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| So The Story Goes... Well all those years later, I set out to restore, or at least repair this little rusty Rabbit. As it turned out, getting a car that has been sitting for some years to run wasn't so hard after all. I flushed the tank out, replaced the fuel pump, and filter, changed the oil, and finally replaced the battery. It Started! And it ran like crap. Two used injectors later, It was driveable. So I drove it down to the shop where I work (the rusty rabbit wasn't built until 03) and put it up in the air. It was sad really, The body was badly rotten, all the lines were rusted, and basicly $10,000 worth of cash could not have fixed its damage. The Car Was Not Safe To Use, So I Had To Park It. All seemed lost, until... |
| A Idea Is Born. The Year 2000 came, and I was at a crossroads in my life. I think looking out the window everyday at that little rusty rabbit made it start to sink in. As it had aged, So had I. I began to notice the lack of running rabbits on the road. It was just a few years ago they were everywhere, but now, maybe one a month was all I had seen. I had to do something with my Rabbit, and soon. So I began to build The Rusty Rabbit. Not just the Building, but the Dream. I had recently moved to a rural area of NC, and had both land, and three run down sheds on my property to work with. I shoveled out two 20ton loads of gravel to make a driveway and parking lot for the cars, patched up the old tin roof, resided the whole building inside and out, painted it up a nice barn red and put in a garage door opening. On the inside I added Power for lights and an air compressor, Cable TV (hey I'm a bum) Phone, Workbenches, and shelves for all the parts, finally I added a bunch of pegboards to hang all the tools. The process of building The Rusty Rabbit took all spring, But it paid off. In the End I had my own shop, A place to bring in the old and battered Rusty Rabbits I could find, and A place to bring them back to life, or at least make sure their parts would live on. |
So It Was Complete. But... What To Call It? |
I decided to call it.... The Rusty Rabbit. In honor of my poor old Rusty 1980 VW Rabbit C. I Am no artist, but after a few sketches I came up with the sign. It was like the candles on the cake, the shop just didn't feel right until it was on there. The center piece is a huge chrome VW symbol from a old VW Bus I used to hate... I mean have. So it was done, Now it was time to start on my first project. |
| I decided to try and Restore The Rusty Rabbit . I just needed to find another 1979 or '80 2dr to use as a donor body. Then I could transplant the interior, from the carpet to the headliner, and the engine as well as anything else that could be saved. So the search began. First I found a pickup diesel, and made that my daily driver. Then I found a 79 4dr parts car that I stripped bare to use as spare parts for my future project. I even cut the front clip off for a spare in case of crash. But no 2 door. Then I found my Truck, the sister of my original 2dr. This little 1980 Pickup was the same color combo and engine setup. I fixed it up and made it a close match of the first car's interior. But no 2 door. It was somewhere around this time, that I started searching the "NET" for old VW's. I'd visit local buy/sell pages, and E-bay, Search google and yahoo for this part or that car... And eventually I started to Bookmark all those cool VW Rabbit websites Most of those sites are gone now, and sadly no one has stepped up to take their place. So one night in late 2002 I was bitching to my wife about how one of my favorite Rabbit sites hadn't been updated in over 2 years, and she told me to quit my bitching, and maybe try to make my own site. Here is the result. WELCOME TO: WWW.THERUSTYRABBIT.COM |
| Learn More about me (non-car related) |
But I Still Haven't Found A 79 or 80 Rabbit 2 door. Do you have it? |