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The Bunny Truck - A 16v Caddy - Rescued, Refreshed and with a New Owner

57K views 573 replies 39 participants last post by  Butcher 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi all, after many years and many other cars (both VW and other), I've gone back to a Mk1. In particular, an '81 Caddy.

I am a serial car rescuer. I have a history of buying derelict vehicles and working to refresh or restore them. I also have a lot of history in German cars, and water cooled VWs in particular.

I bought my first VW in 1979, a '78 Scirocco. My wife and I liked it so much that in June of '81 we traded it in to get a new one before the 2nd gen Scirocco arrived for '82. That was my first new car ever, a Cirrus Gray Scirocco S. We kept that car for 10 years.

It was replaced by a new '91 Jetta GLI 16v, as we needed a car with better back seat access for our growing son. We kept that one for 18 years, then gave it to our son after he graduated college. He still drives it today.

Other VWs over the years were an '86 GTI 8v, '90 Corrado G60, and a '10 Golf TDI. When the TDI buyback came, we bought an Audi A3 etron plugin hybrid to be the new daily driver.

My rescue projects over the years have been more varied. A '67 MGB basket case, gray market '81 BMW 323i, '71 240Z, '84 944, '73 914 2.0, '64 Toyota FJ40 soft top, and most recently a '72 911T. Only the 911 is still in my possession. The rest moved on to new owners when the projects were completed.

Anyway, on to the Caddy. I came across it recently. Born as a silver LX gas truck, it now has a 2.0 16v and 5 speed from a '92 Passat. Was parked a little over a year ago with an apparent fuel delivery issue. It sports a rather amateur Mars red paint job, but has a full round headlight conversion.

Not sure how far I'll take this yet, maybe just a quick repair to make it run, drive and do so safely. Or maybe I'll go full boat with a GTI-look refresh.

I'll post some pictures as soon...
 
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#312 ·
Today I finished all the welding that I'm going to do.

After repairing the lower corner of the left fender, I finished by welding up the trim holes in the left outer rocker panel. That's it. Done.

Now, I will admit that it is possible—or even likely—that the painter will find additional work that is needed during the body prep. I'm OK with that. By doing the floor pans, bed floor patch and patching under the rear window myself, I feel pretty good about where I'm at.

Will drive the little guy across town to the paint shop soon, so the painter can see it in person for planning and estimate. Maybe tomorrow if he's available, otherwise sometime next week.

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#316 · (Edited)
Will drive the little guy across town to the paint shop soon, so the painter can see it in person for planning and estimate.
That trip was today. Lots of good, and only a little not-so-good.

The round trip to the paint shop was 17.9 miles according to the (now working) odometer. Undoubtedly the longest single trip the truck has taken for 5, maybe 6 years. And it did pretty well. Ride, handling and brakes were all fine, no issues. Everything except the fuel gauge worked, and I've got a new sender for that on the shelf. Coolant temp stayed in the normal range the entire time.

I did notice a couple of issues. The idle when fully warm is a bit high, about 1300 on the tach. And it's a bit stubborn to restart when fully warm as well, although it starts immediately when cold. These could be related. It sounds reasonably civilized when driven normally, but is LOUD when you open it up. (Tri-Y header, 2" pipe with a 12" glass-pack and a turbo muffler.)

And when you drive it hard enough to make it loud, it is QUICK! The little truck surprises me when I get on it. It's much quicker than my son's '91 GLI with the same engine. Of course, this truck has shorter gearing, weighs less, and might even be making a bit more power with the header on it.

The idle and warm start issues will need to wait a bit, as the painter and I quickly came to agreement on what needs to be done, and he wants to start on Friday. So I have 3 days to get all the removable bits off so that he and his team can get on with it.

I started on the tear-down today, the passenger door is now a bare shell...
 
#319 ·
Same local shop that painted my Porsche over the winter of '19-20. We haven't discussed a timeframe, I'm going to guess 8-10 weeks, as this type of job has to be worked around the normal collision repair work.
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#321 ·
While the truck is gone, I've started cleaning and refurbishing parts that will go back on it when it is ready. Among other things, the interior is going to go all black rather than the 'peanut butter' color it was born with. New black door cards have been stashed away for some time, and I'm starting to clean and re-paint (SEM products) the interior bits, including (eventually) the dash pad itself. Picked up a pair of black armrests from a Cabby, too.

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#356 · (Edited)
Have begun tackling the job of re-furbing the driver's seat. You may recall I picked up a pair of dirty Mk3 Jetta sport seats, out of either a Jazz or Celebration edition. I modified the seat bases to fit in a Mk1 early on.

