Prior to the current blue Caddy and my introduction to van life is this little beauty, a modified 2009 Mk3 VW Caddy.
Bought as it was the cheapest van on the market after the previous car died, it came into my life in a spectacular two tone shade of dogturd brown and hearing aid beige and fully branded with the previous owners landscaping business. With 270,000 miles on the clock and two days left on the MOT it came to me for a measily £1000. The MOT passed first time. It was very highly specced for a beater, I was happy to have air conditioning, but didn’t even know about the heated seats or the electric mirrors until it was in my name.
It took about 2 weeks to remove the branding.
It became the workhorse instantly – Always carrying gear for the band, always full of parts and projects. It was invaluable when my mum passed away and I had a lot of house clearing to do, and it’s practicality of being the size of a car but the capacity of a van secured me into the van life.
Modifications
First to be sorted was the paint. The purple came about purely because an online company repeatedly failed to colour match another car I had and kept sending out paints in the wrong colour leaving me with eight cans of various purples that matched nothing.
The rear lights were removed, the front lights and glass was masked off and that was it – paint was going on. Aiming for a cartoon finish to start but ending up more like it had been coloured in by my child, I doubled down and had my daughter finish it off.
Other mods were very minimal, fitted a very cheap Parrot hands free, a double din headunit, some better lights in the back and a towbar, and that was it. It was a workhorse, not a showpiece.
She lasted for nearly 3 years and in that time got to 332,500. A slow starting issue turned into a non starting issue, and a glowplug snapping in the head was the final call – uneconomical to repair. She was sold to another VW Caddy enthusiast who is doing the repairs and currently converting her into a modified day van. I get occasional updates and hope to see it again at a meet in the future.
Stahlwille 20-42 and 45-90mm Pair of Adjustable C-Spanners
Premium quality adjustable C-Spanner for castle nuts sized at 45 to 90mm.
