I watched this red Rabbit arrive at this house last fall or so, in original condition. And then I watched it sprout overlanding gear: a suspension lift, bigger and knobbier tires, a roof rack, and, well, I guess that’s about it. Enough to change its character considerably.
How many dozens of gen1 diesel Rabbits have I shown you here over the years? About one every couple of months, seems to me. And there’s still more to be found. Rabbits that are fed diesel have a longer life it would seem than those fed gasoline.
This is one of the later Westmoreland Rabbits, from the looks of the grille.
And it has a vintage VW friend that lives across the street.
I was going to guess this as an American version from the red velour interior. :
My sister and BIL bought an 80 or 81 Westmoreland Rabbit Diesel used in maybe 1983 or 84. It served them well for quite awhile.
They really wanted a CUV and it shows. I actually like it myself.
It’s a 1979 or 1980 with the combination of square headlights and small taillights. Great color!
One of my first experiences in a Rabbit diesel involved dirt roads in the Mt. Hood National Forest. In winter. With snow. Even stock, on 155-13 tires, it did very well.
It is a 79 or 80 Westmoreland car.
Perhaps one reason that diesels last longer (both the Rabbit AND the Mercedes) is that the cars accelerate slowly, and that puts less wear on everything else, so it holds up better.
Also, when a car is this slow, it must endear itself to the owner in other ways–perhaps reliability or saving on fuel and spark plug changes—so the owner takes better care of it, and keeps it longer. This also encourages longevity.
So, we have a positive-reinforcing feeback loop!
I think height or Rabbit Diesel popularity was 1980-81. The 1979 oil shocks were still fresh in peoples’ minds, when the price of gasoline doubled. I think that over half of all Rabbits in those years were diesels—it was considered the most fuel-efficient car in America, anecdotally at least.
Also, in the 1980s, I think pretty much all W123 Mercedes were diesels—for all I know ,they quietly dropped the 280E, and with the 300SD, MB was 75% diesel.
I think I would actually enjoy owning a 1978-85 240D 4-speed, a car that I’ve only ridden in–as a taxi–25-35 years ago. My brother says the slowness would be too much for me to handle.
Diesels are addictive probably why I keep buying them but not Mecedes and certainly not VWs, slow, well I’m not sure about that mine will double our speed limit and its quiet and very comfy to ride in, never failed to start yet and amazing fuel economy whats not to like. The lift kit on mine is two buttons on the console should I encounter rough going though it will do that itself, very clever suspension.
How about a future story on the Mk II Jetta in the picture?
Back in the day, I thought of the Jetta GL as the poor man’s Audi, or a Teutonic Accord. Nice car, I considered buying one.
Rabbits were once everywhere in the Bay Area. A girlfriend in 1885 had a diesel Rabbit and then a girlfriend in 1990 had the successor a diesel Jetta. I haven’t seen one tooling around on the roads in a very long time although I know where one has been parked for a very long time.
However, even more rare is a mid-60s Transporter which I haven’t seen since the 70s. Until…, the last 14 days I have seen three of them! Two parked on the street while heading to Jury Duty, along with a Bus, and one today driving out of Home Depot and NO camera!
Did not know they had diesel Rabbits in 1885, they must be really good cars 🙂
And he must be older than he looks! 🙂
It’s the Rabbit Outback.
My wife had a Rabbit, with stock suspension, when we met. It was beaten down but kept going. At one point the hood popped open on the highway, and it was thereafter held down by a heavy duty zip-tie supplied by a helpful police officer. It was a very rudimentary vehicle but did its job until it got too ugly and unreliable, and was replaced with a Honda Accord.
The owner would be wise to use the exterior detailing of the 1990 Golf Country Syncro for design ideas. Fender flares, Hella lamps, black body side molding, blackout trim and bumpers, and the brush bar looked pretty awesome. Tires look a little oversized, relative to the body/wheel arches on the homemade version.
I have a matchbox one of those
Me too! First thing I thought of when I saw it.
I was thinking Golf Country retro mod. It’s amazing what gets turned into “overlanders”. Here in Central Oregon it’s a big deal and the streets are full of Subarus and Landcruisers with roof tents and light bars. The slickest piece of kit I’ve seen was a shower on a Subaru Impreza made form a large black pip on the roof rack, Fill it up, drive in the sun and enjoy gravity feed hot water. IIRC it was balanced by a Hi Lift jack on the other side.
I’m always amazed at how otherwise environmentally conscious people hold an affection for these older pollution spewing diesels.
Once the effects of their nitrogen oxide and particulate rich exhaust became better known, you’d think an environmentally conscious driver would be ashamed to use one as a daily driver.
Wonder if they still mow with a 2 cycle Lawnboy?
There exists a bio-diesel kit for the 1.6D.
There are not many things more wasteful today than buying a new vehicle every two years instead of appreciating and caring for what you have.
Let us have fun 🙂