The 1977 Volkswagen Rabbit with 2,000 miles we featured a month ago is back up for sale, with a lowered Buy It Now price of $7,700. Is this possibly one of the lowest mileage, unmolested Mk1s out there?
The below post originally appeared on our site June 20, 2014:
Click for more details: 1977 Volkswagen Rabbit on eBay
Like the second generation Golfs, first generation Golf/Rabbits in original configuration are incredibly hard to find – especially in good condition. There’s no getting over that they were an economy car that wasn’t the best built car ever made. With little rust protection, electrics that tended to self-immolate given enough rain, and low residual values only eclipsed by AMC products, the original Golf and Rabbit were for some time forgotten cars. But the crisp and honest lines of the original Giugiaro design have shone through, and of course the original hot hatch GTi has become a favorite of enthusiasts. But if clean and unmodified GTis are a hard find, regular versions of the Beetle replacement are perhaps even more hard to come by:
Year: 1977
Model: Golf
Engine: 1.6 liter inline-4
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Mileage: 2,000 mi
Price: $8,200 Buy It Now
1977 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF … 2,000 Miles on the Clock
DIESEL ENGINE … ORIGINAL PAINT … NO RUSTEngine : 4 Cyl, 1.6L Diesel
Transmission : Manual
Exterior : Green
Interior : Tan
Body Style : 2 Door Hatchback
Vin : 1773180064This VW was born with a Gasoline engine, and had it up until the time it came to us. We purchased it a few month ago only to determine that the engine was seized. It would not turn over at all. Our Mechanics opened it up and within minutes they have realized that the car was siting around for at least 10 years with out being started, the oil became solid as a rock. We have decided to replace the Engine with the Diesel Engine we had siting around from VW Jetta.
1.6L Liter Diesel engine was completely rebuilt prior to the installation. It now has New Head, Timing belt, Tensioner, Crankshaft front and rear Seals, Camshaft Seal, Oil pump, Water pump, Clutch, Fuel Tank, Complete Brake Job, Rotors plus much much more. Meanwhile our Upholstery shop replaced the Carpet as well as Seats.
Diesel Engine is in Great Shape, does not smoke, does not leak, nice and quiet. Gearbox feels Perfect, shifts without any problems, without delay, and without noise. Clutch is Brand New. Suspension is in Excellent shape, Car tracks nice and straight. There is No Evidence of any Electrical problems.
The exterior is in Excellent shape for a 1977. The paint is original with absolutely no rust anywhere on the car. Leather Seats, Carpet Floor and Glass are all in Great shape, interior of this car is Nice and Clean. This VW has 4 matching New Tires that are mounted on Good straight rims.
It will be sold with a clear title and it will be sold as-is, where-is.
We have taken many pictures of this vehicle, and we know that it can be a pain to click each one of them separately, so we have created a web page that contains a slide show. You are welcome to click the link bellow to be taken to the slide show page or You are welcome to scroll down this page to view each picture separately.
—Slideshow—
http://www.roverclassicpictures.com/listing_pictures/1977_VW_Golf_1773180064/slideshow.html
When I first got into the Volkswagen scene with my aforementioned Westmoreland Golf, a local Rabbit L with 5,000 miles came up for sale. It was robin egg blue and tan interior, and like this car a base model. It was a later U.S. production model so it had the rectangular headlights more often associated with the Rabbit, but it was like this an amazing preserved timepiece. At that point, the seller wanted around $5,000 – a figure which would have gotten you into a GTi 16V in nice nick at that point. To me, it was crazy. Fast forward twenty odd years, and is it a better deal? Now poised at $8,200, there are attractive features of this Golf/Rabbit. First, the condition overall is great and if you want a non-GTi, this is probably the best example you can get into for this amount of money. You certainly could not restore a bad example to this condition for less. Does the engine swap hurt the car? I doubt in the minds of the Volkswagen mafia this will get you ex-communicated, but considering this car appears to have come from a salvage yard auction the price is quite high on this flip. Despite that it’s an impressive car that’s an opportunity that doesn’t come along often. What else could you get for this money? Well, quite a bit, and it’s impressive in the VW world – you could get into a quite nice A1 GTi, Scirocco, A2 16V, A3 VR6, Corrado and countless other cars. But if you’re looking seriously for a clean original Golf, this car is pretty compelling.
-Carter
This is a very nice car in a beautiful color, but due to the engine swap it’s not worth the money they are asking for it. They seller seems to be knowledgeable when it comes to mechanical things, but
calling the interior “leather” surprises me a bit.
They seem to be pricing it as if any of the components on the car have the ‘original 2,000 miles,’ but since everything has been replaced (full engine swap and most of the interior), it seems like quite a stretch to call it original.
It’s a Rabbit. Why keep calling it a Golf?
The engine swap makes no sense. If the seller wanted to preserve some remnant of authenticity they should have replaced the bad engine with the correct gasoline version. As it sits, it’s just another overpriced project VW.
Not sure why GCFSB is again referring to this car as having 2k original miles.
Seems clear in the ad that is not the case.
-2k miles on a 5-digit odometer
-non original Diesel engine with unknown miles
-sold at a salvage yard
-no paperwork to support history
“Is this possibly one of the lowest mileage, unmolested Mk1s out there?”
Yeah right……….
umolested?? I think this is a serious case of molestation and the seller should at a minimum include the original engine. Otherwise this car is simply cheap transportation. What a shame.