Who buys a Rabbit back in 1981 and, well, does not drive it?
Little old lady? VW fanatic? Neat freak?
Regardless this Rabbit L has lived for 31 years and has only covered 9k miles. Unlike many “time capsules” this one actually looks the part. Still in stock form it looks frozen in time.
1981 Volkswagen Rabbit L:
From the seller –
“Selling our 1981 VW Rabbit. It is an L model with the only option of a cloth interior. It was a step up from the base model with the vinyl interior. Â The L model was all about transportation with minimal frills. Â The vent windows don’t even open and there is not a radio. Â The factory radio block off plate is still in place.
I have all of the records since new that back up the mileage of the car. It even comes with the original window sticker. On my photo gallery I also posted some of the carfax pages that document the miles are correct.
The car is very original and not altered. Â The headliners tend to sag on old VWs and this one was replaced. I found some NOS trim rings to brighten up the rims but didn’t paint the rims so that they have that original patina look. The car was driven a few miles each year. The only surface rust is on the front lower A arms and suspension but not bad at all. You can see how nice the underside is on the car if you view the photo book on my web site. Â The car shows well and people just love it when we drive it. The paint shines very nice and all paint is original. There are two stains on the lower back fender where tar was left on the paint for a long time and stained it lighter than the paint. Â The location is not very noticeable. The carpet is a little dirty but I did not want to clean it. I have also detailed the engine a little from the photos.
The 1.6 L motor runs great. I had to change several of the fuel injected components to get it to run great. One item was a new Bosch fuel pump. The transmission is a 4 speed which shifts fine. I picked up a NOS Abarth muffler for it and that really made it sound nice drive even better.
The pictures on my photo album describe the car well. If you have any other questions just ask. This is quite the museum piece. The mileage is actually  8,200 mile (unless I take it out this weekend).”
Neat car, there is a part of that is so very happy that cars like this still exist. The other part that makes me wonder how on earth people find stuff like this. Either way, $9.5k is a whole lot of $$$ for any vintage Rabbit. That said, you would be hard pressed to find one nicer.
Kudos to the seller for a thorough seller and keeping the this bunny stock as possible. Best of luck.
~Aaron.
It’s really cool, but what do you do with it?
Let’s assume the mileage is accurate (no AutoCheck records until 1999, when it shows up with 5900; the Carfax is silent until 2004 with 6200).
The mileage and pricing suggest this should be maintained as a museum or show piece. But the detail photos show it’s no where near museum quality, and would need quite a bit of work to get it there. It would be OK as is for most local weekend shows though.
It seems too nice and too expensive to continue driving it around on PA or OH roads where it’s spent most of it’s life, so using it as a daily driver seems wrong.
BTW, this is not it’s first round on eBay.
Wow! $9500 is way more than this car cost new.
It’s always great fun to come across a time capsule like this, but Larry nailed it – what do you do with something like this? I suppose it’s possible the seller may find a true Rabbit fanatic, but those people are probably few and far between.
I just hope it doesn’t end up “slammed, poked and ratted” as appears to be the latest trend among the VW Vortex crowd.
I remember that blue VW color.
There’s a fair chance that car originally came from Rhode Island – about 1999 or so, a 5,000 mile light blue 2 door Rabbit L turned up down the street from me. Could be a coincidence, but I doubt it. Story was the husband bought the car new, dies in the first year of ownership and the wife never drove it. It was refreshed by Scuncio Cars in Narragansett RI and had a price tag of 5,000 which I thought was crazy at the time.
In any event, I think I’d rather have the Audi 50 for the same requested money…it’s on ebay right now (or was).
No sale at $9.5k, I am sure it will be back on eBay soon.