The dampner was added by VW in the 1960 model year. They added rack and pinion steering in the 1975 model year.
Here's a one-page discussion on retrofitting a rack from thesamba.com:
Rack & Pinion Conversion
There's more:
Search:rack and pinion steering
From a few minutes scan, it looks like stock, 914, VW Polo (not Rabbit), or SACO are options.