Sily Räbit - The SwallowTale

yes folks i have entered vintage watercooled zone, I just bought what i believe is a 78 rabbit L, manual, 2dr, needs work, but i think I got a steal on it. sorry pics are terrible but i was in a hurry













hopefully i'll get it home or at least local considering my dad is pissed that I bought another car lol,

Did the popouts come with it?

If that window has been down, I know of a place in MI that has Rabbit pans...

nice- Thts one car i wish i never sold.
My grandmother gave me her brown 78 she bought new

- i drove it for abt 4 years and then traded it in on a chevy worktruck

great cars

stasher1 wrote:Did the popouts come with it?

haha, im sure he will take those out before i go back to get it, but i will mention it...

VW12step wrote:If that window has been down, I know of a place in MI that has Rabbit pans..

its been down for a while, so it quite possible it will need a new pan atleast on the driver side, i really didnt look at it very closely, i was kinda in a hurry, so i'll check it out once i get it home.

zabo wrote:nice- Thts one car i wish i never sold.
My grandmother gave me her brown 78 she bought new

- i drove it for abt 4 years and then traded it in on a chevy worktruck

great cars

yeah, I'm super excited about this car, although its gunna be put on the backburner immediately, due to a previous agreement between my parents and my self to fix my dodge truck.

so now i just have to hurry up and fix the dodge, so i can start working on the rabbit...

Nice find...good luck with it.

laith wrote:Nice find...good luck with it.

Thanks man, I may have to hit you up for some help with it...seeing as i'm a waterpumper newb!

hopefully i can pick it up today! yippee!

laith wrote:Nice find...good luck with it.

Hey, do you still have your Rabbit for sale? That one was nice as well...I'm still trying to squeeze another project into the budget!

59 Euro Rag wrote:

laith wrote:Nice find...good luck with it.

Thanks man, I may have to hit you up for some help with it...seeing as i'm a waterpumper newb!

hopefully i can pick it up today! yippee!

No problem. Would be interested is seeing more pics of the car.

VW12step wrote:

laith wrote:Nice find...good luck with it.

Hey, do you still have your Rabbit for sale? That one was nice as well...I'm still trying to squeeze another project into the budget!

Yes it is still for sale. Either it or the truck has to go.

laith wrote:

59 Euro Rag wrote:

laith wrote:Nice find...good luck with it.

Thanks man, I may have to hit you up for some help with it...seeing as i'm a waterpumper newb!

hopefully i can pick it up today! yippee!

No problem. Would be interested is seeing more pics of the car.

I just got it home tonight, too dark to take pics, i'll clean it up tomarrow, and post sum pics. hopefully...

well, after looking over/cleaning the car i am overwelmed, way more rust than I first presumed! it is a 78...and its going to need rear floor pans atleast, and front and rear valences, possibly doors...

Would be interested is seeing more pics of the car.

ask and you shall recieve...














and this is the og color




in case that wasn't enough pics:https://s369.photobucket.com/albums/oo133/59eurorag/78%20Rabbit/

Yeah..that is a lot of rust! Strut towers look good though, so at least that is one thing not to worry about. And it looks reasonably complete which is good.

Love that Champagne green or whatever they called it. One year only color I think.

its Inaris Silver l94a, a gorgeous color, I dont know if I will go with the og color or off white. I am thinking slammed on either fuchs or Smoors

Yikes! More bodywork than I could handle. Good luck, bro!

Hoodride it? It's got patina!

its definitely not going to be a show car, but i will fix it up some and try to get rid of the rust.

ok, so the 78 is stripped, and supposed to be picked up tomarrow (called like 10 junk movers none have shown up!)

so am I gunna be mk1-less, negatory!

meet my new 75 swallow tail... also known as "Grabbit" (search vwvortex.com)

new fenders and core support


it has some coilovers, so naturally my first instinct was to slam it, so here is a crappy pic of it lowered

then i started patching the random holes in the floor

it used to have a mean 16v, which was previously sold , these pics are of the car in its glory days back in 2001


i read that it ran a 14.5 without first gear btw
im working on making the floors solid, then i'll start on seat mounts, then shaving the bay, then exterior body work.

more pics:https://s369.photobucket.com/albums/oo133/59eurorag/75%20swallowtail/

did some more work on the rabbit today, the driver side floor pan is patched and sealed, and the passenger side needs to be sealed, I also got the seat mounts tac welded into place, so at least i can sit in it and act like im driving

I picked up a spot weld removing bit on the way home and decided to delete the rain tray being that this isn't a daily and will not have a/c or heat.. and plus it looks better! so far everything is going well, i gotta pick up some more mig wire though and start repairing the rust in the body...

on to the pics...





once again sorry for the cruddy pics, I always forget to take my decent camera along

Looks good....what are the motor plans?

right now all i have is the 8v out of the 78, but im trying to find a 16v, since the car is already wired for 16v it came with a head, not sure if its any good, and also the intake as well. i have the mounts for a 16v, so basically just gotta find a 16v block and a decent tranny...

did a little more work today

patched the spare tire compartment
welded up the fresh air holes and fan hole
I also cut out and replaced some of the rain tray that looked like swiss cheese
got out some filler and started smoothing the bay

on to the pics...











as usual a few more pix on the photobucket https://s369.photobucket.com/albums/oo133/59eurorag/75%20swallowtail/

Looks good...want to do my truck when you get finished?

Did it come with the euro bumpers and duckbill spoiler?

Mike you have done a ton on this thing, looks good. Keep moving ahead, that thing will be on the road in no time!

laith, unfortunately it didnt come with the either, i'm not gunna put a duckbill on it though i like the plain sheet metal look, i hope to get some black small euros when im rich lol, in the meantime im thinking about modding my us bumpers, i might could help with some body work but im deff gunna need sum help with the motor work, i'm keeping an eye out for a cheap 16v

Bob, im working on it every chance i get, hope to have it together next summer we'll see

thanks for the coments guys, it really helps keep me motivated, and im going to need it since im starting on the body work