The previous owner obviously loved that car.Amazing that the seats are in as new condition too.Great to have all the car 's history .

Why did you not take the seat head rest off so the seat covers would come off easily?😊

Such a cool car. My dad would lose his mind going through all the documentation, pics, and journaled notes. I always think he's a little weird for journaling every gas fill up, but it would be cool to get with a car like this and know it was cared for and babied beyond belief.

Replace the little screen at the inlet pipe of the CIS fuel distributor…..it is often overlooked and problrmatic. To all the nay sayers that is a true CLASSIC!

Back to the future, THIS is back to the future! The GTI Volkswagen Golf was an icon.

As others have commented, head rests are removable - so no need to cut covers. "Bin bags" is to help fitting tight covers - allows them to slide without damaging foam or covers underneath. Commonly done when recovering seats.

That car is a real time capsule. I service/maintain and document my vehicles, but that guy... WOW. Funny, when the GTI first hit the streets, not my jam. But now, this car... Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

I'm gonna say this. Seeing that car reminds me of my youth. I was 12 in 83. By the standards of 83 those cars were fast and handsome. They started the whole hot hatch deal. My cousin stationed in Germany drove one. 100+ mph and never broke a sweat or overheated. Amazing!

The original Hot Hatch. This is my dream barn find. Very jealous. So thrilled to watch the journey of this GTI

Someone totally knew what they had.

83/84 GTIs only came in four colors (Black, Red, Silver and White), with two interior colors (Red and Blue). I believe the only “Factory Options” were AC, Sunroof and Front Vent Windows…anything else was Dealer Installed. Awesome find, and excited to see the cleanup and the bidding war on BaT!!!

This might be the best car series ever on your channel. What a find. Just freaking incredible. I'm waiting for the BaT auction!

The front seat headrests are removable. Pity the seat covers got destroyed. Beautiful perfect example. The tint should be replaced to stop sun fade on those perfect seats. I had the Sirocco of that era. It was great car. I would probably still have it if it had power steering for parking. It didn't have ABS which made stopping a bit more entertaining than I wanted it to be. I replaced it with a Golf (Rabbit) Mk2 Synchro which was ahead of it's day.

amazing time capsule of a car! love passionate owners that pay so much attention to detail

How did they keep the rodents out of it sitting all those years. amazing

I did a quick search $11k is roughly $32k today. A base GTI today is roughly $32k. I find that interesting.

I had that black one with the stainless side panels, no Hella lights though. That car was a HOOT to drive, quick at stoplight races and the handling was superb. Tops out at about 88-89 MPH. Took it to GTI races at Blackhawk Farms in Wisconsin, did well but didn't realize that type of racing was a full- contact sport! My front suspension and steering got bent really bad, sold it to a junkyard. Fun while it lasted, though!!!

That thing having A/C is a huge positive .Then it can be used as a daily driver year 'round. Most of those Rabbits never had A/C. And it's amazing looking back how much that was accepted, even in hot humid climates. I wouldn't have anything now without that. Classic or otherwise.

In 94 my first car was an 89 VW GTI. I miss that thing. It was almost the same color. Little darker red. She looks sweet!

Great job of the owner preserving the seats. I kept towels on the rear seats of my 87 Mustang with the red interior to keep it from fading, and it certainly helped, but i didn't do anything with the fronts. Now it has black leather 2002 seats. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

It looks fantastic for a 40 year old vehicle. The owner took very good care of it. My car is 21 and it's starting to get a little rough. It does have almost 300,000 miles though.

This GTI is going to clean up like new!

This is going to be cool when it's clean and all the perfect low mileage glow comes back.

I had one of these back in 1995 or so. Loved it. One of those cars I wish I kept!

That car was loved.

