#83 rabbit converter manual#
#83 rabbit converter full#

I did get to Dallas but was too tired to do more than find a motel and call my aunt. About three hours west of Dallas it began to rain, a really hard rain that, coupled with a strong crosswind, made driving difficult and fatiguing. My planned route was going to take me to Dallas, where I was going to stop and meet my aunt. I made it across the rest of New Mexico and on into Texas. The next morning was beautiful, cold and crisp and clear, with the sun shining brightly. I was really glad to make it to Albuquerque for my next stop. Finally, as we started to drop down in elevation the snow stopped. I tried to follow the ruts made by semi-trucks but the Rabbit’s track was too narrow for that. The snow started to taper off but the road was still covered. I stopped to get some coffee and to get off the road for a while. I pressed on eastward on I10 and as the altitude increased the snow got heavier by the time I got to Flagstaff, which is about 8000 feet above sea level, it was really snowing hard. I overheard some people in the restaurant say that this was the most snow they had seen in Kingman since 1959. I stopped in Kingman, Arizona for lunch and it was snowing, lightly, but you could tell it was snowing. It was raining the next morning but I didn’t give it a second thought. It was after noon when I finally finished out processing so the first day’s travel was a short one, I made an overnight stop near Bakersfield. The little four banger never felt stressed and was not buzzy, even at advanced RPM.Īs it was January when I got out of the Air Force I plotted a more southern route back home instead of going thru Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and then down into Colorado, I went south in California, planning to go through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The Rabbit didn’t have nearly as much torque as did the Nova but, of course, it weighed a lot less so it always felt quick and light on its “feet”. I don’t know how much all of this cargo weighed but it was not enough to seriously burden the VW. I was able to fit everything in the Rabbit with just enough room leftover for me to drive and shift gears. I didn’t really have many possessions to transport home, mostly clothes, books and records (remember records) I did have the side and end rails for my water bed. I drove the Rabbit around the local area for the 6-7 months that I remained in California just enough to get the car good and broken in for the trip to Kentucky. Perhaps not the most attractive car ever but I was certainly happy with it. Mine was a light tan color called “Dakota Beige” in VW speak and had brown Leatherette seats.

#83 rabbit converter manual#

The Rabbit had a 1450cc four cylinder engine with Bosch mechanical fuel injection and a four speed manual transmission. I visited several VW dealers in the Sacramento area and ended up purchasing mine from the dealer in Davis, California I paid approximately $5500 for the car, the only options were the factory A/C and a radio/tape player combo. I had made up my mind that I wanted the Rabbit so my shopping efforts were limited to finding one equipped the way I wanted and how much it would cost me. I don’t know when my Rabbit was put together but the guys in Wolfsburg got it right perhaps it was a slow Tuesday or something.

#83 rabbit converter full#

Accepted wisdom is that you don’t want a car assembled on Monday morning or Friday afternoon because at those times the line workers might not be paying their full attention. That was certainly not the case for the one I owned in fact, one could make a good argument that my Rabbit was the best car I’ve ever owned. I know that VW’s in general (and Rabbits in particular) have a reputation for crappy build quality and unreliability. In the spring of 1978 I traded my well used Nova in on a new 1978 VW Rabbit.