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Some Mk1 history tidbits I wasn't aware of...

358K views 618 replies 168 participants last post by  Hammandy 
#1 ·
#46 ·
Re: Some Mk1 history tidbits I wasn't aware of... (cooljet)

Quote, originally posted by cooljet »
Buzbomb has asked some questions so I will try to answer then as best as I can. As for the interior colors I vaguely remember tan, black and maroon.
As for trim levels were the base and mid trim models. The major reason was the Germans referred to the base model as the report card of the company. To understand this the base model contained more exposed metal and paint. When the base models hit final buy off they usually had more defects. In the early days of production we were able to produce near perfect vehicles and we in the body and paint shop were proud. The standard for a acceptable build was a 2.0 rating based on a 0 to 4.0 system. There days when basic models attained a 1.8 rating.
As far as the mix it was even mix between 2 and 4 door.
I was there for the first build of the US caddy. When the caddy was ready to launch I was working in the rear floor area. This was the area that received a complete makeover in order to build the truck floor. We built the first sub assembly and was asked to follow it to the weld line for assembly. I watched as the rear floor was put in place in the fixtures and watched as the caddy come together. THe main body weld fixture was massive tool that had 10 complete weld fixtures the indexed on a specific time. I wish I had a camera to document. The next major piece was the body side and before my the eyes the caddy was born on US soil. The body was finished it was removed form the weld fixture and sent to the respot line for final welding. When the truck was finished I felt that I had witnessed history.
Having been in body shop for all of the initial builds was an honor.
Capt.

That is awsome... http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
 
#48 ·
Re: Some Mk1 history tidbits I wasn't aware of... (slats)

Quote, originally posted by slats »
Gotta love the Capt.! I wish I could forget that "whisper blue" interior though!

X2. In my mind, that color will forever be "Quaalude Blue".
The Captain does know his Caddys - here's a pic of his "longhare" project:

I'll let Morgan explain...
Image uploading. Refresh page to view
 
#222 ·
Quote, originally posted by slats »
Gotta love the Capt.! I wish I could forget that "whisper blue" interior though!

X2. In my mind, that color will forever be "Quaalude Blue".
The Captain does know his Caddys - here's a pic of his "longhare" project:

I'll let Morgan explain...
Image uploading. Refresh page to view
i have seen that caddy before up at volksfest in campbelltown, pa its was interesting to see
 
#50 ·
Re: FV-QR (2L16VTurbo)

Buzzbomb asked me to relay a story of my time in Wolfsburg:
With in two weeks of hire I was sent to Wolfsburg to begin my certifications for the body shop. Also I was to be involved in the tooling that was being built to go to Westmoreland. We had a couple of different offices in the plant, but the neatest on of them all was a small brick building in the back of the plant that was for Westmoreland and prototype vehicles. I have a picture of one of the first Prototype caddys built and when I find it I will get It posted. Once I was there that was where I spent most of my open time. Alot of the major tooling was sent their for us to work with and train on, but around the exterior were European bodies that I had never seen. These where Bodies in White (just shells) sitting on pallets waiting for things to happen. The 2 bodies that I fell in love with was the RO 80 and the Dasher 2 Dr fastback. Now being a gear head I immediately started to evaluate how I could acquire a Dasher shell and stuff a huge American V8 into it. As I developed a friendship with the German engineers I began to ask pointed questions of how I could buy one of these bodies and get it back to PA for a little hot rod work. I actually was able to find and ally in the engineering dept that made some inroads for me to purchase said body but when it came down to the final hour the VW management thought that I might be setting a bad example with their products. It was fun explaining to the German engineers the dynamics of a large V8 in a light body. The dream never came to reality but it was real fun building it in my head on German soil .
Capt
 
#52 ·
Re: (D.E)

A good friend of mine's father worked at the plant....He just found a few Westmoreland items when he was cleaning out his grandfather's house, and a picture of himself in his dad's VW New Stanton jacket.
My father worked for Iron City Uniform and Towel...They did the coveralls and shop rags for Westmoreland. I so wish I could have got a pair or two when they pulled out in 89. His company even had to open up a "depot" in Delmont off of then brand-new toll 66 as a staging point for the factory and other businesses.
Alas, another chapter comes to a close in that star-crossed building....First Chrysler (never opened), VW (77-89), and now Sony (Mid 90's-2010). Sits empty once again. Sony didn't use a whole lot of that building, it's vast lot, once filled with Rabbits, sat empty most of the time. The old "Volkswagen Drive" became "Technology Drive".
As for you, Captain: I'm sure dealing with some of those employees was a pain in the ass. Over entitled out of work steelworkers who were used to slacking off, the cream of the crop of Westmoreland and Fayette-nam Counties, and other assorted blaggards. I have to think one of the reasons that place closed was that the employees stole that place BLIND....Many houses you go to out that way have a VW wheel as their hose reel, you find random boxes of brand new owners manuals and such at yard sales....Heck, last month, a friend of ours found these in a Craigslist ad in Greensburg. Gee, I wonder where they came from?



All brand new, never installed parts, direct from a now-deceased employee. My dad had a VW radio that was boosted from the plant installed in his '86 Isuzu P'up, he found it at work strategically hidden under a couple of coveralls, he was guessing the driver was coming back to get it and forgot about it.
 
#53 ·
Re: (dubdaze68)

Oh, and the afforementioned friend in his Rabbit jacket...

At the mall, but not just ANY mall, Monroeville Mall, where they filmed "Dawn of the Dead"!
Front of plant, Dec. '83:

This is on the PA Turnpike near the plant at around the same time.


I'm going to link that kid to this thread so he can chime in if he so chooses....
These are from another local club member.