Man that’s insane!! What a beautiful time capsule!!👌🥰👍something you surely don’t see every day! You know the owner loved that car! You know! is funny that you guy’s are showing all those documents and magazines! I also have those magazines myself! I have collected over the years, car and driver, motortrend, and 1983-84 VW gti brochures!👌😂👍nice! Like I said before, I used to own an 81 Rabbit that I tried to trade at the dealer at the time for one of those gti’s! But as you just found out the interest rate was very high in those day’s, plus the dealer didn’t want to give me what I wanted for mine or lower the payment.

Earth's self-proclaimed foremost mk1 GTI expert here, heed my advice or forever hold your peace ;-) Do not crank the starter again until you remove the fuel sending unit and look inside the tank. It might be contaminated with gelled gas, rust, or rotted rubber from the tank's own innards. That can kill the pump or get past the filter and damage the CIS. Barring that, the engine may stall during routine driving as gas sloshes past the tank's degraded baffle box and inner hoses. The aftermarket gas tanks are slightly different but they fit well and work fine, and even though they aren't "correct", the OEM tank is an accepted weakness/wear item. Replace the sagging headliner and the inop clock/missing adjustment knob. These are common failure points so they will be over-looked if addressed correctly. I agree with Dave's caution: nothing more than a very (VERY!!! sorry for yelling) light polishing. Same with the vinyl decals: just clean them gently but no polishing, they're supposed to be mat. Certainly don't cover them with anything "better". These cars can command surprising prices but your audience might be fickle and eccentric. You'll walk a fine line with the flipping aspect of it, and you'll need to address the myriad little details without overdoing it. Expect that people in the BaT comment section will harp relentlessly on anything incorrect, even if you beg for forgiveness. Some of work that's been done is already being perceived as ill-advised, i.e.: we're cringing at the amount of CIS misinformation in the first video and its comments. Nice find *thumbup*

The key on the front seat covers would have been to remove the head rest portion first. Too late now. The one time I thought of something before JR.

This baby was loved!!!

That car was definitely loved. I wonder if the original owner is still around.

Volkswagen Westmoreland Assembly was a manufacturing complex located 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, near New Stanton - and noted for manufacturing 1.15 million Volkswagens from 1978 until 1987.

Why did they install square headlights in the US instead of the round ones from Europe? The original look is much nicer. But a beautiful car. Nice with all that documentation. A gold mine.

Believe it or not I was a VW salesman when these GTI's came out! Westmoreland PA is where they were made. The BEST part of my job was I got a FREE demo!!! I got to drive brand new VW's to and from work. These cars sold really well!!

So cool. I grew up working on these cars and this one is perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing.

That crank sunroof is a great design!! If you crank it one way, it opens fully, as you demonstrated. If you crank it the other way, after it closes, it will pop up in the back, on an angle, for ventilation!! One criticism: Destroying those seat covers was practically criminal. They could have easily been removed and sold w/ the car, if you’d bothered to take your time. 😔

My younger brother bought a 78 rabbit that was that florescent looking safety green color and was so proud of that little car, we used to kid him that we could see him coming from 20 miles away. Then he face-planted it into a concrete wall 2 weeks later trying to navigate down an iced-up hill. the whole front clip was pushed to the left about 6-8 inches and he still drove it back and forth to school and work for years....

A car that was truly loved. A rare sight.

Leave the black on the hatch alone as it's original and should only be replaced with an NOS set...very pricey. Clean it up and leave it but do not change it or cover it with modern wrap material. You can get an OEM brake reservoir that's just as white as new. A dealer battery that is white will not be cheap but worth the bit extra to keep the original look in the bay. Tires are 185/60/14 from the factory and should be available from Cooper. Clean up and treat the moonroof seal so that it doesn't get damaged as well as lubing the mechanism for the roof. The fogs were probably bought at the dealer and installed afterward. That car is going to get the best money as red examples didn't fare as well because of fading. Check that the glue holding the vent windows onto the lock and upper piece is still good as they have a tendency to let go. I believe that the wiper nut covers are the same as on a mk2 golf which could make it easier to source. I've never seen a car with the moonroof surround looking brand new without being restored. This car could set a new record for the model. And the stereo was added after purchase since those available at the dealer, never factory installed, were cheap units that had bad sound. It's period correct and should stay with the car

Very cool GTI!!

