What is the Gross Vehicle Weight of the early (any of the first
10-years) VW Rabbit pickups? A friend is thinking of buying an
electric conversion pickup that weights 3000 pounds without people. I
say he's pushing his luck.

Hello corvallis,

Thank you for your question. 

I found a great page with just the information you are seeking and
more:

What is a Volkswagen Caddy?
http://www.volkswagen.org/caddy/whatis/

"The Volkswagen Rabbit Pickup was first manufactured in the town of
New Stanton, Westmoreland county Pennsylvania from 1979 through to
1983. Based on the Rabbit (Golf A1) chassis, these water-cooled models
were originally made for the US and then the US and Canadian markets.
The US pickups were sold in the 1980 to 83 model years and the
Canadian pickups were sold in the 1981 to 83 model years. After
manufacturing of the pickup in the US came to a sudden halt mid way
through 1983, production started in Yugoslavia for the European market
later that same year. The European truck that was based on the
American design was called the Caddy and was produced at rates of
about 1000 per month until war broke out in 1991. The "original" Caddy
is still manufactured at the Uitenhage VW plant near Port Elizabeth,
South Africa..."


It appears, as you will note on the bottom of the page, that all years
have the same weight and GVWR's:

Weight Total: 986kg
Front GVWR: 638kg
Rear GVWR: 348kg


Converting to pounds by multiplying by 2.2, we get:

Weight Total: 2169.2
Front GVWR: 1403.6
Rear GVWR: 765.6

There are links from this page that include original brochures. Page 4
of the 1981 brochure notes:
http://www.volkswagen.org/caddy/brochures/

"...The powerful 1.7 liter fuel injected gasoline engine with standard
four speed transmission moves from 0 to 50 mpg is just 9.7 seconds.
And the optional 1.6 liter Diesel engine is close behind.

As you take the curves, you can feel the traction enhanced by the
weight of the engine mounted transversely between the front wheels. In
front, the independent suspension smoothly absorbs the unevenness in
the road. And the heavy-duty rear suspension takes the tension out of
hauling over 1100 pounds of just about anything...."



Search Strategy:

vw +rabbit +pickup +weight

I trust my research has provided you with the figures you desired. If
a link above should fail to work or anything require further
explanation or research, please do post a Request for Clarification
prior to rating the answer and closing the question and I will be
pleased to assist further.

Regards,

-=clouseau=-

Well done!

Exceeding the GVWR of a donor vehicle is a common problem with
electric conversions, and the chassis is frequently structurally
strengthened in order to cope with the extra weight. Your friend may
want to determine whether this has been done on the vehicle in
question.

After reading the clousau answer, I agree, significant quantities of
cargo, may cause something to fail on the first bad pothole. Two
people totalling 300 pounds, however is no big deal unless he plans to
carry a thousand pounds of people and cargo. Are the batteries
utillizing part of the cargo space?   Neil