My dream car is a Mk1 VW caddy pickup.

I’m about to MOT and sell my relatively practical Transit in order to buy said above car.

I know it won’t be as practical. I know it’s more likely to break down. I know it’s going to either be rusty, or become rusty very soon, even if i pay relatively top dollar for one (circa £3k). I know the 1.6 petrol, 1.6 diesel and 1.9 diesel will be slow. Unless i get an engine conversion, there are no other engines.

but i can’t help wanting one.

am i stupid?

Yes you are stupid, but it sounds like a great idea so I must be too.

Get the petrol and put a bigger engine in it. Possibly the 1.8 turbo out of the Mk4 Golf.

or the diesel and put the 2ltr diesel engine in.

oh, wait… the other stupid bit of it all is that i’m entirely mechanically incompetent…

i’ve looked at a couple of engine swaps – scirocco engines for eg, and they do appeal. not sure i’d go down the route of doing it myself though.

fortunately my local garage is run by a decent bloke, so if i do get one, and it all goes to shit, i’d get him to fix it 😉

Physically swapping an engine for a like for like unit is easy. Its when you start trying to integrate more modern electrics into an old car you start to have problems. Not sure if you can run something like the 1.8t with a carb and old school electrics or even if you would want to.

Alternatively you could fit FI of some sort onto the existing 1.6.

Dream car that’ll undoubtedly be crap? Sign me up for a 2.8i Capri, thanks.

FI being what I_Ache?!

I’m also clueless about cars 😉

this literally would be a vanity purchase – i think they’re just the best looking motors around!

My dream car is a Mk1 VW caddy pickup.

am i stupid?

tee hee

anyway, i say do it. Spend the first year loving it despite it’s foibles, the 2nd being annoyed, then get rid and think ‘well, that was a fun couple of years’ 🙂

This is the one i’d like to buy…

but i need to sell the bloody transit first 🙁

i imagine that would go rather well!

FI being what I_Ache?!

Fuel injection.

Swapping an old 1.6 for a new 1.6 will make 3/5ths of sod all difference. It might burn less oil and be more tolerant of future tuning, but there’ll only be a marginal increase in power for a lot of effort.

If the engine is sound then an easier solution is to take the fuel injection hardware from a similar engine (fords seem popular), have someone fabricate a manifold, and buy/build a programmable ECU, look up companies like megasquirt. Add in some faster cams, tubular exhaust manifold, and freeer flowing exhaust and you’d be onto a winner.

Modding the MK1 Caddy is pretty popular – if you wanted more go getting one of the VW tuning specialists to fit a 1.8T motor (Mk4 golf, audi A4 etc) is surprisingly straightforward now everyone has got used to the idea of ECU’s rather than carbs and dizzys… For someone with no mechanical knowledge, probably an easier option than getting someone to tune an older 1600 to any worthwhile level, and will be a more reliable motor (as it would be running in stock build essentially, just in a different body).

Or speak to someone like Storm developments and see if they will put an R32 motor in it for you!

Please don’t mock, Suzuki Samurai SJ 413. Utterly impractical, slow, noisy, can’t fit a bike in the back unless it’s in several pieces. But I owned on once and they are thoroughly loveable cars. Go anywhere, easy to mend, and you never feel as though you’re in a rush (as that’s not an option).

A MK1 caddy drove past me earlier in Swansea, I’d love one.

I believe you can pretty much wang in any engine that came in any of the MK1’s so a 1.8GTi engine would be my choice, electromechanical injection system so no worries about ECUs or such. A 16v from a Mk2 would be temping, but I believe that means trying to find the rare right-hand intake manifold from a Sirocco 16v which is almost mythical it’s so rare.

I believe the biggest challenges to people who really love them and want to build really nice ones is finding a embossed tailgate that’s not dented or rusty because VW only sold plain ones as spares and finding nicer seats – the standard ones are flat, boring and not veryu comfortable, but you can’t simply throw in a set of GTi seats because the cabin is so short they won’t fit unless you’re very short.

My teenage job was delivering milk out of the back of a mk 1 Caddy. Why anyone would want one is beyond me, still, each to their own.

I’d love an MGB. Even though it’ll be slow, leaky and unreliable.

hungry monkey – Member
FI being what I_Ache?!

Sorry, I ment Forced Induction. Basically strap a supercharger or a turbo onto it. That along with TINAS idea would have the thing flying.

Second hand superchargers and turbos arn’t particularly expensive but can be a bit uncertain regarding quality. A supercharger would probably be more involved as you will need a longer belt and a good mount onto the engine, the turbo would need a new exhaust manifold making for it, and probably the rest of the exhaust replacing. Both will need an intercooler and pipes. The turbo would probably be easier in reality but superchargers sound better.

I drove a Mk1 Caddy when I had a summer job. It leaked water so we carried a container in the back to top up. This was a pain so the boss decided the best approach was to drive everywhere flat out and see how far he could get before all the water fell out. He finished the day getting towed home with a dead engine 🙄

This one is sweet,
http://m.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C388483.
Very early one with chrome bumpers and early golf style dash, the only downside is its currently in California.

We had three Mk1 VW Caddys that were all bought new. They were hugely practical four our needs, frugal and cheap as chips to run in their standard form. I think they all did between 150 -200,000 miles. It was only rust that killed them.

They were all 1.6 diesels. Two were four speeds the last a five speed. They never had any engine work other than timing belt and oil changes.

I may have kept the rust free tail gate from my last one. I only recently binned the Ifor Williams hard top.

