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While tuners like Ruf, Alpina and AMG captured the hearts and minds of performance-oriented enthusiasts in the 1980s, turning normal or even fast versions of standard cars into custom creations capable of supercar levels of performance, others took a very different route. The affluence of the 1980s coupled with the near extinction of convertibles between the mid to late 1970s meant that there was an active community of aftermarket companies ripping the tops off everything from Ferraris to Fords. Some of the companies are more notable; in the BMW world, for example, companies like Baur enjoyed a long history of converting coupes to convertibles for the firm, but there were new companies giving it a go, too – Oldenburg, RPM, ABC Exclusive, Schulz, and Lorenz & Rankl all made custom drop-top version of the E24. It was neither cheap nor pretty to remove the roof structure; look under this 628CSi and you’ll find giant steel girders welded to the floor for support. And while the mechanisms for the top varied by design, non of them every looked completely at home top up or down. The origin of this particular conversion isn’t clear from the listing; the seller mentions Euler but they were better known for a custom E23 Touring we previously featured. One thing is for sure; this convertible Euro-spec 628CSi is surely a rare bit of kit:
I feel as if the E21 is the Rodney Dangerfield of BMWs. It gets no respect at all. On its own, it would be considered a perfectly fine, well-engineered vehicle. However, the E21 had the problem of being sandwiched between two BMW legends, the 2002 and the E30 3 series, both of which enjoy a cult following to this day. This particular version of the E21 for sale in The Netherlands is one which I had no idea existed. We never saw the six-cylinder version of this 3 series in the US, an issue BMW would rectify when the E30 appeared in 1984. This Procar Edition with the carbureted, 2.0 liter inline-6 is mainly a trim level special, with Motorsports pin stripes, BBS wheels and special interior trim.
I love Rabbit Pickups, and they’ve experienced a bit of a renaissance here in the Bay Area with more and more moseying by on the road. Perhaps the newly-rich hipsters are realizing how cool they are and plucking them from around the country. Demand has risen to the point where some jokers think a diesel and a crappy respray can demand $15k, but it seems like the ridiculous prices may just be encouraging other silly sellers as opposed to truly elevating prices. This one doesn’t have an extensive history but it does have some nice parts, namely a 1.9-liter turbodiesel upgrade and some large, late-model VW wheels.
Here’s another one to add to our collective knowledge of obscure camper vans! I hadn’t heard of Tischer before but it’s not that surprising considering they only made 85 total and only 10 of this XL model. Seems like a reasonable idea – “Volkswagen vans are slow, the campers even slower, the diesels are even slower, so let’s throw a whole RV on the back of one!” I like the idea of space, but to me RVs are about eliminating inconveniences, yet this seems like one seriously inconvenient RV. With an engine swap and a lot of work to fix all the “untried, assume not working” appliances this could be a funny piece of VWeird. Until then, it just seems like a gnarly project.
This is an extremely clean diesel Westy from the only year when VW actually offered an oil-burner straight from the factory. As opposed to the anemic original 1.6 liter, last year this received a heart update via a brand-new 1.9-liter diesel unit straight from Volkswagen. Despite being pretty early in the Vanagon life cycle, the chassis has just 84k miles, putting together a very tidy package with a complete, fully functioning interior and nearly flawless exterior. All of this comes together for a van that appears ready for several more decades of fun.
