What’s not to love about this car? Sleeper? Yep UPS Brown paint? Mmm-hmm. Auto trans replaced with manaul? You betcha!
So…what’s the catch? It’s an unfinished project…
A 1.7L, turbocharged 4 cylinder was swapped in for the 1.6L NA unit and a five-speed went in at the same time. Shocks and springs are done, along with poly bushings. Recaros are even there. The seller provides lots of info, which is a good sign. The couple of apparent rust and paint issues are shown well and repairable. Body can wait, but there is some finishing work necessary, mostly in terms of getting the dash back together.
The biggest catch here might be the Bosch K-Jet mechanical fuel injection. It’s not the most tuneable in the world, but I don’t now what the Callaway kit from back in the day offered – maybe it all works well together? It sounds like this car was never really driven regularly, so it’s not clear how much might be necessary to make it reliable and get the most out of it. If part are available, this might be a great candidate for custom EFI to really open up the tuning options.
Click for eBay ad
Albertson, NY
$1,000 with ZERO bids and $4,999 BIN price
Brown is beautiful!
I’m not sure what the issue is with the heater assembly. Maybe it’s an easy job for a Rabbit fanatic? I wonder if the owner sealed up too many firewall holes trying to make the engine swap look ‘clean.’
Seats appear to have a brownish hue. I’d like them for my brown 280Z…
Just rearward from the battery, you can see the fuel distributor, which means…Bosch K-Jet!
Ad text:
NEW LOWER PRICE – BOTTOM PRICE!
Up for auction is a 1976 VW Rabbit (Swallow Tail) – Very Rare. 4-doors. Original body and paint in excellent condition for its age. This is a rare classic car because very few were made with that special indentation in the rear. It’s even harder to find in such excellent condition and with so many extras. The car starts and runs; it only needs a battery now. It has been garaged for over 8 years. Every few months a year I start the car and let it run for 15 – 20 minutes. The interior needs to be adjusted (the heater must be mounted properly). Dashboard and knee bar can be then mounted properly. The cabin, doors, and floor have been covered with Dynamat material.
The body had just over 43K miles when I bought it. 1.6 engine with single carburator and automatic transmission. 100% stock. “Elderly-driven” car was kept garaged for 10 after owner passed away and nobody else drove it. Found the car online in 2003 as the perfect “oldschool – sleeper” project car. 1.7 turbo engine was swapped and all the performance parts added, thousands invested. Engine has around 90K on the clock but still pulls strong! When the engine was mounted, we had some holes in the firewall covered (for a cleaner look, since the wires were re-routed). The base for the front engine mount was also reinforced, since the turbo engine had broken two engine mounts in the donor car (can you say “torque”?)
Body of the car is in original shape. You won’t believe how smooth the paint feels to the touch.
Entire car is 99.9% rust free – There are some areas around the bottom of the windshield where you can see the paint starting to bubble up and also around the rear badges. The bottom of the wheel arches show a little more advanced damage (but no holes in the metal anywhere in the car).
It’s missing the plastic cover of the rear pass-side fender. – Rear hatch has a ding on the edge above the key-hole.
The original carburated engine was swapped and a 1.7 fuel injected engine installed with CALLAWAY TURBO. Original auto tranny was swapped for 5-speed transmission with adjustable short-shift kit. Rewired with fuse box updated. SACHS 210 upgraded street clutch. Custom extra oil cooler.
Full 2.25″ Stainless Steel exhaust system BORLA muffler and performance Catalytic converter.
Polyurethane bushings throughout suspension and engine mounts.
Koni adjustable shocks and HoR sport springs. Ronal rims, size 13″ with BF GOODRICH 205/50 tires.
Rear drums converted to disc brakes.
Sway bars + strut bars.
Many many more high performance parts. Interior has full custom RECARO deep bucket seats (see pictures).
Look up in FACEBOOK – in the page of Old Skool VulcanWerks and Vw mk1 USED&NEW Parts for video of the car running.
This is an excellent project car that’s almost finished. Many more extras, too many performance parts to mention! You’ll get EVERYTHING!
I WILL EVEN INCLUDE a set of four (4X) 17″ RONAL R28 RIMS (bolt pattern = 5 X112) with KUMHO Ecsta tires 235 / 45 ZR 17 to the winning bid.
ONLY SERIOUS BUYERS PLEASE!!! NO TRADES ACCEPTED!!!