Cars and vans have moved on a lot, but I’d have another in a flash if I could find a decent unmodified one.

I wanted an AMG Hammer in the mid-eighties

I bought a 6litre V12 AMG CL which was the nearest thing I could find/afford*.

Loved it for the time I had it.

*second hand and I ran it until I was offered a modern equivalent which was another Merc but with 600bhp and less of a barge

Unless i get an engine conversion

do this.

I have 2 letters and a number for you

V.
R.
6.

*I have no idea if this would work, but a lot of my dub loving mates seem to spaff their pants at the very thought.

HTH

My dream dream car is an F40.
My more realistic dream was an S1 Elise, I finally bought one, after mx5’s & MR2’s. Loved it to bits, sold it after 4 months as situation changed and I got offered more than I paid for it. I never intended to keep it forever but 4 months wasn’t enough.

Looking at another but it will be a quicker one and not for a few years.

It’s not about how good it is, it’s how much you want it.

I mostly drive this:

As a car, it’s totally rubbish. It’s ace though.

Skoda Felicia Fun with the matching Ifor Williams hard top. Convert it to diesel and its a winner though even “good” ones are looking ropey these days…

I think you’re mental.

But I really want an XJS V12.

tomhoward – Member
Unless i get an engine conversion
do this.
I have 2 letters and a number for you
V.
R.
6.
*I have no idea if this would work, but a lot of my dub loving mates seem to spaff their

Quite a few people have put a VR6 in a MK1 (and bigger V6’s from newer golfs) but even as a former VR6 owner I have to admit it’s not the best engine in the world, it doesn’t produce a huge amount of power relative to its size and it weighs an absolute tonne which would cause havoc in a Caddy – stupidly thirsty too, low 20’s MPG which is fairly appalling for a 176bhp hot hatch, you’d get the same from something like a RS4 these days.

I personally like to keep things ‘era correct’ so would keep to Mk1/2 GTi engines, but if you want lots of power the boring as hell 20VT is the way to go, it used to be ‘big news’ but now everyone has done it.

A 16v from a Mk2 would be temping, but I believe that means trying to find the rare right-hand intake manifold from a Sirocco 16v which is almost mythical it’s so rare.

This was always seen as the purist’s way of fitting the 16v in a MK1 but as you say they are very rare. It’s straightforward to fit a standard MK2 16v though, I had one in my MK1. Makes for a very quick little car.

Era specific?

like a 2.0 ABF? Would Sir like throttle bodies with that?

m0rk might recognise the engine

sooo…

i went and did it.

so far i’ve spangled the front wing (hungover driver error 😳 ), it’s had a £500 trip on an AA van after massively overheating and suspected head gasket (it wasn’t), and is now in for £500 repairs/sorting shit out under the hood/brakes to make it perfect.

and i **** love it..!

Green wheels will be removed/refurbed as soon as i’ve recouped some cash in the bank. chrome trim/mirrors etc will be added as will a tonneau, and the interior needs sorting. thanks to munrobiker for the photos…

flame away… 😉

Well played sir!

I too would adore a 2.8i Capri. Especially a 280 Brooklands. I can afford to buy a good one but I’ve nowhere to store it. I’d be heartbroken if it got stolen.

Love the caddy but I’m more jealous of kenneththecurtain’s landrover.

My dream car would be this – my Dad ran a hardtop version for a few years. God I loved that car.

And yes, I drive a 130 defender and a 90 hard-top fairly regularly, so I’m under no illusions how uncomfortable, noisy and downright infuriating it would likely to be.

Good work!

Yes they’re slow, impractical and unreliable but I absolutely loved mine when I had it.

Bought it looking fairly standard but had a full body restoration and paint. Ended up sat about an inch off the floor on 13in Wellar Racing steels with a 5 speed box, polished wood pickup and mk5 Recaro interior.

It got by far the most attention any car I’ve owned had always 100% positive.

Photo before it got properly low…

Very nice. But whats with the fibreboard on the front grill?

How easy/hard is it to get your bike in the back?

Not being big on cars, i can’t say I have a dream one, but I had one of these as an only form of transport for a while and that while was living in the country)

air-cooled it was a lot slower than it looked
weight pitched forward on your wrists, at less than about 60 it was crippling to ride (so not great in town then)
cornering at speed was awesome, cornering at slow considerably unawesome
it was incredibly unreliable with more than few late night breakdowns
the electrics were, were, well, Italian would be the best word to describe them
I loved it (said with the benefit of a decade’s breathing space)

EDIT – However, as a result of this, I am more mechanically competent than I was before.

that sounds ace jamesfts – bit more to do on mine before it gets like that!

I-Ache – t’is slightly rusted mesh, rather than fibre board – if it’s the bit i think you’re referring to

I think it would look better in gloss black.

Lotus Cortina. Likely to be fairly slow, very noisy, rattly, lousy on fuel and very, very unreliable. I’d just look at it in my heated garage. And the Mk1 AC Cobra next to it. And the Vincent Black Shadow on the other side of it ……. Oh and did I mention the Citroen DS as everyday transport?

aye, quite possibly. fair bit down the list of shit to do though

bikes go in easily at the mo – ft wheel off and laid flat on top of each other, tied down with bungees. am thinking of a better solution – the tail sheets from evoc etc might fit, or i might make a metal valance for the bed with a bike rack bolted on (seen it done).

would have to be a downtube clamping mount, as i ride bikes with QR, 100×15 and 110 boost forks :-/