Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
My late-70s VW knowledge and interest usually circulate the Rabbit and the Vanagon, but today we have an impressively-kept example of the first water-cooled VW sold in the US – the Dasher. It may not be much of a prancer, but if you’re into brown 35 year old, 35mpg everymans cars with hubcaps, today is your day. It’s only covered 49k miles in those 35 years, leaving it crisp and clean inside and out.
Before the second generation Scirocco arrived in 1982, the original Giugiaro sport coupe would be given a sendoff by way of a special model, the “S.” These were available in three colors, Cosmos Silver Metallic, Cirrus Gray Metallic and Mars Red with red piping on the bumpers and different seat trim and came equipped with the 5-speed manual gearbox. As usual, there seems to be a good amount of clean Mk1s coming out of the woodwork, but early Sciroccos are a tough find indeed. This one for sale in California in Cirrus Gray Metallic is a claimed three owner car and from the paint to the interior trim looks to be all there and in rather tidy nick.
Westfalias and Syncros go for insane money (especially when it’s both), as I have documented here over the past few years. Today’s Westy reminds me of the one my friends’ family had, down to the perfect Wolfram Grey Metallic. A new 2.1l and a clean Westy interior make this a quietly hot commodity. The asking price is Westy-high, but it’s been loved for its 98k and makes me rethink my recent appreciation for solo life and desire some little kids to show the country to.
GTI values are climbing like Yvon Chouinard: untethered and towards a future of helping well-to-do people be subtly cool with expensive recycled utilitarian objects. If you’re ready to make as good an investment as can be made when betting on soon-to-be classic “normal” cars, this may well be the one to buy. Purchased 3 years ago at an estate sale, the owner has taken the time to take care of all the little things and make this 25k-mile GTI look like it’s exactly that. In the face of all the tuner Mk1s and crazily-priced Caddys, I’d take this low-mile gem any day. It may not be all-original or perfect, but isn’t that kind of great? It’s here to be enjoyed, and you could enjoy the heck out of this thing for a long time and not even get close to 100k miles.
One of the more interesting vehicles that we didn’t get in the United States was the Volkswagen LT. Much like more recent goes by Mercedes-Benz with their Sprinter, the LT was a heavy duty vehicle available in a myriad of configurations with different weight classes and motors, ranging from a re-tuned Audi 100 2.0 4-cylinder right up through a turbocharged and intercooled 2.4 liter inline-6 diesel. The chassis were utilized for everything from army vehicles to buses, but perhaps to enthusiasts one of the more unique uses was for assisting the Audi Sport works teams in the World Rally Championship. Over the past few years, these service vehicles have gained more attention by enthusiasts, interested in period correct details and having that trump card over their fellow gearheads. Today is one such vehicle; while it’s not an original Audi Sport van, it’s been faithfully recreated to something you might have caught Walter and Hannu hanging out in between stages while mechanics thrashed on their Quattros: