Story and Photography by Tim Suddard
Upon taking possession of our 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI–one turbocharged by Callaway–we towed it back home. Then, finally, we could put it on the lift and see what we had purchased.
Our initial suspicions were confirmed...
1. Those seats are rad.
2. For the love of god, clean the engine bay.
Spot on. Those seats are pure vintage 1980's. And the door cards are sweet too!
I don't like the immediate "remove the hitch" response - it's a bolt on, keep it!! Maybe not installed, but please... keep it with the car.
That is a clean little car concidering the age.
Nice find.
Find a nice vintage=ish looking radio and put some speakers in the doors since the holes are there.
Scott
In reply to Greg Smith (Forum Supporter) :
I still have it, but it sure is ugly. And what could a Rabbit possibly tow?
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
The engine bay was so gross. It also had undercoating all over it, but we have it looking pretty good now, as you will see when the stories unfold.
In reply to Tim Suddard :
The dealer probably sold the PO a Ziebart treatment. Remember those? How they used to coat the entire firewall and inner fenders too. The material was tacky (the tactile tacky, not the taste-level tacky) so it picked up all the dust and dirt swirling through the engine bay under operation. The engine room stated looking like hell by Day 5 of ownership.
In reply to Jerry From LA :
LOL, when I was a teenager, working for my dad, my job was to rustproof the cars. Such a messy job.
I may have missed it, but are you attempting a frame off or frame on restoration? Just curious as I'm just diving into cleaning up a '84 GTI.
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