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It’s a good week for Mk1 Volkswagen Rabbits. After featuring a remarkably well kept 1982 Rabbit L Diesel from a reader yesterday, here we have this 1977 Rabbit with a 24V VR6 swap. I remain firm in my assessment that the VR6 engine is one of the best engines of the last three decades. I’ve driven a few later model Volkswagens with this lump under the hood and the smooth power and awesome sound is enough to hook you every time. A VR6 swap into what we would now consider vintage VWs is nothing new, but contemplating just how fast a lightweight car like the Mk1 Rabbit would be boggles the mind.
For any prospective buyer of a classic 911 there inevitably comes a decision to be made about whether to get a 911SC or a 3.2 Carrera. These cars share enough similarities that in some cases a buyer may decide based simply upon availability. These are, after all, 30-year-old cars so the numbers of excellent examples are dwindling. But what if a good example of each is available, nearly identical in appearance and for similar cost? Now the decision-making process becomes a bit more difficult and it’s precisely the dilemma we feature here: a 1979 Porsche 911SC with 29,900 miles and a 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe with 57,750 miles. We’ll begin with the 911SC:
We’re hitting an interesting time in which the initial generations of truly tech-laden cars are starting to “mature,” and we will begin to see how these various forms of packing 10 pound of technological crap into a 5 pound bag will age. At my Bimmer shop, they noted how they love working on the older cars because they are “real,” and most things can actually be repaired. The owner pointed to an early E65 745i sitting outside the shop and lamented that “anything breaks on that piece of s*** and you might as well buy a whole new car.” The Touareg V10 is certainly on the overwrought spectrum of things, and maintenance on this generation of VW/Audi luxury cars is notoriously spendy. I choose to ignore this reality when V10 TDIs come up because they are such beasts. Not the best looking, not the best value, but hell yes it’s a VW SUV with ten cylinders of diesel-compressing fury.
The 1995 Mercedes-Benz E320 Coupe we featured on Christmas Day is back up for sale at the same price. Could this relatively rare W124 find a home the second time around?
-Paul
In the crazy world of Euro tuners, Gemballa stands out for some pretty crazy modifications that are sometimes in questionable taste. But in the 1980s you couldn’t flare a car enough, and Gemballa was one of the best. Gemballa actually made several different body kits for the 928, with seemingly few being the same. This particular model sports some of the wider flares and a large enough wing to make your local Lamborghini Countach jealous; mainted in dark blue paint and sitting over some seriously wide BBS wheels it looks ready for a filming session fo the next Rush music video: