The VW Pickup....
Wonder why you didn't get them as Utes? Seems like they would have sold very well.
Their world-wide name is "Caddy," but in the US, they were just called Pickups. They were hugely popular and still have a large cult following, as they are very rare now.
They were all built in Westmoreland, Pennsylvania from 1980, through the end of that plant's production in 1984. 1981 was the most prolific year......and that's what year mine is.
Most of them were built as diesels, with the 1.5L VW diesel in 1980, the 1.6L version in 1981, and then from 81-1/2 onward, the upgraded 1.6L which had stretch bolts for the cylinder head and recessed head bolt holes in the block. This was VW's final attempt to cure the headgasket failure and cracking blocks that their early engines were becoming so known for. I don't believe any were sold as turbo diesel from the factory, but it's a popular upgrade if a "real" VW 1.6L Turbo Diesel engine can be located. A common upgrade for them today is to put the later 1.9L diesel engine in them. It just transforms them as far as power and speed goes, yet still returns 45mpgUS.
Some were offered with the 1.7L fuel injected gasoline engine, and these were called "Sport Truck." Sort of a GTI version, but not with the useless close ratio 5pd transmission that the real GTI's came with. They are super rare, and get nearly the same mileage as the diesels, without all the problems and lack of power that the diesels suffer from.
Options included factory installed air conditioning and 5 speed transmission. None were produced with automatics. Many companies produced accessorie parts for them. Stockland (and others) built camper shells of various styles (mine came with a Stockland shell that cab roof height all the way back, Duraliner produced bedliners in white or black (as you see in my bed), and someone was building huge aluminum box fuel tanks that hold 26 gallons, instead of the orignal 14gal tank (mine has one of these too).
I found mine in a farmer's field back in about 1994. It was in terrible shape, and parts for it were being used all over the farm.....so it was just the body, with the rear sitting on a telephone pole that was laying under it. The rear axle had been removed and the springs taken apart. The main springs put back on the axle, and then the front bumper had been removed and was bolted to those springs. The guy was dragging that assmebly around behind his tractor to weed his fields. The bed liner was upside down in his goose/duck pen, as shelter for them. The shell was in his back yard as a dog house. He'd broken the dash completely open and removed the a/c-heater unit in order to use it in another car, and just left it laying on the ground next to the truck, driver's door and lower rocker panel were dented in, windshield broken, door wing windows broken, #2 exhaust valve head busted off and beaten into the piston until it folded over like a taco and was shoved back up into the head sideways, and the crankshaft snout keyway was all wallowed out so the timing gear had rotated out of time.
it was love at first site! I actually put it together in the field and drove it home on 3 cylinder just to spite the guy's abuse of it. He gave it to me, just to get it off his property.
Here's how it looked after I was finished restoring it:
