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Vehicles / bikes 🏍 Car Talk

Some pictures



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They kept everything. They've owned it for 37 years.

My regular VW guy won't work on one this old. Found a shop in the area whose owners have been working on VW since the mid 70's. Lots of experience working on the engine in this car. Going in when we get back from vacation.
He says that the issue with car is almost certainly stuck air sensor plate, which is driven by vacuum, but tends to get sticky when it sits for long periods. I was on the right track, which made me feel good. Can I be a car collector with just one car? This is so exciting.


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My brother had the safety green Rabbit hatchback (hard top). He handed it down to my father, who promptly painted it battleship gray (housepaint, with a roller!) because he could not be seen in such a color (WWII Navy combat vet, yadda).

I drove it a few times and it was a fun, if unremarkable, little car. Of course, I had the VW Scirrocco at the time, and it really wasn't fair to compare.
 
estromberg said:
They kept everything. They've owned it for 37 years.

My regular VW guy won't work on one this old. Found a shop in the area whose owners have been working on VW since the mid 70's. Lots of experience working on the engine in this car. Going in when we get back from vacation.
He says that the issue with car is almost certainly stuck air sensor plate, which is driven by vacuum, but tends to get sticky when it sits for long periods. I was on the right track, which made me feel good. Can I be a car collector with just one car? This is so exciting.


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You CAN be a car collector with just one car; every collection has to start somewhere.

And this is a great start!
 
Sweet.
estromberg said:
They kept everything. They've owned it for 37 years.

My regular VW guy won't work on one this old. Found a shop in the area whose owners have been working on VW since the mid 70's. Lots of experience working on the engine in this car. Going in when we get back from vacation.
He says that the issue with car is almost certainly stuck air sensor plate, which is driven by vacuum, but tends to get sticky when it sits for long periods. I was on the right track, which made me feel good. Can I be a car collector with just one car? This is so exciting.


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I had a huge learning curve on dealing with the K-Jetronic engine in our '82, as most my experience is with carburetors not throttle bodies and injectors. If you intend to do work on it yourself, do yourself a favor and find a copy of the Bentley service manual. It seemed to be more detailed than the Hayes, it also was more expensive. I just donated my copy, along with some other service manuals for vehicles that I no longer own to goodwill earlier this summer or I would have sent it to you.

Finding a good old school vw shop is key. It will save you a lot of time and frustration. We have one locally, most of the time when we had issues, I'd stop by to see when he could work me in and he'd tell me a couple of things to try because he was covered up. He was the one that told me to get the Bentley service manual. Most of my issues were vacuum related and the fact that it was a 30 year old car when we had or '82. I replaced all the hoses and still had leaks... o-rings, oil fill cap, and dip stick were items that I had to address to fix my issues.
 
estromberg said:
They kept everything. They've owned it for 37 years.

My regular VW guy won't work on one this old. Found a shop in the area whose owners have been working on VW since the mid 70's. Lots of experience working on the engine in this car. Going in when we get back from vacation.
He says that the issue with car is almost certainly stuck air sensor plate, which is driven by vacuum, but tends to get sticky when it sits for long periods. I was on the right track, which made me feel good. Can I be a car collector with just one car? This is so exciting.
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Great find! And yes, you are a collector - you have a car that is purely for joy and not as a typical appliance. I did see a high school cheerleader getting gas driving a very similar cabriolet a few days ago and was thoroughly impressed. These seemed like a quintessential teenager car in the early 80s, so seeing someone carrying that theme 40 years later was simply cool.
 
estromberg said:
Some pictures



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OOOOOOOOOOH NOOOOOIIIIIIIIICE!! What a STEAZY Mk1! I love that it is 5 speed. How is the Bosch jetronic mechanical fuel injection working? Ive heard of that EFI setup being finnicky on MK1/MK2 Jettas, Golfs and Wabbits. It doesnt age well. Volvo used a similar Bosch mechanical fuel injection (K-Jet) on the B20 and B21 motors that were found in the 140/240 between 1971 and 1985, particularly in turbo cars. I think Volkswagen used it to 91? Mercedes Benz cars had a variant of the same EFI system too (Bosch CIS-E) that was used all the way until 1996 on the W124.

