Found on Craigslist, this VW Rabbit is a typical High School car. It did it’s job especially on those cold morning heading into Auto Shop before first period. The only chicks this rabbit caught were in the coop.
It may sound like a farm tale, but this happened to Connor Hofford. Like most VW’s of 1984 in the northeast, there was plenty of rust and crazy wiring issues. So what else to do but park it in the chicken coop.
It was one of those boring February evenings a few years later, when Connor took a walk to the chicken coop. Next thing he knew he was moving the car over to his parents garage. His brother Taylor brought over a reciprocating saw, torch, and various cutting tools, and before you know it the floor pan nearly disinegrates when it falls to the ground. Connor then got busy building a boxed chassis. Six months later, he has a rolling chassis.
Mike Heim of Quality Custom Rides sees his fab skills and invites Connor to work as a fabricator. Connor askes if he can move the car to the shop where he can work on it after hours. Starting with the roll-cage Connor continues working on the car at nights and weekends to have the car ready for the SEMA Show.
It may not sound like too big a task till we learn that he installs a 550hp 370ci LS morot with a Muncie 4-speed. The engine is on display with custom polished headers built by GP Headers from Barnesville, MN. A Racepak IQ3 digital display is mounted on the roll cage. All this comes to life with a FAST EZ LS ignition controller and a Ron Francis Wiring Express wiring harness. It has a narrowed Ford 9 inch rear with 4 link suspension and Wilwood disc brakes. Custom BBS Wheels that are 10 X 15 in the rear and 4 X 15 in the front for a pro street look. Geoff Wood and Rich Wright finished the bodywork and sprayed it factory VW Royal Red. Brad Wurzbacher of former Lucky 7 Rod Shop fabbed the custom interior.
All this led to Top Ten contender of the Young Guns Battle of the Builders and Mother’s Choice Award at the 2017 SEMA Show.
This coop’d up Rabbit is free to tear up the blacktop.
Thank you Don for the awesome photos and sharing this story. See more of Don’s photography at Studio413.net