Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
The beauty of the Volkswagen Beetle as a practical classic is that so many of them were built. Over 21 million, in fact. Sure, this doesn’t make them particularly rare, but given the laws of attrition, there are still a few good ones lurking out there, even those that are unmodified. This 1965 Beetle for sale in Pennsylvania is one of those cars, ready to roll for the air-cooled enthusiast.
The Volkswagen Polo SP we featured last May is back up for sale in Iowa. Unlikely place for this non-US market car, but could make a great runabout for someone looking for a compact with a bit of estate car hauling capability.
-Paul
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Nearly as rare to see as the 1984 Jetta GLi is the model that replaced it, the 1985-1987 8V Jetta GLi. While I’ve lamented several times that we didn’t receive the 4 door GTi until just recently, the reality is that for all intents and purposes, through 1992 the GLi was a 4 door GTi with a trunk. They shared nearly all of their running gear, styling and performance; the only difference was the non-folding seats and the trunk. Despite this the GTi was the more popular option for most, and the GLis that were sold suffered from rust and heavy use. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw a fairly clean early A2 GLi for sale; but here’s a pretty good example today!
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.
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.