MK1 caddy, break or resto?!

Hi all,

im back with another mk1 (think im starting to like this old skool thing! :wink

yesterday i went to look at a caddy, one that i have known of for years but never really thought about.
This is how i found it….



i have no idea how long it has actually sat there but its over 10 years, so i thought what the hell why not, worst case senario was i will scrap it, as at some point someone has fitted all gti gear to it so it could supply parts for my 1.1c!








after going back this morning, the helpful farmer had dragged her out from her hiding place (ripping off the front panel in the process!) and he gave her a quick jet wash. now she is sitting on my yard awaiting my decision as to whether i restore her or break her for parts?!



so far i have found she needs 2 new doors, a drivers front wing, outer sills, bonnet, front panel, cab back panel and a new bed. it sounds alot but the base seems fairly solid. The sides of the bed are fairly straight, the front end is suprisingly good. chassis rails straight and strong, 'A' posts are rust free and so are the inner front arches!



deos anyone know what wheels these are? they look like g60 steels but they are 14 inch? i also have 4 flat centre caps with the vw logo on! wheel seem in really good condition.











im thinking of removing the entire panel and folding up a new peice, i know it wont look original without the recesses but atleast it will be strong. i will probably remove the entire bed floor and replace with flat steel.

think the passenger door is a bit past it!





passenger footwell  


now some not so bad points!…





over the comming week it will be a full strip down to a rolling shell and ill excavate all the rust i find. i have had a peek under the carpet and so far only found shiney paint but im sure there is more rust to come!

I'm really hoping to save her, i do realise how much work is  ahead but she seems worth the effort, but again once she is down to a rolling shell she will b e put into the barn for a while untill i finish my current project!

comments appreciated!  

cheers

wow! looks a big project but well worth saving. hope you decide to give it the works.
looks like it has got some good bits on it, so hopefully you wont much more rust.  

  Your a brave man my friend. Good look to you.

Lets hope its only cosmetic!

Hi all,

so far she seems well worth saving, im not scared of a bit of welding as im a fabricator by trade. i have noticed that the jacking point it rotten on one front corner so im sure she will have a few issues but the inner sill seem ok at a glance!

didnt get a chance to do anything to her today as i was off with my dad picking up a couple of mk2 escort axles and a few other parts, we plan to use 1 in his morris van. while there the offer has come up to buy a low milage 2litre cossie turbo engine, box and loom for reasonable money.

this has got me wondering about fitting this to the caddie along with the second escort axle (we also got a 4.1 diff and the is also an lsd available).
front suspension would then be swapped to double wishbone along with custom alloy uprights using golf hubs probably with 280mm discs and porsche calipers. this is what whe are fitting to the morris van so converting it over to the caddie will only need a wishbone re-design.

how would this sort of hybrid be perceived by the vw community?!

This project would probably also be built with the intention of selling it at the end as i have too many projects to handle at the moment! ops:

any comment and thoughts much appreciated!

cheers

Caddy Cossie. Sounds perfect to me!

Guess the thing to think about is will it cost more to restore than to buy an OK one. Pretty much nothing is past saving but plenty aren't cost effective.

does look liek the rust is cosmetic there, might clean up nicely. seems a  pretty rare beastie if it is a caddy gti and not just badged up, the oettinger badge is interesting as well, might be its a bit special under the bonnet or it could just be someones stuck a badge on it :laugh:

edit: I think the wheels are just boggo MK3 Golf steelies?

rubjonny said

the oettinger badge is interesting as well, might be its a bit special under the bonnet or it could just be someones stuck a badge on it :laugh:

just what I was thinking!! :wink:

Pretty sure its just been badged up as a gti, but how could i find out for sure?!

just took a close up pic of the oettinger sticker, seems pretty old. i'll have the engine out this week so i'll see if i can notice anything modded. im sure it will be stock then it will probably be for sale as i wont be putting a kjet engine back in!

after doing a few measurements of the caddy rear end and the escort rear axle it all seems too easy! so that is now the plan, along with an ABF powerplant (on digi management) through a type 9 ford box. would love to buy the cossie set up but dont think funds are going to allow it! :x

i can put up pics of the sticker if people wanna see?

cheers

I'm intrigued as to why this has an oettinger sticker on the rear?!! Not an oettinger engine conversion or something is it? (wishful thinking!!!)

Borrow the funds. A YB caddy would be awesome lol

Hi all,

Thanks for all the comments, and although the cossie caddy would be a great to my wallet is the biggest factor in this argument and it says no! so the drivetrain is now more likely to be an abf motor running digi management, mated to a ford type 9 box and mk2 escort rear axle. should be a fun combo?! i plan to remake the rear chassis from box section steel with a new bed and new inner arches.

had a couple of hours today to acess just how much rot she has!






it really does look worse than it is i promise, once the chassis rails, crossmembers and bed are gone wats left is pretty much straight steel. i'll replace the cab back with 1 piece of sheet steel folded. what makes it worth while is i can hardly find any serious rust on the cab and bonnet area! the outer sills need to be done but the inners are solid, the floor pans also seem very good. so far i have cleaned up the passenger footwell and only found 3 small holse. both sides need attention by the out seat rails but this will be done when the outer sills are done.






started to clean up under the seat on the passenger side,have had a very good poke around with the screwdriver and it seems very solid! cant really work out had it could be wet for so long and sustane plants and moss and it didnt rot through!

I realise its been 4 years since last post, but does anyone know if this caddy was scrapped or restored?

I guess not
https://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/app/enquiry?execution=e1s3