CONGRATULATIONS though, what an incredible survivor cabrio! And what an increadible deal! Especially since these will break 10k on bring a trailer easily. I love that it is a legit one owner '82 Wabbit with original Maryland service literature. I love being able to reliably piece together a cars history.

I second what Owl said about the Bentley manual big time. Same holds true for Volvos, the Bentley is so much more detailed than Haynes.

If you EVER find yourself stranded in New York, I too have a really great Euro shop that works on my Volvos (and who are reasonably priced and honest above all) who also have tons of VW experience (50+ years between father and son) and recently restored and flipped an '85 Cabrio with Kjet.
 
The Terminator said:
OOOOOOOOOOH NOOOOOIIIIIIIIICE!! What a STEAZY Mk1! I love that it is 5 speed. How is the Bosch jetronic mechanical fuel injection working? Ive heard of that EFI setup being finnicky on MK1/MK2 Jettas, Golfs and Wabbits. It doesnt age well. Volvo used a similar Bosch mechanical fuel injection (K-Jet) on the B20 and B21 motors that were found in the 140/240 between 1971 and 1985, particularly in turbo cars. I think Volkswagen used it to 91? Mercedes Benz cars had a variant of the same EFI system too (Bosch CIS-E) that was used all the way until 1996 on the W124.

CONGRATULATIONS though, what an incredible survivor cabrio! And what an increadible deal! Especially since these will break 10k on bring a trailer easily. I love that it is a legit one owner '82 Wabbit with original Maryland service literature. I love being able to reliably piece together a cars history.

I second what Owl said about the Bentley manual big time. Same holds true for Volvos, the Bentley is so much more detailed than Haynes.

If you EVER find yourself stranded in New York, I too have a really great Euro shop that works on my Volvos (and who are reasonably priced and honest above all) who also have tons of VW experience (50+ years between father and son) and recently restored and flipped an '85 Cabrio with Kjet.
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I am actually the third owner. the couple I bought it from bought it in 1985. I have copies of the original title. Still very cool.

As for the Jetronic fuel injection, it isn't working at the moment, but will be soon. Mechanic says it is likely a stuck sensor plate.
 
estromberg said:
I am actually the third owner. the couple I bought it from bought it in 1985. I have copies of the original title. Still very cool.

As for the Jetronic fuel injection, it isn't working at the moment, but will be soon. Mechanic says it is likely a stuck sensor plate.
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That's half the battle, having a mechanic (or the self knowledge) to fix K-Jet is key! 3rd owner after buying from a well-documented 2nd owner of 37 years is still legit AF!
 
estromberg said:
They kept everything. They've owned it for 37 years.

My regular VW guy won't work on one this old. Found a shop in the area whose owners have been working on VW since the mid 70's. Lots of experience working on the engine in this car. Going in when we get back from vacation.
He says that the issue with car is almost certainly stuck air sensor plate, which is driven by vacuum, but tends to get sticky when it sits for long periods. I was on the right track, which made me feel good. Can I be a car collector with just one car? This is so exciting.


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Any cool updates for us?

Andrew Yang GIF
 
estromberg said:
It's currently at the shop. When it's finished, I'm storing in my dad's garage for the winter.

We did get the license plates for it.

EDYRBT 7

It does not however Love a Rainy Night. Additionally, I know it should be Eddie, but I took what i could get.
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Yes, but are you Drivin' Your Life Away?
 
