I had planned on making a truck out of a Jetta for sometime now. There was no way I was dropping $3500 on the smyth kit so I had to find out how close I could come for as cheap as possible. Once I had filled all my swamp cooler orders I finally had time to start hacking. I purchased a ford ranger window and a bunch of steel and aluminum diamond plating. This is the trailer for the series on how I built this $600 jetta truck.

After a lot of thought, I decided to cut my jetta into a truck. Having less than 1000 dollars invested in the car it did not make sense to buy a $3000 kit to do so. Here are the steps i took to turn the trunk into a tailgate. The tailgate repurposes the solenoid from the trunk to operate latches. the hinges are the original trunk hinges with one arm removed.

After much planning i decided to cut my second jetta into a truck. I only paid 500 dollars for the jetta so I couldn’t legitimize spending $3000 on the weaker fiberglass smyth kit. I purchased a ford ranger window and a bunch of steel and aluminum diamond plating. This is the second part of the series on how I built this $600 jetta truck.

This is the third installment of the DIY UTE series by ecophage. After welding together a jetta truck i had to skim coat the metal panels for smooth body transitions. i lost count of how many coats i did. you get to a point where every time you fix a deviation you see or create another so once it was acceptable i just primered it skim coated anything left noticeable and am running it. there was a leak in the ranger window where the two sliding glass pieces meet the seal had been displaced.

This is the final video in the BUILD series DIY UTE: After much planning I decided to cut my second jetta into a truck. I only paid 500 dollars for the jetta so I couldn’t legitimize spending $3000 on the kit. I purchased a ford ranger window and a bunch of steel and aluminum diamond plating. This is the last part of the series on how I built this $600 jetta truck.

After a year of use, driving through the harsh Maine winters, the UTE is doing great. Ive had lots of amazing feedback from everybody. It gets posted about a lot and there was even a barnfinds.com article written about it! There are a few issues, some bondo cracking and the ford ranger window is leaking at the center seam.

Ive carried some major loads with this truck including a snowmobile and a motorcycle. Ive talked to several of you about the truck you guys are making and i want to keep hearing about everyones projects.

“He took a perfectly good Jetta…and cut it to pieces.” That’s the opening to the three-part YouTube series titled DIY UTE that documents a 2001 VW being hacked apart with a Sawzall and transformed into a pickup. Yes, you read that right. The guy who decided to turn his Jetta into a truck documented the entire process on YouTube! He’s not only a talented fabricator but also a budding internet star! The finished project is potentially available for sale here on Craigslist in Bath, Maine for $3,500.

Over a year ago I had to sell the DIY UTE so my wife and I could make room for a newer car. I hated to see it go but I love seeing it pop up now and again living its second life.