If your classic car buying demands include crisp Giugiaro styling and unmatched efficiency, then today’s Nice Price or No Dice VW Rabbit may be your cup of clatter. Let’s see if this now classic commuter car has a price that might stir up some demand.
Star Wars has one of the most famous opening sequences in movie history, featuring an Imperial Star Destroyer looming into view across the top of the screen, eventually filling the scene entirely due to its massive size. The same effect could most likely be had with the 1979 Lincoln Continental we looked at yesterday. And at $8,200, there’d be plenty of cash left over for the eventual copyright infringement lawsuit Disney would invariably file for the attempt. A hefty 62 percent of you felt it well worth that risk, though, awarding the Lincoln a Nice Price win.
Today is election day here in the U.S. of A., and that means we are at the end of a grueling and frequently weird campaign cycle. According to the news, a whole lot of voters have already cast their ballots in areas where early voting is available. For the rest, who have been sitting on their hands waiting for the official last opportunity to do their civic duty… geez, people, get out there and vote! You haven’t got all that much time, and the lines will be long, filled with other lollygaggers like yourself.
A daunting issue for many is how to get to the polls. Obviously, that can be exacerbated by not having a car or even by having one so slow you probably should have started the journey yesterday to make it on time.
This 1976 Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel is just such a slow car. With just 48 horsepower and a mere 58 lb-ft of torque on tap from its 1.5-liter naturally-aspirated diesel four, the Rabbit requires almost seventeen seconds to reach sixty from a standstill and runs out of poop just about 20 miles per hour after that.
The benefit of such lackadaisical performance is excellent fuel economy. These cars were EPA-rated for nearly 40mpg, and in a rare concurrence with that department’s measurements, the same number was achieved by contemporary magazine tests.
This one, in Laguna Blue over a black vinyl interior, appears all original, save for its GTI-sourced Snowflake alloys. This is an old-school econo-box so it’s filled with quaint contrivances like painted metal visible in the interior and door pulls that look straight out of a CrackerJack box. To be fair, those all look to have held up amazingly well, considering that this car is nearly half a century old.
There have been a few changes along the way, though. The dash sports a toggle switch of unknown function and topped with an anti-bump cap. There’s also a more modern stereo with a removable faceplate. Other than those changes and some funky-looking floormats, it appears time capsule-esque, right down to the chintzy plastic shift knob for the four-speed manual.
It’s a bit rougher on the outside. The doors, bumpers, and rockers show obvious signs of surface corrosion. It’s not like anybody will be Fred Flintstone-ing the car anytime soon, but that should all be addressed. There’s also a broken pebble guard on one rear arch that could stand replacement. Aside from those problems, it all looks straight and clean.
According to the ad, this VW has a clean title and a suspiciously low 13,779 odometer reading. Could that have rolled over? Possibly. It does only have five barrels, so that might actually be hiding an extra 100K under the car’s tires. The ad also tags the engine’s displacement at 1.6 liters, which could mean the car has been imbued with a later replacement motor or that the seller is embellishing. We might never know.
What we do know is that this survivor Rabbit comes with an $8,000 price tag and seemingly needs nothing from its next owner save for that outlay and maybe a full tank of ooze.
What’s your take on that prospect? Is this Rabbit worth $8,000 as it sits? Or is that too much to ask for so utilitarian an old economy car?
You decide!
Seattle, Washington, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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