My youngest turns 16 in two weeks. For the last few months, he has been working with his grandpa to bring back to life a 1992 2.3l 2wd Ranger. The body is on life support and the plug should be pulled but the mechanically, runs well. They scour the junkyards and have replaced or repaired a good number of parts. Should be interesting for him to drive on winter roads in a rwd 5-speed. Making good memories with his grandpa (he taught my three boys how to swear and swear right) and learning auto repair is the only redeeming quality of that truck that I see.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
My youngest turns 16 in two weeks. For the last few months, he has been working with his grandpa to bring back to life a 1992 2.3l 2wd Ranger. The body is on life support and the plug should be pulled but the mechanically, runs well. They scour the junkyards and have replaced or repaired a good number of parts. Should be interesting for him to drive on winter roads in a rwd 5-speed. Making good memories with his grandpa (he taught my three boys how to swear and swear right) and learning auto repair is the only redeeming quality of that truck that I see.
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Be sure to buy 4-5 50 lbs bags of sand for the bed.

These were always ridden hard and put away wet, so I'd be surprised if you can find any decent salvage yard replacement body panels.

Cool.
 
mendelman said:
Be sure to buy 4-5 50 lbs bags of sand for the bed.

These were always ridden hard and put away wet, so I'd be surprised if you can find any decent salvage yard replacement body panels.

Cool.
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I switched to using water softener salt in mine a few years ago. The bags of sand never held up for more than a season. This way at the end of the winter, I have all the salt I will need for the softener for the year. Then again, I have a covered bed, so the the salt isn't getting wet.
 
mendelman said:
Be sure to buy 4-5 50 lbs bags of sand for the bed.

These were always ridden hard and put away wet, so I'd be surprised if you can find any decent salvage yard replacement body panels.

Cool.
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Yeah, additional weight is on the agenda. Taking him out this evening after/during the snow to open his eyes and brain to what inclement weather 2wd truck driving is really like.
 
We have conference facilities in our office building that we allow all the local cities and townships and other government agencies that do work around here to use if they'd like and today there appears to be some sort of group of engineers and facilities type people using one of the rooms for some sort of presentation. I went outside to go for a little walk and there were about a dozen new Ford Bronco Sports out there with municipal plates. These appeared to be the absolute most basic model available, but they still seemed a bit cooler than the crappy Jeep Compasses and boring Chevy Malibus that we primarily have.
 
Doohickie said:
I see dozens of old school Rangers still in service around here.
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Yeah...I was only thinking in the context of northern climates and winter salt.

So, I guess ones survive longer south of the Mason-Dixon line and west of the Mississippi.
 
Unfortunately the new Ranger is more of a midsize than small pickup.

I'd be interested in the Maverick... if they were available.
 
mendelman said:
Yeah...I was only thinking in the context of northern climates and winter salt.

So, I guess ones survive longer south of the Mason-Dixon line and west of the Mississippi.
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Back of my son's has a used dealer sticker from Louisiana. No telling how long it has been here in Utah without a Carfax but judging from the rust, longer that it was Louisiana or who knows before that.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
We have conference facilities in our office building that we allow all the local cities and townships and other government agencies that do work around here to use if they'd like and today there appears to be some sort of group of engineers and facilities type people using one of the rooms for some sort of presentation. I went outside to go for a little walk and there were about a dozen new Ford Bronco Sports out there with municipal plates. These appeared to be the absolute most basic model available, but they still seemed a bit cooler than the crappy Jeep Compasses and boring Chevy Malibus that we primarily have.
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I've gotta admit that I'm a bit jealous about the Broncos. The last municipal vehicle that was exclusively mine to drive was a 1990s Crown Vic (in 2018-ish, mind you) in which the seat lock was broken so the seat would move forward if you slammed on the brakes. I'd been approved for a base Tesla but didn't get to order it before I moved on to greener pastures.
 
RandomPlanner said:
I've gotta admit that I'm a bit jealous about the Broncos. The last municipal vehicle that was exclusively mine to drive was a 1990s Crown Vic (in 2018-ish, mind you) in which the seat lock was broken so the seat would move forward if you slammed on the brakes. I'd been approved for a base Tesla but didn't get to order it before I moved on to greener pastures.
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Ah...the old hand-me-downs from the police department. Been there, done that.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Ah...the old hand-me-downs from the police department. Been there, done that.
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In the 1980s I had a summer job in the town's engineering office, there were me and another intern. There was a road that was going to be built but at that time it was just fresh stone and they didn't have any active construction. We had one of those Crown Vics and got it up to 120+ on those loose stones. Terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. We started to fishtail a bit so I backed off to about 80. We figured no one else would be on the road and the cops wouldn't give a town car a ticket. :D

Young and st00pid we were.
 
