The Rabbit is a first-car classic. In the ’80s the cars dotted high school parking lots across the country. In Europe, the cars were called Volkswagen Golfs but it sounded too fancy for the United States youth so they changed it to Rabbit Stateside. This Rabbit is said to have just 46k original miles. The car is listed on craigslist in Portland, Oregon for $12,998. Thanks, Nevadahalfrack for the tip.
The exterior is in terrific condition and is finished in a baby blue. It’s unlikely that the paint is original, but if it is the car has been very well cared for. The perfectly boxy VW wears period-correct wheels that also appear to be in excellent condition. These little cars were abundant when they first were released but few are left in this condition and with so few miles.
The interior is in great condition and is finished in a baby blue vinyl throughout that matches its exterior. The cabin appears to be free of blemishes or tearing. It is possible that it was refinished at some point but if it is original, it was extremely well preserved. The interior has everything you need and nothing you don’t.
An inline-4 engine sends power to the wheels via a 4-speed manual transmission. The engine bay is in great condition and likely benefitted from a recent detailing. This Rabbit is a blast to the past and is in outrageously good condition for its age. It may be all original due to its low mileage, but either way, it’s a great option for someone nostalgic for the ’80s. There is limited information available about the car but the pictures presented show a nearly perfect vehicle. If you’ve been itching to relive your youth or are a collector interested in adding a high-quality driver to their arsenal this 1979 Volkswagen is for you. Contact the seller on craigslist before it’s gone.
Definitely many around our HS parking lot. Affordable, mostly reliable, good in the snow, fun to drive and cheap to run. We’d pay maybe $1000 for this back in the day. I’d like to find a 2 door with the 1.6 -1.8 vs a 4 door with this 1.5 though.
I don’t see any mention of engine size.
Pretty sure they were all 1.5’s in ’79. The later Westmorelands had bigger engines. I had an ’82 1.7 and then ’83/84 GTIs and GLIs with the 1.8 which would easily run for 200k miles when maintained property
This car had some mighty big shoes to fill. VW purists kicked and screamed, this is what replaced our beloved Bug. Kind of like the Triumph fans with the TR7. But fill those shoes it did, and then some. In 1975, VW went out on a limb, and with econoboxes the next big thing, the VW Rabbit led the way. It was an outstanding success, so much so, practically every econobox copied the Rabbit, even the Dodge Omni, which if you looked close, had “VW” on the cylinder head, later removed I think. The Bug was quickly forgotten with features like FWD, a real heater, better vision, handling and brakes, and a motor that would leave a Bug in the dust. Yes sir, I can’t think of a more important economy car than the Rabbit.
One thing that helped the Rabbit is it could actually get out of its own way, and that was a selling point. Fun fact, if a Rabbit had rectangular headlights, it’s US-made. If they are round, they were made in Deutschland. All “performance” Rabbits and Golfs were made in Germany as well..
The year was 1987 and I wanted to sell my 1985 Golf GTI to rid myself of car payments. I found a 80 2-door Rabbit in this color combination. I started fixing it up by first buying a nice stereo system but then I got the idea it would be nice to find a Rabbit GTI engine and close ratio 5-speed and make a poor man’s GTI.
So I called the local VW Indy and asked if they had such combination and they put me in touch with another shop that parted VW’ s and stored them in a warehouse. That shop had what I was looking for and the price was right so I went ahead and bought the parts. The owner said they were closed between X-mas and new year and offered a shop bay to do the swap.
I arrived one morning during the shut down at like 6AM and I left that evening around 6 or 7. The owner sat me down and was really impressed with my skill set and the way I interacted with the other employees. Little did I know I was on a job interview. I left that evening to start my automotive career eventually moving on to the dealer level several years later.
Remember it like it was yesterday and I had a poor man’s GTI which received Scirocco seats, GTI suspension, and a new paint job in frost blue metallic.
In the early 1980s, my Aunt had a 76 Rabbit 4 door, with A/C that didn’t work, and an automatic transmission. After 2 engine rebuilds, she got rid of it.
I had a new ’75, what a pos. It had the carb and never ran right. It would also stop running at any time just like you switched it off. Dealer couldn’t fix it.
I was 15 years old and didn’t even have a drivers license yet but I had a good paper route where I was able to save a $250 a month depending on my tips. I took my hard earned savings and bought 200 shares of a stock that I then later sold to pay cash for my very first car, a 1979 two door VW Rabbit. My uncle and aunt had the diesel model but I found a low mileage one owner in tan on tan with a manual transmission. I got my drivers permit and leaned to shift on weekends at my dad’s big parking area at his work. He would work and I would drive around practicing my shifting, parking, and so on. It served me well for about a year or two and then bought a mint low mileage 1980 Camaro Z/28 that I bought from the original owner. Looking back it was a good experience but let’s just say that the Z/28 was the car to have.
My mother had one of these, new off the lot. Not a bad car, it was a two-door with the same interior. It had some dependability issues and ended up being towed back to the dealer over her ownership several times for a mysterious no start issue. At four years old it needed a repaint, and by eight years old one of the A-pillars was rusting out. It went away with less than 80k miles on it. I’ll stick to my Mopars, thanks.
My biggest memory of these was when I was a junior in high school I lived a few blocks from the Washington State patrol office. I was in the photography class and for my final project I took pictures of the wrecked cars the state patrol had on their back lot. One of those cars was a rabbit that had been hit so hard on the right side it pushed the seats together and bent the roof down the center next to it was a 70s green Ford LTD that was smashed in the front. Since both cars arrived the same day I figured the For hit the rabbit the Ford looked like I could practically drive it away… I didn’t know until later they only put the wrecked cars back there when it was a fatal accident but I did get a B on my final.