Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
We featured this 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit L at the end of last year, but it’s worth another look as you don’t see nice non-GTi Mk1s in such good nick. Offered at no reserve, this Rabbit has been well-cared for by a noted Volkswagen enthusiast and GCFSB follower. If you’ve been looking for a unique Mk1, time to get your bid in on this one.
The last Westy I posted was an exercise in extremes. Every mod imaginable and a 1.8T engine swap led to the van selling for the best offer, obviously less than the $110k asking price but probably not by that much. Today I present a counterpoint, a late-model, all-stock Westy with fewer than 50k miles. Silver on gray and about as close as possible to what you found on a VW showroom floor in 1989, this is a van that can keep chugging away for at least another 25 years and probably more. No racks, no lights, and no lift kit, yet it’s just as attractive.
The impossibly clean ’86 Volkswagen Quantum GL5 Wagon we featured last month is back up on offer, this time with a Buy It Now price of $4,450. Let’s face it, for not much scratch, this would look a lot better than that anonymous SUV in your driveway, wouldn’t it?
It’s a bit sad that there is such a huge generation gap when it comes to the letter “i”. Teaching college level students, were I to write the lower case letter “i” up on the board and ask the meaning, immediate answers of “iPhone”, “iPod” or “iPad” would pop up. Perhaps some of the more clever individuals would associate it with “intelligent”. Apple has transformed the meaning of the lower case letter “i” for entire generations of people who will grow up not knowing what it means to my generation. For example, were I to write the word “carburetor” on the board and ask the meaning, outside of some motorcycle enthusiasts and perhaps a few into older cars, I’m willing to bet very few would know what the word meant, likely associating it with carbonated beverages before internal combustion engines. But in the 1970s and 1980s, “i” was a magical letter which indicated greater performance and improved reliability. It ranged from exotics like the Ferrari 512BBi right through the 2002tii, and while some of the systems were less dependable than others, by the time we got to Bosch’s continuous injection system, German cars were universally the best running, most dependable cars you could get into. In fact, one could argue that most of the success of the German car industry boils down to not their legendary build quality nor the advanced designs they pioneered, but the dependability of the fuel injection system. “i” meant a higher level of performance, and instead of simply being a necessity for every teen to mindlessly separate from society it was a way to indicate you had arrived, and you had arrived in style thanks to your fuel injected cars. Audis sported “Fuel Injected” badges proudly up through 1985; Mercedes-Benz attached an “e” for Einspritzung to nearly every model, while virtually every BMW sported an “i” badge for several generations, and some still do. But enthusiasts of the Volkswagen front point to one very special “i” which followed the Grand Turismo letters on the Mk.1 Golf chassis as the most classic hot hatch the market has ever seen:
Despite recently hearing blog owner Dan’s personal hell with a MkIV 20th Anniversary GTI, I can’t shake my love for the first-generation R32. Hot hatches are experiencing an incredible resurgence including some noteworthy American offerings, but we’re obviously partial to Teutonic wee beasties here. The R32 still has one of the best exhaust growls out there, and combines a 6-speed with Haldex 4Motion AWD to make an all-season weapon.
They look great in any of the four colors they came in, but this red example is exceptionally clean after 90k miles and a respray of the front bumper and hood to undo the common rock chips. It’s had two owners who each drove it for 45k miles before passing it on. I remember being excited when these got down around $20k; now that good examples are under $15k, I’m even more tempted.
