The Caracal

Non ACVW models.
User avatar
Aircooledwannabee
Oil Cooler
Posts: 358
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2007 8:52 pm
What model do you have?: wannabe buggy
Location: V-TOWN

Re: The Caracal

Post by Aircooledwannabee »

I saw one yesterday 13/04/2009 in Heidelberg.
Yellow in colour and it has a standard 1.6 golf motor in it. Fiat Uno dials, hard top, black interior, frontwheel drive.(motor in front), in running condition.
It belongs to a retired magistrate.

Now a question what is something like this worth?

I'll be going there on Wednesday and try get some pictures. :hangloose:


Image
"Money talks & Bullshit walks"
Pine
ACVWSA Junkie
Posts: 15031
Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2005 5:54 pm
What model do you have?: Oil on the driveway
Location: Wilderness
Has thanked: 231 times
Been thanked: 233 times
Contact:

Re: The Caracal

Post by Pine »

Aren't you referring to the Rasso Kit Car? It is based on VW Golf mechanics, and looks a lot like the Caracal. Unfortunately this is the only pic I have, from the rear

Image
User avatar
VWCrazy
Flywheel
Posts: 571
Joined: Sun Aug 10, 2008 5:33 am
What model do you have?: 2001 Watercooled
Location: Rustenburg

Re: The Caracal

Post by VWCrazy »

The Razzo was built by Kit Car Centre if I'm correct?
Heddles
Drip
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Feb 07, 2016 9:40 am
What model do you have?: 2002 Golf Pickup
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: The Caracal

Post by Heddles »

Image


Hello guys....

I see that this is quite an old thread and I don't know if anyone would still be interested in this car.
Saw this at Kilarney yesterday and knowing and having worked on it, I decided to try and find out more about their current status. A search landed me on this forum so here goes. My info about these cars.

I have driven one, albeit in the nineties. There were two in Cape Town, a blue and a red one. The engines were mid mounted, as in behind the driver. For its time, they were quite impressive. Surprisingly rigid for the roofless design and the KR engine with the 2Y gearbox certainly made for some decent performance. I was involved with a guy by the name of Eric Booth at the time, who was building kit cars in Diep River in Cape Town at the time and he was somehow connected to the creator of this car. Eric was building a car called a Manx at the time. Also mid mounted and actually quite a cute little piece of work.

Image

The story went and I am open to correction, which I have contacted Eric for, that there were five built, of which three had to be destroyed in the process of testing crumple zones. I will update for any of you who might be interested...

So if this is correct and it could be wrong by one car, maybe two went to be crashed, then there are only two cars left. Not necessarily a stunning car but a little piece of SA motoring achievement in my opinion..
User avatar
retrovan
Donor
Donor
Posts: 8709
Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2011 8:51 pm
What model do you have?: 52T1,68FB,72Bay,75FL
Location: Eich! no, in Jefferys Bay
Has thanked: 421 times
Been thanked: 539 times
Contact:
Netherlands

Re: The Caracal

Post by retrovan »

The Caracal, Molds and the only un-built car body that came off the molds are still with my friend in Uitenhage,

He was going to build them, then asked me if I wanted to join in building them, then the whole thing stopped when the price of fiberglass went through the roof, and talk of banning fiberglass all together, by law.

Good looking shape anyway.......

Herman
1952 Split Beetle 1835cc
1968 Fastback 2Lt.type4
1972 Low Light Bay Panel Van 2Lt type 4
1975 Fleetline Panel Van 1914cc
2020 MeFusco Beetle Truck 2Lt type 4
1972 FT Hahn SP 1776 cc
User avatar
hitlers revenge
ACVWSA Junkie
Posts: 6486
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 11:38 pm
What model do you have?: buggy
Location: back in the 'Fell
Been thanked: 36 times
Great Britain

Re: The Caracal

Post by hitlers revenge »

Heddles, My mate owned that Red Caracal for many years in Plumstead.