Doohickie said:
In the 1980s I had a summer job in the town's engineering office, there were me and another intern. There was a road that was going to be built but at that time it was just fresh stone and they didn't have any active construction. We had one of those Crown Vics and got it up to 120+ on those loose stones. Terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. We started to fishtail a bit so I backed off to about 80. We figured no one else would be on the road and the cops wouldn't give a town car a ticket. :D

Young and st00pid we were.
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Here is my stupid story...before I had my internship, bills had to be paid so I sold used cars from one of the largest dealers in the state in 1997. We were the repository for all used cars not kept at the other dealer locations. We just received a Mitsubishi 3000GT Twin Turbo, with a new engine, no less. Had to be moved to the back so it could be detailed and processed. I said I'd move it and proceeded to the nearby freeway and hit 125 MPH on the on-ramp which was right in front of the highway patrol office. Ah, to be young and dumb, again.
 
I don't really get this complaining about electric vehicle range, except maybe the charging infrastructure.

In the 2 ICE vehicles I drive, 1 has a range of 340 miles on a full tank & the other is about 250 miles.
 
Planit said:
I don't really get this complaining about electric vehicle range, except maybe the charging infrastructure.

In the 2 ICE vehicles I drive, 1 has a range of 340 miles on a full tank & the other is about 250 miles.
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But that's totally the problem. The infrastructure and the time it takes to charge. I think people who think ICE vehicles are going to disappear in a few years are sadly mistaken. There is SO much work to be done before it's anywhere close for that to be realistic. Lack of charging stations, length of charge time, the fact that if we're going to be charging all these cars that means a lot of more electricity has to be produced. And guess what? Most of that is not going to come from "sustainable sources". At least not in the near term. And then you have to transmit that power to where it's needed. I've worked in the industry before; try to build new transmission lines and see how many years those fights will last. Not saying it's not ultimately a good idea but there's going to be a transition and people need to understand that.
 
MD Planner said:
But that's totally the problem. The infrastructure and the time it takes to charge. I think people who think ICE vehicles are going to disappear in a few years are sadly mistaken. There is SO much work to be done before it's anywhere close for that to be realistic. Lack of charging stations, length of charge time, the fact that if we're going to be charging all these cars that means a lot of more electricity has to be produced. And guess what? Most of that is not going to come from "sustainable sources". At least not in the near term. And then you have to transmit that power to where it's needed. I've worked in the industry before; try to build new transmission lines and see how many years those fights will last. Not saying it's not ultimately a good idea but there's going to be a transition and people need to understand that.
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The transition is what I been talking about with my nephew (who is a diesel mechanic and very anti-electric). In the 1910s-1920s the fueling infrastructure was in a similar state with very few stations around.
 
Planit said:
The transition is what I been talking about with my nephew (who is a diesel mechanic and very anti-electric). In the 1910s-1920s the fueling infrastructure was in a similar state with very few stations around.
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MD Planner said:
But that's totally the problem. The infrastructure and the time it takes to charge. I think people who think ICE vehicles are going to disappear in a few years are sadly mistaken. There is SO much work to be done before it's anywhere close for that to be realistic. Lack of charging stations, length of charge time, the fact that if we're going to be charging all these cars that means a lot of more electricity has to be produced. And guess what? Most of that is not going to come from "sustainable sources". At least not in the near term. And then you have to transmit that power to where it's needed. I've worked in the industry before; try to build new transmission lines and see how many years those fights will last. Not saying it's not ultimately a good idea but there's going to be a transition and people need to understand that.
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First, I also don't understand the anti-EV rhetoric. It's alot of crazy money to be spent/made as people spend whatever it takes to 'get in on the ground floor' of a gigantic change to our physical world. The rational/logical capitalists are likely salivating at the prospect.