You can see that in addition to being very dirty and covered in dog hair, the driver's seat shows typical wear on the outer bolsters. The seat back cloth is worn through, but no foam damage yet. The seat cushion has worn clear through the bolster foam.

Luckily, the matching rear seat was available, so my wife (the sewing expert among us) will scavenge material from the rear to replace the two damaged panels.

I stripped all the covers off the seat a few days ago, and she will start working on the repairs in a few days. Yesterday I repaired the bolster foam using sections cut out of the rear seats. Cut and shaped a plug to fill the hole, then glued a thin skin of foam over the top to smooth it out. I think it should be fine once the cover is back on.
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#375 ·
Visited again today, much more red paint gone. While we weren't sure if we'd need to go this far, it's really no surprise that to ensure a decent job the whole truck will end up bare metal before long.

A few minor issues found, mostly shoddy work prior to the thick red paint. That's another advantage to a bare-metal job, you find (and hopefully fix) all the little issues.

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#376 · (Edited)
Pretty much the entire exterior is now either bare metal, or with a skim of filler. Hoping to get all the remaining small repairs done and into epoxy late this week.

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#379 · (Edited)
The plan was that I would clean up and shoot something in the engine bay myself before the paint work, and the paint shop would shoot color inside the cab. But before I got to the engine bay the painter called and said he had an open slot and wanted the truck ASAP. So I'm going to need to do the engine bay after I get it back. Hopefully the painter remembers to do the inside too. I keep forgetting to talk with him about that.
 
#389 ·
I'm still here, but I still don't have the little truck back yet. Not even painted. The painter has been backed up with collision work. Those insurance jobs are what pays most of the bills, and since the insurance companies put short deadlines on those jobs (to minimize their car rental reimbursements), they have priority over project work like mine. I'm hoping he will get back on it soon.

In the meanwhile, I've got both of the seats at a shop getting the worn bolsters repaired, and the confetti-pattern center inserts replaced. The seats should be done in a week or so.
 
#453 ·
My tank was bashed in the bottom, collapsed on top, and leaking at the fittings. No way I could have got it fixed for the $244 shipped that I paid back in Feb 2021. Different story at today's prices.
 
#465 ·
Interior getting pretty close. Figured out I'm missing the duct that leads to the left side vent. May have never had it, as it's not a small part and I don't have many storage spots to look in. So far I've found everything else, so I may have to hunt one of those down.
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#474 ·
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#529 ·
is it staying in the nw?
Short term? Yes. Long term? :unsure:
hopefully the new owner can keep everyone posted on its next phase :)
Not sure the new owner does much online posting. Not my call either way.
Almost two years' worth of cheap (free?) entertainment.
Cheap entertainment, in this case, not free. But yes, that was the point.
Now that your goal has been met, my question is: how does the Westmoreland Rabbit platform compare to others that you have restored?
Not all that well, frankly. VW cut a lot of corners when they built these things compared to any of the German makes I've played with over the years. And even the 50-55 year old Japanese that I've done were better designed and executed.
Are there more MK1s in your future?
Can't rule it out. But it would either need to be a German Mk1, or a really exceptional Westmorland example. My main criteria right now is that'd really like to find something that does NOT need a full bare metal repaint. I've dealt with that on 4 projects in a row. I need a break from paint job issues.
 
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#528 ·
Now that your goal has been met, my question is: how does the Westmoreland Rabbit platform compare to others that you have restored?

Are there more MK1s in your future?
 
#535 ·
Flipper, in a way. The buyer made no secret of his plans to dress it up a bit more and sell it, probably on BaT. The plaid seats and snowflakes are very much in line with my original vision. I wasn't willing to risk the no-reserve bit on BaT, so I wish him well.
 
#111 · (Edited)
New header and tail lights arrived today, a day or two earlier than expected. Shipping from the UK to Oregon wasn't cheap, but was very fast.

The header is a pretty nice piece, especially for the price. Stainless, 4-2-1, nice thick flange. $340 delivered to the USA. Took about 3½ weeks all told, most of that waiting for the manufacturer in Germany to ship one to Classic-VW. (For UK buyers, they just drop-ship them from the manufacturer direct to the buyer. For US buyers they have it shipped to their shop in the UK and then dispatch to USA via FedEx.) So about $200 less than any mild steel units + shipping I found here in the USA. The only downside I see so far is that it lacks a bung for the oxygen sensor. But I can deal with that myself very affordably. Probably worth the wait.

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Took advantage of the shipping cost and had them include a pair of tail lights that seem hard to come by on this side of the pond. Reproductions, of course. But pretty nice looking ones, just the same.

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