Someone going to be getting a really nice car hopefully they take care of it just like the original owner.

This is actually one of the most important cars in recent history. It's a grail for many of us who were bitten by the VW virus back in the 80s. Very rare color combination as well (probably for a reason, IMO). Awesome find!

I bought the exact same year and color from VW Pleasanton, CA. It was my first brand new car. $10k out the door. Mine had Pirrelli P-Zeros installed. I also had a Blaupunkt cassette radio player! 👍🔥😀

I'm probably one of the older subscribers and a long time one to your channel. In the 1980's I had a 5 speed stick 1983 Jetta Diesel, a 5 1984 speed Scirocco (Wolfsburg edition), a VW Pickup(diesel). All good cars.

rabbit probably worth 1000$. love those carburetors. covers saved seat. bring a trailer? car probably drives.

14" tyres would be easy to find in the UK but then we still have cars with 10" tyres as well ( the original Mini).

The wind deflector looks new. Like the sunroof was never opened.

I had one of these by 1988 the floor pan had rusted out. That was in Montreal however. US Rustbelt x 2! Fun car to drive!

Amazing car. More amazing that someone who loved this car so much let it sit for so long.

I had two Mk1 Golfs. In South Africa they produced them way into the 2000s. They were built from the stamps of the US built Rabbits which were brought to South Africa after US production stopped. I think JR has not actually driven one and does not realise just how awesome these cars handle. There is a good reason they have become legends. Such fun to drive. I miss mine. Bought it brand new but is was unfortunately stolen. A common problem here.

Remember them on the show room floor got our first Rabbit diesel in 1983 still have a Rabbit truck 👍

Great car! On my ‘76 the front “passive restraint” was a knee bolster at the lower edge of the dash. Had shallow depressions for catch-alls. Blow out the drains for the sunroof. I didn’t and had a flood in my car. Took ours in our honeymoon 42 years ago!

I have a black ‘84 with no winters - very clean with original interior in storage - and this video makes me drool !

I had that exact Alpine stereo I mounted in my 83 Honda CIVIC 1500S. My goodness what a gem you found.

I had a 83 Rabbit GTI, my first new car. I loved it. I put $800 down and got 36 month 9.9% financing. It had the "fully integrated" a/c, which felt like it sapped about 10 HP, but always blew ice cold. My GTI came stock with 185HR 60 14 series Pirelli P6 tires, pretty sporty in those days. I wish i still had it.

The Bug Ninja needs to do a review of this car.

Love the car, I actually had several of those back in the day and loved them. Great content as always!

What a fantastic find!😮

You know those headrests pull right off.

My most favorite car you’ve ever had on the channel!!!

11:52 It would be soo nice to replicate the pictures after restoring at the the same spots!!!

Those seats are so freaking comfortable.

That's awesome! When I was a teenager I wanted one of these so bad. I wound up with a Scirocco Turbo, which was a much better car. There are a lot of people like me who would KILL for one of these with low mileage. -The only negative about this car is that you are going to have to get specialty insurance if you want to recoup the value after an accident in which it is totalled. Great video!

You can also open the sunroof by turning the handle the other way. The roof wil tilt.

Totally stoked about this car!

Really love seeing this car. Brings back a lot of memories for me. My step dad had one when I was a kid. His was green, manual and diesel. He called it Puddle Jumper. It was a fun car to be sure. My memory fails me as to what happened to it though.

For that last bit of extra, dry ice the underside. BAT bidders will go crazy if you do.

I love a time capsule like this.

The headrest will come out of the seat. There’s a release button somewhere. I can’t remember since I sold my last GTI in 1990.

I miss your old quick flip car videos This video takes me back to those, kind of

I can see that car easily selling for $50k. Awesome find.

