1981 Volkswagen Rabbit

Rabbit Pickup truck

4 Cylinder 1.6 Liter

Manual

Diesel

Just - 6 Cents! a Mile - Take it 2 The Show Restored and Fun to Drive - this Little Diesel Rabbit-Truck... has a lower operating cost even than an Electric Car. One fifth the Purchase Price of any of the new electric hybrids available today. Much more the like the cost of a nice bicycle. Small enough to back into your living room and load up! ......And At fuel cost like this, you could save enough money to vacation at the beach every summer. Well, that’s my Dream I guess. This truck began an extensive restoration project with a retired fellow who took it to the body shop and requested that they take it all apart, completely replace the pan under the driver and passenger area, remove all dents and blemishes, and repaint it in a beautiful Oyster metallic White. The finish really comes alive in the sunlight and is absolutely Radiant. Sadly before the truck could be finished the fellow passed away. We had an opportunity to purchase this cutie through an acquaintance of ours. What we got was a beautifully painted shell and lots of boxes; like a life sized Legos set, with a diesel engine and electric starter. Being no real mechanic myself, we enlisted lots of help and in the process purchased two other rabbits to get all the trim pieces and odds and ends that never made it into the boxes we originally purchased. To us the little truck has been more like a toy that we wanted to show-off at VW events and Summer outings. However Life and our wonderful Creator, has a way of changing a families priorities ... and now we’ve been invited to help work on a new Women’s Center on the island of guam. If shipping weren’t so expensive this would be a wonderful Island Truck as it has Ice-Cold AC.... a necessity for the year around hot and humid tropical weather. Fuel Costs on Guam are some of the highest prices I’ve ever seen! Well now I’ll try to recall some of the important mechanical information about the truck. It has the l.6L Diesel with a 4-Speed Transmission. When putting the truck back together we replaced all the belts and hoses, New Timing Belt and Water Pump, New Battery, New Brakes right down to the Caliper’s and Master Cylinders. New Transmission booties around the axles. One item I’m especially proud of is the “working hot water temperature gauge”. The fellow that put that in did a fantastic job and used up 8 hours on the project. You won’t find an older rabbit diesel with a working temp gauge unless somebody has spent a small fortune to insure that you can keep an eye on what’s happening to your engine. I was pleased at the way the interior turned out. We had a fellow re-dye everything to match and I think it looks great. The new comfortable seats are cloth and out of a Honda Accord. The radio works and has that wonderful sound of a radio manufactured in the 80’s. It’s quiet nice to listen to NPR, but will never do justice to any real music. The knobs and controls and lighter cover are all nicely present. The headliner was done in a nice oyster color paneling; for the real die hards headliners can be put in for about $200. The Odometer Works! The Trip Meter Works, The Fuel Gauge Works, The Water Temp Works. The aluminum wheels are from an 80’s Jetta, however I have the chrome wheel centers if a guy prefers those steel wheels, though I can’t imagine anyone would want that “look”. The tires are deep in rubber. One piece of trim below the door on the passenger side is being difficult and I can’t seem to keep it up in place, maybe the next guy will just be smarter than we were and have the perfect solution for that little annoying piece of trim. The rear window is of the split opening variety. As you all know these pickup beds in these 30 year old German trucks is a challenge. The best one’s I’ve seen use a solid piece of diamond plating and weld that in over the top of what was there. I used liquid sand spray paint on this one and think it looks pretty good. The beauty of these projects is one can just keep working until you get it just perfect in your eyes... In the mean time, it will save you plenty in fuel costs, keep you Cold in the Summer and Warm in the Winter and be the topic of conversation where-ever you decide to drive2. Also included is the owner's manual We are listing a buy-it-now price far less than our investment, but of coarse we did have the joy of ownership that comes with something conversationally rare. Many Thanks for Looking at our Toy Truck, Steve & Faye PS. Due to our Schedule we cannot be here on Friday or Saturday for pickup or delivery, we will be happy to be available for pick up and delivery Sunday through Thursdays - We will also gladly work with any one of the many transpertation companies that ship these trucks around the world. Also will pick up anyone wanting to fly into Tulsa to pick the truck up and drive home in. We are apx one and half hours from the airport. Truck sold as is, "running like a Top! Thanks Keep thinking of things that seem important. Shock Towers are of coarse in great conditon as is all the metal surfaces.