Second, the early 20th century is not terribly analogous as we were adapting a primarily human and/or draft animal scaled settlement pattern to a fully new transportation mode. Not driving or owning a car was more likely possible as our daily lives were ordered to the human scale. Plus, there was little to zero regulation of any part of the required settlement adaption, so creation of new modes and forms was very easy. If you needed to go long distance you took the train and/or interurban and it took as much or potentially less time anyway.

Today, we have made auto transport an almost necessity for our daily lives to function. Changing the 'fueling' network is going to be mainly just a challenge of different thinking as we have, in my opinion, four things to overcome/rethink:
  1. Make sure the electric grid is proactively made more robust and more than adequate (ie plan for more capacity than may be needed)
  2. Make fast chargers extremely easy to manufacture, install and operate
  3. Put fast chargers everywhere cars are parked/stored everyday (my car usually sits idle for many continuous hours in my work parking lot or at my house)
  4. Make our built environment more human scaled thereby reducing the effective requirement to have to drive for daily needs
 
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mendelman said:
Today, we have made auto transport an almost necessity for our daily lives to function. Changing the 'fueling' network is going to be mainly just a challenge of different thinking as we have, in my opinion, four things to overcome/rethink:
  1. Make sure the electric grid is proactively made more robust and more than adequate (ie plan for more capacity than may be needed)
  2. Make fast chargers extremely easy to manufacture, install and operate
  3. Put fast chargers everywhere cars are parked/stored everyday (my car usually sits idle for many continuous hours in my work parking lot or at my house
  4. Make our built environment more human scaled thereby reducing the effective requirement to have to drive for daily needs
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I agree with your first 3.5 points. But here's the thing about driving. Or a couple of things really. Lots of people LIKE to drive. So there's that. We live in a big country, a very big country. We're not a compact little country where you can go coast to coast in a few hours. We have tremendous amounts of rural land that people must traverse between large population nodes. There's no other option right now that is anywhere near cost effective or efficient enough. It costs a lot of money to live in many places. A whole lot. Even in places where you really don't need a vehicle. People live where they can afford to live and then figure out how to get to work. And then factor in that quite frankly, most people are flaming assholes and you want some separation from them and want to live in suburbia or out in the rural lands so you don't have to deal with those folks.
 
MD Planner said:
I agree with your first 3.5 points. But here's the thing about driving. Or a couple of things really. Lots of people LIKE to drive. So there's that. We live in a big country, a very big country. We're not a compact little country where you can go coast to coast in a few hours. We have tremendous amounts of rural land that people must traverse between large population nodes. There's no other option right now that is anywhere near cost effective or efficient enough. It costs a lot of money to live in many places. A whole lot. Even in places where you really don't need a vehicle. People live where they can afford to live and then figure out how to get to work. And then factor in that quite frankly, most people are flaming assholes and you want some separation from them and want to live in suburbia or out in the rural lands so you don't have to deal with those folks.
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But that's because we created our lives this way.

Was it good or bad? Appropriate or inappropriate? We can debate those questions, but the real fact is that if you're not a driver in most of North America, you're stuck.

And we had the same land area with actually less population and probably the same % of people were a-holes in the past, but we didn't have to have a car to get supplies from the store in urban(ized) locations.

Simply, I think we need to reorder the scale of our urbanized lives and impose the true cost of choices accordingly.
 
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SlaveToTheGrind said:
Back of my son's has a used dealer sticker from Louisiana. No telling how long it has been here in Utah without a Carfax but judging from the rust, longer that it was Louisiana or who knows before that.
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Sea salt from salt air can be as bad as road salt.
 
Gedunker said:
Sea salt from salt air can be as bad as road salt.
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Can it though? How close to the coast do you have to live in order for this to be true? My husband grew up on the GA coast -- like 4 miles from the ocean. He is very unfamiliar with rust and is concerned about it now that we're in the north where road salt is prevalent.

You could be totally correct but not to a realistic extent. Do you need to drive your car along the beach daily for three months per year to be equivalent to a CNY winter? (No clue how quantifiable this is.)
 