I wish they made cars like this today. Even in the last video when you were fixing the window. I remember those vinyl door panels. So many cars today just have all plastic fantastic door panels etc. The higher end models still have leather and what not, but man what a dream. I remember when Ford tried to capture this design with the two door hatch Ford Escort. Just not the same, and these old vw's with proper maintenance would way outlast the Escort and did.

If I ever mummify a car like this owner did, I hope someone finds it and makes a video like this! Awesome video!

Fun fact: the photo of the Gti in the driveway looks like he was parked at 100PercentJake drive way 😂😂 Amazing history in that car.

These cars might be slow but they're incredibly fun to drive. I had mark 2, 86 GTI and 85 GLI

you might try Tire Rack for the tires. I'm glad the guy took care of it.

The original car fax history right there !

Wauu, it looks fantastic. Here in Denmark that car was al young mens Dreams car in the 80's

It's beautiful! I'm glad it's been found and is being rescued. Tires for the 14" Snowflake wheels are no problem. I run GENERAL ALTIMAX RT45 from tirerack on mine. They're quiet, fantastic in the rain, last a long time, and look great.

i had a 1980 vw dasher. paid 100 bucks had to change out the fuse block because it was shorting out and running 12v on the fuel lines. the power to the fuel pump was hooked to the tail lights. got it running like it should then the starter went out as well as the bushing in the transmission. a collage kid wanted it so i sold/gave it to him for 200 bucks. that was the price of a starter back then. the fuel system was fun to work on.

What a beauty. The car is nice and light because it doesn't have all the airbags and guard rails in the doors and any other safety equipment that might be included to try to save the life of people who just won't wear their seat belts. So it doesn't need a hundred extra horsepower to haul itself around.

There is rubber line inside that gas tank from the baffle to the pump pickup nipple outside of the tank. Check the condition of that, especially if it gives you issues when it's under a 1/2 tank making right turns! If it starves under any sort of turn, there is a rubber sealing diaphragm under said baffle box that rots away as well. They can be repaired but sometimes an aftermarket tank is the only right answer.

Assemble all the documentation into a binder--a vintage TrapperKeeper!

It would have been nice to see the Detail Dudes take this project.

It's amusing to read the comments from people that have no idea how special this car is. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a fabulous example. Read up a bit on why it's so sought after. Knowledge is power.

Crazy to uncover the seat and then start cleaning… but i get it. Too excited..

I had a black one for 12 years. Loved that car. Still think about it...

$10,114 works out to $31,750 today, adjusting for inflation. Credit where credit's due, Volkswagen hasn't fattened their prices like the rest of the industry, since a new GTI starts at $30,530 now

Unbelievable what a beautiful gti

exactly opposite of me, I like working on old cars, no computers, no electronics.. tooo funny. At least when my old dodge sputters, I can take a finger file, clean the points, gap with a match book cover, and make it to town to fix proper.

What a find, my best friend had one of these when we were in our late teens and he drove the wheels off of that thing.

The owner clearly loved that car and took really good care of it... Did they ever mention why it was abandoned?....

Those seats are pristine, really nice car.

I’m drooling .. always wanted a rabbit gti

That's a sweet Rabbit.

nice job!

Great 👍 keep it up!

I was about to FF when you said the tint is off 😂😂

I’m die hard Chevy/GM guy. That GTI is sick. Someone is getting a fully documented time capsule.

4:51 I kept imitation sheep seat covers on my 1977 Datsun Z. The seats were brown vinyl and never split, thanks to the seat covers. Slippery to sit on without the seat covers. More Info on the Steam Cleaner that you used, please! I am looking for one, and Project Farm hasn't done a test on them yet! 12:04 You can turn the washer tank from yellow back to white, by soaking it in a tub of Hydrogen Peroxide and turning UV LED Lights on it for a day. I watch a guy restore Game Units, and the plastic looks brand new! Odd Tinkering (example): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nMeCZdxjyq62p6M.html

Wing vents, cool !!!!!!!!!