1975 VW Rabbit

Remember all the way back to 1974 when VW introduced the groundbreaking Rabbit. In other parts of the world this car was known as the Golf. VW must have thought that naming a cheap tin box after a warm and fuzzy rodent would make it more palatable to the U.S. consumer. Take a look at that plush interior. Talk about bottom of the barrel plastics and vinyls they used in this thing. Wouldn't that vinyl bucket seat look inviting on a cold winter or hot summer day? The material looks like something that was used on a 1950 boat. Is that BIC pen sticking out of the left side of the steering column? No, it can't be one because the pens have more style. Jeez, talk about an ugly stalk! The turn signal stalk is made out of the same cheezy material. They definitely should have talked to the BIC people before coming out with this hideous design. Did you also notice the ugly black appendage that is hanging out below the center of the dashboard? If this is the heater, most manufacturers had figured out years, no eons ago, how to put this item behind the dash and out of sight. What happened to all of the supposedly better German engineering that went into this thing? I hear it all of the time how German engineering is God's gift to the world. Not to get off topic, but if anyone can take a simple design and make it complex the Germans can. Just take a look at many Mercedes cars and how complex they are. Holy crap batman! Back off the rant. The Rabbits body around here rusted out quicker then some of the Chevy Vegas, and that is hard to do if you took any precautions against corrosion. Guess the engineers in Germany had never seen rust before, so they didn't know how to slow it processes down to make the sheet metal last longer. I won't even begin to go on about what a tin can this car road like on those 13 " tires, nor about the lack of any soundproofing in the interior. Compared to a VW Beetle, this thing probably road and drove like a limousine!