RandomPlanner said:
Can it though? How close to the coast do you have to live in order for this to be true? My husband grew up on the GA coast -- like 4 miles from the ocean. He is very unfamiliar with rust and is concerned about it now that we're in the north where road salt is prevalent.

You could be totally correct but not to a realistic extent. Do you need to drive your car along the beach daily for three months per year to be equivalent to a CNY winter? (No clue how quantifiable this is.)
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It can be an issue, but at much less than 4 miles distance.

Quoted from the above linked article:

He says salty humidity and dew are among the largest factors in progressing corrosion, particularly during certain times of the year.

"Winter is the worst, since summer has much less dew during the nights and mornings," Rintoul says. "The water droplets create sites where corrosion can occur, and salt helps to accelerate the corrosion."
 
RandomPlanner said:
Can it though? How close to the coast do you have to live in order for this to be true? My husband grew up on the GA coast -- like 4 miles from the ocean. He is very unfamiliar with rust and is concerned about it now that we're in the north where road salt is prevalent.

You could be totally correct but not to a realistic extent. Do you need to drive your car along the beach daily for three months per year to be equivalent to a CNY winter? (No clue how quantifiable this is.)
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My sister was a teacher in Atlantic City and lived near the shore in Ventnor and Margate while teaching there. (A.C., V and M are on a barrier island.) Sea salt induced rust was a problem, especially if you didn't have a factory-treated undercoat on your vehicle. Not sure how distance would affect rusting, but it seems it certainly would be a factor.
 
About EVs:

Does 'Vehicle Mileage' really mean the same thing for EVs as it does for ICEVs?

I was looking at a used 2021 Chevy Bolt on a dealer's website and they prominently state '24,345 miles' on the vehicle.

An interesting thought exercise.
 
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I think the reliability of electric drivetrains is still being determined. No, the internal workings of the motor is not as likely to fail as it is on an ICE, and they are simpler mechanically, but battery life and high current control electronics are still "new tech" I think.

Putting that aside, all vehicles have suspensions, bearings, accessories, controls, etc., that are probably very similar in terms of product life.

The answer from me (and probably from everyone else) is "I don't know."
 
mendelman said:
About EVs:

Does 'Vehicle Mileage' really mean the same thing for EVs as it does for ICEVs?

I was looking at a used 2021 Chevy Bolt on a dealer's website and they prominently state '24,345 miles' in the vehicle.

And interesting thought exercise.
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In some ways, yes. Wear and tear on the interior, suspension components, and the body structure will still apply the same to any car. The engine and even transmission elements won't matter. In shopping for a used vehicle, the battery condition (and generation of the battery for recharge performance) is what will matter. So one trade off vs another, I suppose. Though partial EVs like the Prius have much better reliability over higher miles over a standard ICE vehicle.

Infrastructure development will continue to be important for the EV market, but it's still an improvement (Motortrend) over traditional ICE cars. We ended up getting a plug in hybrid so we could best accommodate the current infrastructure issues - it's a compromised type platform, but we can go full EV in town, have traditional range on longer drives without worry, and the regenerative braking captures energy that would have been otherwise wasted (which is actually neat thing to think about).
 
Why get an EV when you could join the DODGE REBELLION '67 ?!


Lol JK they should reintroduce the 1967 Dart but as a 1000hp dual motor EV with crumple zones, an airbag, back up cams, side impact door beams and airbags, roll protection and modern ABS but no infotainment beyond that and otherwise cosmetically to 67 spec.

That would be so insanely lit.
 
The Terminator said:
Why get an EV when you could join the DODGE REBELLION '67 ?!


Lol JK they should reintroduce the 1967 Dart but as a 1000hp dual motor EV with crumple zones, an airbag, back up cams, side impact door beams and airbags, roll protection and modern ABS but no infotainment beyond that and otherwise cosmetically to 67 spec.

That would be so insanely lit.
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I learned how to drive in a 1970s Dodge Dart.
 
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