CVV's Daily Dose of Dub - TRUCK WEEK

"crown victor victoria" (cvv) 08/08/2013 at 13:59 • Filed to: DDOD

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Even though I just did the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! yesterday, the Caddy deserves a spot somewhere in Truck Week for a few interesting reasons.

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First and foremost, the Caddy (which was only ever known as the Rabbit Pickup domestically) was first produced in the US at the Westmoreland, PA assembly plant in a short run from 1979-1982. It's now closed, but was VW's first plant in the United States, and also the first US site used by a foreign manufacturer since Rolls Royce built cars in Springfield, MA from 1921-1931. Sportruck was apparently one of the trim levels.

VW America had seen the mintruck version of the MKI Golf platform, and wanted it to compete with other minitrucks like the Subaru BRAT or the Chevy LUV. So VW set up shop in PA in what was an unfinished Chrysler plant and started building Caddys. They were introduced to the European market in 1982, coming out of a VW plant in Sarajevo through 1992. South Africa also sold the MKI (or Typ 14 in Caddy platform terminology) until 2007, alongside the MKI Golf. The tooling was shipped from the Westmoreland plant after it shuttered, so VW definitely got some good return on that initial investment.

But the Caddy's actually a bit of a mutt, platform-wise, which I also find interesting. It was only Golf-based for that first (very long) generation, and the introduction of Typ 9K and 9U in 1996 saw use of the bones of the MKIII Polo and Škoda Felicia pickup, respectively. The current-gen Typ 2K, introduced in 2003, is based on the VW Touran but uses Golf MKV front suspension bits. This iteration of the model doesn't actually include a pickup version, but several panel van setups, a 7-seater and a "Tramper" camper setup.

I favor the Typ 14 / MKI version, but probably because it's the only one I've ever seen with my own eyes and has a pretty solid following stateside. There's some cool camper conversions

And overall I think they look pretty good with a bit of air under them:

Well...within reason of course

Ok, ok. That one's not really a VW at all but it's still awesome. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for full details, but it's a '77 Blazer frame.

Oh and the later versions got 4MOTION, which looks kind of fun:

And they threw some in the VW Racing Cup, which looks like even more fun:

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Perhaps the zaniest Caddy of all, though, is Viktor Martensson's 1JZ drift machine:

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! if that gets Kinja'd, and a full writeup on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with lots more great pictures.

ttyymmnn > crown victor victoria 08/08/2013 at 14:06

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I knew a guy who swapped a GTI engine into his Rabbit pickup. The ultimate sleeper.

Just wear your damn mask... > crown victor victoria 08/14/2013 at 15:51

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I had one of these a few years ago. It was a Diesel and I drove it home on three cylinders, finding out later one of the cam followers had pitched its shim. Replaced the follower, the shim, the timing belt and some injectors for good measure. It ran like a top, so I also threw in some front springs and struts and brakes before I used it to run to Home Depot on weekends. It was fun, if not a little cramped. Then I decided to tackle the seats, which were moving around for some reason. I discovered that the floor was completely rusted out and was being held together by the carpet, some unknown industrial adhesive and some chip guard. I turned around and sold it.

Lost my ass on that one.

crown victor victoria > Just wear your damn mask... 08/14/2013 at 15:56

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Wow that's scary. Rust was never kind to anything VW from that era. Or anything from that era I suppose.

Just wear your damn mask... > crown victor victoria 08/14/2013 at 15:58

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It was a bummer. The more obvious spots for Mk1 Golf/Rabbits/Jettas, the strut towers and the rockers, were solid. It was all up underneath.