MKD cars sitting in the still unfinished plant:


I have a pic from an archive I have to scan in, it's another angle of all the MKD cars sitting at the factory in different states of build under plastic sheeting. I also have a weathervane or two sitting around.
 
#54 ·
Re: (dubdaze68)

Your comment on the Westmoreland workforce is quite interesting. I was around when the plant was starting up. An interesting note: As part of the deal that VW made with the state of PA, VW had to hire the first couple of rounds of employees except skilled trades from the unemployed workforce, which at the time was large. I was part of the management team that was responsible for interviewing people. We usually spent one week periods doing nothing but interviewing 9 hours per day. Your statement was pretty much on the mark. I can remember going through 10+people to get one decent candidate.
On another note the Germans tried to keep the unions out of the plant. I can remember dismissing folks for distributing union literature. I was interesting that the skilled raids folks were the one that were instrumental in getting the union into the plant.
http://****************.com/smile/emgift.gif
 
#55 ·
Re: (cooljet)

Yeah, I remember seeing a Pittsburgh Press/Post-Gazette article in the archives somewhere about VW trying to keep the unions out.
One of my favorite stories involving the plant was from an old time tech around here talking about some of the EARLY westmoreland cars....
Woman came in a couple of times complaining of a thunking noise, they finally brought the regional service rep in, and he very exhaustedly told them to pull the front fender....And there was a Rolling Rock bottle tied to some string....Apparently there were a few cars like that he had encountered already.

And you have to understand the steelworkers...When the mills starting shutting down in the mid 70's, those guys were making 25 bucks an hour with 12 weeks paid vacation a year and EXCELLENT benefits with almost no skill. That crash almost KILLED this region...Because they were blue collar guys with more money than they knew what to do with, they pissed most of it away. They lived in small, tight-knit neighborhoods in old houses....But they had boats, cars, took long vacations all over, and sent all their kids to Catholic school....And had LOTS of kids. Most of those towns are pretty much gone now.


Modified by dubdaze68 at 8:50 PM 3-23-2010
 
#56 ·
Re: Some Mk1 history tidbits I wasn't aware of... (Thecleaner)

Quote, originally posted by Thecleaner »
like my new favorite show that I just gotta watch.......

Please Capt, tell us more.
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Feel free to let loose, we promise to be polite and respectful!
 
#57 ·
Re: Some Mk1 history tidbits I wasn't aware of... (puebla)

Another interesting story from Westmoreland. I was working in the paint shop in the early days of production. One day we developed craters (fish eyes) on the hoods in the prime area. this problem persisted for well over the a week. This problem would not go away. When we finally tracked down the problem, we found out that it was an operator who would not bathe during the work week. Instead he would load up his body with deodorant (Arid Extra Dry). The operator did not tape the sleeves of his suit and therefore as he sanded the hood he was pumping silicone from the deodorant onto the hood that he was preping. When we we found this individual he was turned over to the union to have the individual cleaned up. Amazing what some folks do.
Lesson learned: When you are doing body or paint don't ware deodorent
Capt
 
#58 ·
Re: Some Mk1 history tidbits I wasn't aware of... (cooljet)

What I love is how little the people that worked there drove the product. Employee lots full of huge assed 70's American metal....Do that with a foreign car at any of the big 3, you're not even allowed to park in the lot.
 
#59 ·
Re: Some Mk1 history tidbits I wasn't aware of... (dubdaze68)

So, for the caddy when was production commenced? I owned a truck titled as an 80(VIN tag matched) that had a build sticker for 10/78. I'll see if the guy who has what is left of that shell can post a picture. It had +/-36K on the gauge and the title and appeared to have sat in a field for many years. There was nothing left of the structure and the weatherproofing I complain about when removing fenders was non-existant. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
 
#61 ·
Re: (dubdaze68)

Interesting as we in Corporate Parts were getting calls constantly for parts to keep the line from shutting down.It got so bad Materials in Michigan even rerouted some of our shipments.Because we were two separate Companies that was illegal and the threat of involving the FTC stopped it.We always wondered where so many parts were going as they had a sophistcated Purchasing/Release System!
 
#62 ·
Re: Some Mk1 history tidbits I wasn't aware of... (cooljet)

Quote, originally posted by cooljet »

Sorry for the rambling but it is such great story. As I put the way back in gear I will recount other little tid bits for your enjoyment.


By all means ramble on, these storeies are great!
 
#64 ·
Re: Some Mk1 history tidbits I wasn't aware of... (OLD-GTI)

Quote, originally posted by OLD-GTI »

By all means ramble on, these storeies are great!

http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif Thank you, I'm enjoying this thread quite a bit.
 
#68 ·
Re: Some Mk1 history tidbits I wasn't aware of... (deer_eggs)

Story to come. I have found and article on probably the rarest rabbit of them all. Its title was the Black Jack. It was built as a show car for the VP of Manufacturing for this use and the show circuit. It was painted and assembled in Westmoreland. It was a two tone scheme (black and gold). It was built on the second shift and I remember 2 other bodies being built. I gave Buzbomb the material along with some other finds so that he can post for all to enjoy.
Another teaser for all Caddy fanatics, is a picture of one of the first rabbit pickup taken at Wolfsburg styling building in 1975. A big difference from what we ended up with. Again buzbomb has the pictures to post.
Thanks for listening.

Capt
 
#69 ·
Re: Some Mk1 history tidbits I wasn't aware of... (cooljet)

this really needs to be it's own thread. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
buzzbomb and the captiain need to copy the stories into another thread for all to see... i almost closed this thread after seeing the useless info at the start... then i found the stories...
keep talking, captain...
i wish i would have known about you, as i grew up in muncie, not too far south of ft. wayne...
 
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