Junkyard Find: 1977 Volkswagen Dasher

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

When Volkswagen finally decided to try this newfangled water-cooled engine idea, their first effort was the Audi 80-derived Passat. In North America, this car was badged as a Dasher, and it didn’t exactly break any sales records. Prior to finding this example in a Denver junkyard earlier in the week, I hadn’t seen a Dasher for at least a decade.

The ’77 Dasher two-door hatch listed for $4,510, which was about $450 more than the Datsun 710 hardtop, $850 more than a six-cylinder Chevy Nova hatchback, and $700 more than a Plymouth Volare six-cylinder sedan. With front-wheel-drive and generally more modern design, the Dasher was somewhat more sophisticated than much of the competition, but on the expensive side for car shoppers accustomed to paying under three grand for a Beetle.

DPD air conditioning! That must have presented a challenge for the Dasher’s 78-horsepower engine. I’m going to see if my friend with a ’76 Audi Fox has any use for parts off this thing.






Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

More by Murilee Martin

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 27 comments
  • Dingram01 Dingram01 on Sep 30, 2011

    Ah memories. We had the uppity Audi Fox in my family all throughout my childhood. A string of them actually, the first two lasting a year or so before being squished in accidents. The third one was the charm: a brown Fox wagon. Lasted for us for nine years, ultimately with sheet metal riveted to the rusted-out driver's door bottom. No memory of how many miles it accumulated or whether it was particularly unreliable. I think it was mechanically sound for us??? It certainly had a great personality and was considered the "fun" car in the family. I remember it had no power steering! I think of it often as I drive around in my 09 TDI Sportwagen. I wish the TDI had much to remind me of the old Audi, but it doesn't really. The A2 Jettas I had sure did though.

  • Gornzilla Gornzilla on Oct 01, 2011

    The first VW water-cooled car was a rebadged NSU K70. I don't own an NSU K70, I have an earlier 2 cylinder Sport Prinz, but this conversation pops up now and again on the NSU mailing list. The rebadged NSU was sold as a VW from 1970-1975. The Passat came out later.

    • Th009 Th009 on Oct 01, 2011

      And the Passat (Dasher) was built on the Audi 80 platform -- the 80 debuted in 1972, and the Passat a year later. Back then VW didn't have much front-engine, water-cooled technology of its own, and Audi and NSU helped get things started.

  • Dartdude The bottom line is that in the new America coming the elites don't want you and me to own cars. They are going to make building cars so expensive that the will only be for the very rich and connected. You will eat bugs and ride the bus and live in a 500sq-ft. apartment and like it. HUD wants to quit giving federal for any development for single family homes and don't be surprised that FHA aren't going to give loans for single family homes in the very near future.
  • FreedMike This is before Cadillac styling went full scale nutty...and not particularly attractive, in my opinion.
  • JTiberius1701 Middle of April here in NE Ohio. And that can still be shaky. Also on my Fiesta ST, I use Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires for the winter and Bridgestone Potenza for my summer tires. No issues at all.
  • TCowner We've had a 64.5 Mustang in the family for the past 40 years. It is all original, Rangoon Red coupe with 289 (one of the first instead of the 260), Rally Pac, 4-speed, factory air, every option. Always gets smiles and thumbs ups.
  • ToolGuy This might be a good option for my spouse when it becomes available -- thought about reserving one but the $500 deposit is a little too serious. Oh sorry, that was the Volvo EX30, not the Mustang. Is Volvo part of Ford? Is the Mustang an EV? I'm so confused.
Next