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Category: Volkswagen

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1984 Volkswagen Rabbit Convertible

1984 Volkswagen Rabbit Convertible

Published October 2, 2016 by Carter

When considering the Volkswagen Rabbit Convertible and it’s Halloween disguise replacement, the Cabriolet, I was at a bit of a loss to explain its general lack of popularity. It wears much of the same DNA as the very popular, universally lauded, and VW market darlings of the moment GTi and first generation Scirocco. Yet it is often dismissed as too soft, too heavy, too weak on performance, and too girly. This is strange, since it’s not the removal of the top that dynamically changes it much. You don’t look at a R107 or Porsche Cabriolet and think ‘Wow, those drapes they’ve put on top have really made this car feminine.’ I guess ultimately it’s probably like the difference between the two Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Underneath, the share 99% plus of the same DNA. They’re both intelligent, well spoken, dynamic and ruthlessly, take-no-prisoners fast on the race track. Yet when it comes down to it, the crowd loves the plucky underdog Brit, while the cold and calculating German seems a bit of the villain. Silly, right?

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1996 Volkswagen Passat TDi Variant

1996 Volkswagen Passat TDi Variant

Published September 29, 2016 by Carter

If I told someone in the general public that a 21 year old, cloth interior Volkswagen rolling on steel wheels would be worth $10,000 on the open market, they’d probably laugh. After all, Volkswagens half that age are worth only around 50% of that figure. But to the general public, the moniker “1Z” means little else other than the first number and last letter. Unless they’re trying to pass some perverted field sobriety test, that combination just wouldn’t have any deeper significance. But to Volkswagen enthusiasts, “1Z” is the password to secret hyper-milers. They’re the name of the Kingdom of special hippie-crunchy, make-your-own-gas type of automobile enthusiasts. One step from Moonshiners, they take showers about as often as they wash their cars (read: not frequently). They test the suspensions of their cars with how much weight they can carry and or tow at a given time. The term “low mileage” is not in their vocabulary, instead proudly patting themselves on the back for the hundreds of thousands of miles they’ve clattered slowly away. Instead of bragging about 60 m.p.h. times, they are happy to rub your nose in 60 m.p.g. claims. And though the 1Z 1.9 TDi came in a few packages stateside, they absolutely go gaga over Passat wagons of the manual variety:

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1996 Volkswagen GTI

1996 Volkswagen GTI

Published September 28, 2016 by Carter

The third generation Volkswagen GTI 2.0 might just go down in history as the least appealing of the brand name. Starting with the move to 16 valves in the second generation, the 8 valve models would play second fiddle as mostly an appearance package slapped onto an economy car. But while the second generation had the benefit of butch good looks, flared arches and the signature quad-round headlight arrangement to make you feel that you had gone upscale, when it came to the third generation’s base GTI it was a bit of a head-scatcher. It wasn’t that you didn’t get equipment; your $16,000 got you lots of standard items such as air conditioning, an upgraded stereo, power sunroof and door locks, and a few other premium-feel items (An alarm! Specially colored seat fabric!). The meat of the GTI was the appearance changes, though – from the 14″ alloy wheels to the dual-chamber headlights and projector fog lights, along with smoked tail lenses and a roof-mounted antenna, the special grill held the all-important letters “GTI”. But the performance of the ABA 2.0 inline-4 was standard Golf fair and the suspension wasn’t upgraded – this was, after all, just a Golf. That meant 0-60 in a lethargic 10 seconds unless you fried the front tires and knocked .2 seconds off – the result of all those “luxury” item additions. The 2.0 was a poser, then, and lived fully in the shadow of the high-output VR6 model which packed a full 50% more power in the same package but with upgraded brakes, suspension and wheels. The premium to jump to the VR6 was about $3,500 – a lot of money. But the leap in performance well paid off for your additional indebtedness, and consequently the 2.0 seemed to be popular only with college-bound Jersey girls who were convinced their compact economy hatch was actually a bumper-car ride at an amusement park. Few survive in the condition of this one today:

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GCFSB Alumnus: 1992 Volkswagen Corrado SLC with 28,000 Miles

GCFSB Alumnus: 1992 Volkswagen Corrado SLC with 28,000 Miles

Published September 24, 2016 by Carter

When originally I saw the link to this listing, I was unsurprised. Coming across a 28,000 mile pristine Corrado should be a cause for celebration among Volkswagen fans, but it has almost become expected from the seller Luxsport Motor Group, who currently has no less than three pristine and original Corrados in their inventory. That number includes currently one of the two Corrado Magnum prototypes I wrote up in May, but they’ve also had a string of amazing G60s and SLCs. Still, this early 28K SLC looked pretty familiar to me….

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Duck Duck Goose It: 1996 Volkswagen Golf Harlequin Replica 3.2 VR6-swap

Duck Duck Goose It: 1996 Volkswagen Golf Harlequin Replica 3.2 VR6-swap

Published September 22, 2016 by Carter

The Golf Harlequin is one of those strange creatures that ostensibly would look more at home in a art festival than in a car show. Volkswagen’s “Chinese fire drill” of body parts from primary colored Golfs was an interesting exercise, leading to the moniker Harlequin – a reference to the colorful and semi-psychotically eyed ducks, themselves named after a colorfully dressed character in Italian 16th century theater. Now that you’ve learned something, these Golfs have become legendary and desirable in their own right despite effectively being a base model underneath, leading to the replica color scheme not only extending to copies of the originals, but even to replicas utilizing other Volkswagen models. My local Volkswagen dealer, for example, has used the scheme not only on post-Mk.3 delivery Golfs, but even their Chevrolet Express parts vans have the mismatched tones. But today we’ll look at a replica GL which has gone to great lengths to mask itself in the colorful attire. Unlike the originals, though, this one has a serious weapons-grade revision in the drive department:

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