Pigeon-holed as a cheerleader’s car in its first life, the VW Cabriolet has been uncovered by many early-water-cooled VW enthusiasts as the good car it is – a 4-place convertible with decent power (especially with the manual) and good passive safety for the time. Of course, stock power is never enough for some folks, and that’s why there’s another popular pastime among VW fans – dropping in a later VW factory powertrain to add power. So that brings us to this 1989 VW Cabriolet for sale for $3000 in Revere, MA.
Helios Blue Metallic is an appealing color, certainly more durable and distinctive than the popular white-on-white-on-white wedding cake color scheme. Said to have 146,000 miles, the thing that makes this car interesting over most other Cabriolets is the supercharged G60 engine, likely sourced from an ex-Corrado. Unfortunately, there are no pictures, but from the factory this engine was good for 160hp, so you’d probably give things like a MR2 SC a run for its money, at least in a straight line. All fawning over a supercharged engine aside, the seller does not expand on why the car went into storage one month after the conversion, except to say he wants something to drive every day – was it simply stored at the first snow/salt?
The car is also said to be mint, but needs a good interior cleaning and is currently sporting a not-so-right dorifto steering wheel that needs to be in a Corolla GT-S or something. The rest of the dash, interior and top look pretty clean, though. It’s nice to see the car comes with its original top boot, since that pram-style folding top is pretty conspicuous when it’s down.
The teardrop wheels are a nice touch, probably sourced from a late Mk2 GTI. For a mint car, there do seem to be some issues with flaking paint on the rear bumper, finish oxidation and maybe even rust – all those plastic covers over the sills and fenders probably cover up the beginnings of corrosion pretty well. The car is said to have Raceland coil overs, but if you’re feeling serious about things, you might want to plan for work on bushings, ball joints and more. All in all, this looks like a fun alternative to any number of roadsters that can accommodate you and three friends.
Rusty But Trusty 
February 27, 2016 at 1:18 am |
Looks like fun. These take some different wheels and a lower stance to offset the cutesy image. Kinda like a Miata, when done right they look mean and capable but out of the box they are just too “cute”.