After he passed on, I don't know what happened to it.

Do you know the new owner?
Why do we celebrate the guy that invented the wheel??
Surely we must celebrate the guy tat invented the other three
User avatar
hitlers revenge
ACVWSA Junkie
Posts: 6486
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 11:38 pm
What model do you have?: buggy
Location: back in the 'Fell
Been thanked: 36 times
Great Britain

Re: The Caracal

Post by hitlers revenge »

The Caracal was built in Epping, Cape Town with Golf mechanicals until Volkswagen pulled out of the deal for what ever reason.
Why do we celebrate the guy that invented the wheel??
Surely we must celebrate the guy tat invented the other three
Emmex5
Drip
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 11:25 am
What model do you have?: Caracal

Re: The Caracal

Post by Emmex5 »

Heddles wrote:Image

Hi guys

Searching for totally something else, I happened on this (rather interesting) site and saw my car, the VW Caracal, under discussion. Interestingly, soon after the photo was taken (by Heddles) at Killarney Raceway, the Caracal was surrounded by Mazda MX-5's - my other passion in life. (Visit us at www.mx5wc.co.za) I bought the Caracal from the late Billy Young with the idea of putting it through a full restoration: when I got the car, it was in (almost) going and (almost) road-worthy condition. It's been re-painted, re-roofed, re-tyred and some mechanical work had been done. The car is now in a "driveable" condition but with more work planned. The most recent article re the Caracal was by Mike Monk and appeared in the January 2016 issue of topcar magazine: in this article, Monk writes about the Caracal and three other South African cars considered important to our motoring history - the GSM Dart, the Protea and the Duphet.

The Caracal is a beautiful thing in the flesh. And with the mechanicals now also being sorted, it will soon be what is was designed to be: a high-spec, high performance sports car. I have often wondered: if VW went ahead with the development, manufacture and marketing of the Caracal, how would it have stacked up against my beloved MX-5? Re-reading the road test of the first MX-5 (Car Magazine, December 1990) and comparing it to the Caracal, I personally am convinced that we would have been celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Caracal in 2014 .......... (There is, of course, an ironic twist to that road test: in the same edition of Car, my Caracal appears on the front page with a write-up about it on p106. Little did I know at the time ......)

The last time that I put a car through a full resto was some 35 years ago: I then entrusted all the work to a single workshop who took the project on as a turnkey job. Today, I am wondering if such a project should not perhaps be left to someone a little younger - and with a better command of the more spicy side of The Queen's English! Or perhaps the car should be housed in one of our excellent motoring museums - it simply is that important to our motoring history.

Hello guys....

I see that this is quite an old thread and I don't know if anyone would still be interested in this car.
Saw this at Kilarney yesterday and knowing and having worked on it, I decided to try and find out more about their current status. A search landed me on this forum so here goes. My info about these cars.

I have driven one, albeit in the nineties. There were two in Cape Town, a blue and a red one. The engines were mid mounted, as in behind the driver. For its time, they were quite impressive. Surprisingly rigid for the roofless design and the KR engine with the 2Y gearbox certainly made for some decent performance. I was involved with a guy by the name of Eric Booth at the time, who was building kit cars in Diep River in Cape Town at the time and he was somehow connected to the creator of this car. Eric was building a car called a Manx at the time. Also mid mounted and actually quite a cute little piece of work.

Image

The story went and I am open to correction, which I have contacted Eric for, that there were five built, of which three had to be destroyed in the process of testing crumple zones. I will update for any of you who might be interested...

So if this is correct and it could be wrong by one car, maybe two went to be crashed, then there are only two cars left. Not necessarily a stunning car but a little piece of SA motoring achievement in my opinion..
User avatar
hitlers revenge
ACVWSA Junkie
Posts: 6486
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 11:38 pm
What model do you have?: buggy
Location: back in the 'Fell
Been thanked: 36 times
Great Britain

Re: The Caracal

Post by hitlers revenge »

Thats my old mate Billy Young. Worked with him for many years.

