1981 Restomod in Lutz, FL

Last Updated: 9/5/2025 | Ad Source: Direct

Asking Price: $14,500 $13,500 (Final Sale Price)

 

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1981 VW Rabbit Pickup/Caddy Restomod Price: $14500 obo

This 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit Pickup (aka “Caddy”) has had over $25K in refurbishment work done. Always garaged and only driven on dry days since I’ve owned it. I love this truck and have worked to get it exactly how I like it over the past 3 years, but I need to make space for my 3 other cars and son’s racing kart.

It’s powered by a transplanted AAZ 1.9-liter turbodiesel with a five-speed manual transaxle and is finished in black over red and grey interior. A glass-out repaint and mechanical refurbishment was completed in late 2014, and the engine was installed in February, 2018. I’ve had the truck on several 200+ mile road trips, and it’s never missed a beat. The additional power makes it much more fun and safer at keeping pace with modern traffic, plus gets 40mpg on the highway at 70 mph.

The truck has a six-foot bed with a rubberized spray-in liner, beltline trim, a removable tailgate, and European-style front and rear bumpers. BMW E30 14” alloy wheels have VW center caps and are wrapped in 185/65 Hankook Optimo tires with 2016 date codes. The finish on the wheels shows crazing. The front-end assembly was rebuilt using new struts, A-arms, ball joints, tie rod ends, CV axle and joints, brake calipers, rotors, pads, power brake booster, stainless-braided brake lines and wheel bearings. Work performed on the rear axle included replacing stub axles, wheel bearings, seals, brake drums and shoes, brake lining, parking brake cable and brake hoses. Brake fluid was flushed in March, 2024.

The cabin features dark grey bucket seats from a Mk 3 Golf, new black carpet and headliner, a replacement red dash and coordinated door panels, and all new weather seals. Amenities include crank windows, a Panasonic AM/FM cassette stereo, and custom-fitted red and black Coco floor mats. A small crack is present in the dash seam, and the top of the glovebox door shows wear.

A four-spoke steering wheel frames VDO instrumentation including an 85-mph speedometer, a clock with inset fuel and temperature gauges, and indicator lights. The six-digit mechanical odometer shows 194k miles, 5k of which were added under current ownership the past 3 years.

The 1.9-liter long block turbodiesel inline-four was factory rated at 75 horsepower and 107 lb-ft of torque. It was sourced from a Canadian-spec 1995 Volkswagen Golf in February 2018 with 49,076 miles at the time. A new timing belt, clutch and cables were installed in addition to the air intake during the swap. The main fuel line, under hood filter and valve cover gasket were all replaced in fall of 2023, and the coolant was flushed in March, 2024 and oil changed using Shell Rotella 5W-40 full synthetic in April, 2024. The catalytic converter was not installed, but has been retained and will be included in the sale if the buyer desires. The motor now has ~56,000 miles and the chassis has 194,000 miles on it.

Other upgrades & features:
• New black carpet and headliner
• A replacement red GTI dash and coordinated door panels
• All new weather seals
• Panasonic AM/FM cassette stereo
• Custom-fitted red and black Coco floor mats
• Stainless steel European-style front and rear bumpers
• 14” BMW E30 alloy wheels, including a full-sized spare
• Hankook Optimo tires with approximately 10k miles (2016 date codes)
• Rebuilt front-end assembly with new struts, front H&R Sport lowering springs, A-arms, ball joints, tie rod ends, CV axle and joints
• New brake calipers, rotors, pads, power brake booster, master cylinder, stainless braided brake lines and wheel bearings
• Refurbished rear axle with new stub axles, wheel bearings (re-packed March 2024), seals, brake drums and shoes, brake lining, parking brake cable and brake hoses
• Six-foot bed with a rubberized spray-in liner and removable tailgate
• A four-spoke steering wheel
• H&R “Sport” front springs and 2” rear drop plates

Other parts that will be included in the sale include:
• Air Conditioning system components
• New European GTI “duckbill” front spoiler
• An extra clutch, a Golf Mk 2 radiator
• Catalytic converter
• Extra trim/lenses, switches, cables and other spare parts, if desired.

Issues are:
• A dent on the driver’s door under beltline trim strip and other minor paint blemishes.
• Approximately 1″ small split in the dash seam between binnacle and glove box.
• Engine requires ~5-7 seconds cranking on cold start.

Last Updated on September 5, 2025 by TruckAds