 MPH cruising speed, but still something like 40-45 MPG. And you can make them go round corners as if on rails, thanks to the tunners (stop on a dime, too).
Pretty much the reasons I bought my current ride mechanical diesel injection, turbo, manual trans, nothing goes wrong because theres nothing to go wrong unburstable XUD PSA engine 45+mpg and cornering ability yet to be surpassed a fun car to drive very nimble in town and an excellent highway cruiser combined with being uncatchable in the twisties.
Yep those are very good units too. Speaking of such cars, the below served me (after having spent a week underneath welding Ford rust, changing a CV and replacing a twisted rear subframe) without fault for 9 years, only sold it because where I live I don’t need a car for everyday transport (next one will be a fun car only). Taken away by a Romanian Gypsy, it’s probably still alive serving someone in Transylvania… Again, all mechanical, slow (who needs Zen, 59 hp teaches you about patience best) but capable of 50 MPG and – due to all that cast iron sitting over the driven front wheels – very good in the snow (never had to fit chains!).
PS: The handling was nowhere as good as a Golf/Rabbit or a Peugeot 406, you can’t have everything, those were the bad Ford years in this respect.
One of these was my sister’s first diesel – a 1980 black Rabbit that she and her husband bought used about 1983 or so. They drove it for a couple of years, then bought a new 86 Golf diesel. The Golf was more powerful and smoother, but the Rabbit had more character.
Interesting as when first released in North America, they died in droves by 40,000~ 60,000 miles , mostly blown head gaskets but also lots of cylinder failures .
Both my brothers bought them new in 1977 when there was a bullcrap dealer surcharge of $800 or something , one bought a black one he killed in 40,000 miles , the other bought a white one that made it 125,000 before the head gasket blew then he used it a couple more years by adding tap water (!) to it daily , eventually he took it to an Indie VW Shop that stripped it and vanished in the dead of night , middle of the week , leaving it curb parked , a bare shell .
I told him not to ever tell any shop ” work on it when time allows , no big hurry ” because what they always hear is ‘ I don’t care if I ever see this piece of junk again ‘ .
Now they’re some kind of cult car , go figure .
-Nate
Interesting as when first released in North America, they died in droves by 40,000~ 60,000 miles , mostly blown head gaskets but also lots of cylinder failures .
Either R&T or MT did a long term test of a diesel Rabbit when they first came out, and made a discovery. The cars had an auxiliary vacuum pump, which was fed oil by a tube from the engine. A fitting in the oil line would crack and the vacuum pump would suck the oil out of the engine.
I wouldn’t mind having a Rabbit, or a gen 2 Golf for a beater, they being so much smaller than the new Jetta, but the probabilities of finding one around here that’s even worth the price of the license plate is pretty slim.
I was looking at the lead pic and wondering “gee, that white wagon in the background looks familiar”. Duh…it’s Paul’s new TSX.
Not quite so “new” anymore; just rolled past 10k (happy) miles recently.
Once again a case of a car known for its utter reliability here (Europe) somehow losing something in the translation to North-Americanish… I never heard of such things happening here so those must have been additions or modifications made for your market. Here, they used to do 200,000 miles if treated sensibly…
One of the biggest causes of initial failure on these engines was in not replacing the timing belt.
Keep in mind that many people who bought these in the late 1970s / early 1980s had previously only owned American cars with timing chains, and had absolutely no idea that 1) there was a belt in there, and 2) that they needed to change it.
VW had a recall repair kit for that problem, many were installed back in the day. Not only would the engine suck the oil out of the crankase, the engine would speed up and continue to run until the oil was used up and the engine seized. Turning off the ignition switch would not stop the engine. I would think putting it in high gear, stepping on the brake and letting out the clutch would be the only way to stop it, or maybe come to a stop without pushing in the clutch pedal. The early Diesels had few headgasket problems. They could easily go over 200k miles. The later ones in the early 80’s were increased in displacement and those had a higher rate of gasket failures, sometimes even cracked heads.
Somebody who works at a hookah lounge near my train station owns a very original, beige Rabbit Diesel with punk/hardcore band stickers all over it. Every time I see it I feel like I’ve stepped back in time to 1995 – or maybe just into Oregon. There’s usually a ’66 Plymouth Belvedere (/6 powered!) and a 1st gen Toyota MR2 parked there, too.
Thanks to the miracle of the internet, I’ve seen a whole bunch of these with modern TDI powerplants swapped in. Usually I’m all for originality, but that’s a really appealing swap. Unfortunately, many of them that have gotten that treatment also have about .5″ of ground clearance.
My brother is a big believer in taking the TDI and swapping in mechanical fuel injection from an earlier VW diesel to get rid of the electronics. There is some way to mix together parts of the TDI injection pump with an earlier mechanical pump to make it work. He’s been driving an older Jetta with this setup installed for a few years.
Interesting, never heard of that before! Seems like you’d miss out on some of the benefits of the newer engine that way, but it must make the swap way easier.
Yes I’ve heard about this too – something about the 2L VW Transporter unit or similar. The mechanical turbos can be modified to 110 hp without losing reliability and that’s exactly the first GTI’s hp…
That is Oregon (at least part of it) for you.
How hot are the springs?
Perfect! Seriously, I don’t know; there’s two pools that folks have built, one hotter than the other. Depending on where one sits, it varies. Sometimes moving a bit will put one close to a little hot spot. It’s easy to find just the right spot, though.
So is this volcanic, like the springs in Iceland and New Zealand?
Yes. The whole North West is a major Volcanic area; all the mountains are/were volcanoes, part of the great Pacific Rim of Fire. We have many hot springs.
My uncle had a late 70s diesel Rabbit (also a white 4 door) he bought on a European Delivery Plan. His family was going to be in Greece for a few months and they figured this was better than renting a car.
I got to drive that Rabbit a few times when they returned to the U.S. I guess I should admit that it’s possible I didn’t know how to drive that car as it felt VERY torque deficient. And to make matters worse, I was driving a Ford Fiesta at the time….a car that felt every bit of it’s 50% greater horsepower.
Diesel Golfs are gaining the reputation that Volvo used to have for just going on and on – any Golf 3 or earlier in Europe now is almost certainly a diesel or a GTi.
My first brand new car was a 1984 Rabbit Diesel. I LOVED that car! When I lost my job my father took over the car and payments and drove it for MANY years until it biodegraded in Upstate NY