Miss him at Timour Hall these days. Must of passed on about 2 years ago.
Why do we celebrate the guy that invented the wheel??
Surely we must celebrate the guy tat invented the other three
User avatar
retrovan
Donor
Donor
Posts: 8709
Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2011 8:51 pm
What model do you have?: 52T1,68FB,72Bay,75FL
Location: Eich! no, in Jefferys Bay
Has thanked: 421 times
Been thanked: 539 times
Contact:
Netherlands

Re: The Caracal

Post by retrovan »

Correction, there are two bodys still in Uitenhage, with the moulds.....

Herman
1952 Split Beetle 1835cc
1968 Fastback 2Lt.type4
1972 Low Light Bay Panel Van 2Lt type 4
1975 Fleetline Panel Van 1914cc
2020 MeFusco Beetle Truck 2Lt type 4
1972 FT Hahn SP 1776 cc
Jovann46
Drip
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2016 6:45 am
What model do you have?: Vw caddy 1989 abf

Re: The Caracal

Post by Jovann46 »

The white car is an EB Manx,I had a yellow one,you also had the EB Mangusta that looked very much the same.I know of 3 in GP and was build in CT by I think a gentleman Eric Booth? Not a lot was build and had vw golf fwd drive train located in the back.It could also be ordered with V6 or V8 engine as per attached copy of cataloque. Pardon the poor quality of the pics
Image

Image

Image
Jovann46
Drip
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2016 6:45 am
What model do you have?: Vw caddy 1989 abf

Re: The Caracal

Post by Jovann46 »

The green car is a Razzo built by Kit Car Centre in GP. Fwd vw golf components and drivetrain.I still have mine with a vw kr 16v Turbo engine and drive it daily.It has a removable roof.It has done a 13.4 second 1/4 mile @ 195 kmh with 224kmh on the 800m.
Image

Image

Image
1HotTT
Drip
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2017 12:46 pm
What model do you have?: MANGUSTA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/treycomcc
Location: Cape Town
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: The Caracal

Post by 1HotTT »

Good afternoon,

My name is Clive and new to this forum and I thank you for allowing me to be a part of Aircooledvwsa.

I don't know who to ask for information regarding the EB Mangusta as mentioned in the previous posts.
I am aware this is already a year old topic but really hoping and praying I can get some feedback please.

We purchased a EB Mangusta that was standing in a elderly gentleman's garage for a good couple of years and would like to know if its worth too much to remove the 1800 8v engine which came with weber DCOE40s and install something a bit more modern.

Thank you again for the opportunity.

Regards.

Clive.

Image
User avatar
Tony Z
Donor
Donor
Posts: 14992
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:33 am
What model do you have?: 2.3L 69; 1302; P/Van
Location: Klipheuwel (near Durbanville), Cape Town or working at sea
Has thanked: 191 times
Been thanked: 487 times
South Africa

Re: The Caracal

Post by Tony Z »

Welcome Clive.
That car of yours looks fantastic!
If your 1800 works, why replace it? The old 8V can be easily and cheaply rebuilt and has a whole aftermarket industry and modification market that you can tap into if you want more power...
1HotTT
Drip
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2017 12:46 pm
What model do you have?: MANGUSTA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/treycomcc
Location: Cape Town
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: The Caracal

Post by 1HotTT »

Thank you Tony Z,

Yes I have an abundance of parts for 8v U-Flow X-Flow 16v 20v and even have parts to build up a FSI 16v same as what VW Motorsport uses.

I am good friends with Dave Ingle so engine wise isnt really a problem, I just don't want to ruin a collectors car if you know what I mean.

I did however install spitronics and a set of throttle bodies but the engine mounting broke and hit a hole in the sump :oops:
Too fix it I needed to take the engine out as its way too difficult from the bottom.

Image

Image
Post Reply