In answer to our standfirst, yes, of course it can, especially if you’re talking about Vermont resident Erik Marrier. “So as most people know me, I usually do two car builds for myself a year,” Erik tells us. “One that’s usually quick that only takes a month or so, and one that usually takes six months.” The dual Rabbit Pickups on the pages before you aren’t the first projects to come from his two hands, nor are they his last. “I do things fast because if it takes too long, I get very bored.”

But before we tackle the present, let’s roll it back a bit. Growing up, Erik gained exposure to the automobile realm from his father’s automotive interests in Chevy trucks, helping out where he could. From that point, his mechanical acumen only increased and he currently works as a body man and painter at his local VW dealership. Erik got his driver’s license in 2000, but his first Volkswagen didn’t come along until a few years later in the form of a MK2 Jetta with an automatic transmission. “I loved that car,” reminisces the 40-year-old Erik.

Erik tried his hand at performing a transmission swap on one automatic MK3 Jetta he owned and besides his father helping out some, it was successful. He then put as much into the Jetta as he could afford at the time making it look like Jesse’s ride from The Fast and the Furious. He still regrets trading it to this day. Through his 20s and into his early 30s, Erik didn’t have much of an interest in cars anymore. Instead, he was waging a near 15 year war against addiction. “I got sober off drugs October 8, 2017 and shortly after that I got really big back into cars. It helps me stay sober.” Anyone who has been in the trenches knows that it’s a daily challenge to keep the evils at bay.

With a supportive partner of 20 years, Katie, and a miniature version of himself at home, Erik figures he cranks out two cars a year. He’s got the Instagram updates to back up that claim (@eemoneybags), showing that he was always picking something up to tinker with over the last five years. “About seven years ago I bought my house and that’s where I got full-on addicted to early VW trucks mostly,” he recalls. “One of my first swaps getting back into VWs was putting an ABA turbo into a 1983 VW Rabbit 4-door that I repainted. It was a super basic swap, but I didn’t care for it too much. Right around the same time I bought a 1990 VW Corrado that I got running and fixed the body and repainted it.” You’ll notice the theme of Erik’s purchases always involves him painting it and swapping the motor, maybe even more than once. And most of the work is done in his home garage, before bringing the prepped shell to the body shop he works at for paint application.

Fast forward to June of 2021 and Erik acquired his first Caddy that he ultimately painted Miami blue and swapped the motor more times than he’d care to reflect on. In just a few months, his completed Caddy, Corrado and Rabbit were all on display at Wolfsgart, a show in Vermont held in July. One thing that Erik will never be accused of is resting on his laurels. In the following year or so, he held the titles to a few more VWs, more projects he worked on, or trade bait he used to eventually pick up another, err Pickup. This time, a 1978 Scirocco was dangled in front of his buddy’s face to trade for his light blue ’82 Caddy. “I immediately knew I wanted it VR6 and completely redone with new or cleaned up interior,” says Erik.

The stock diesel was evicted to make way for a 2.8L VR6 swap. “One thing most people don’t know about me is I would rather build cars than drive them,” confesses Erik. “The feeling it gives me building them is amazing.” He once again employed his talents to respray the truck in a factory shade of Mountain Green – think Arizona Green Tea without the cherry blossoms. Before that was done, he tirelessly removed and dents, dings, and imperfections, as well as any rust.

The exterior has also been fitted with Berg Cup-style flares, and paired with adapters allowed the zero offset 80s Enkei wheels to sit perfectly with the fender edge. A hidden Airlift air bag system tucks the wheels nicely and is controlled by a 3P management system. Euro bumpers via smallbumpers.mx complete the exterior. Erik is enrolled in the Do it Because It’s Cool academy, so there’s not much of a formula beyond that. And man does it hit hard.

The paint was barely dry before he was yoinking the 2.8 to fit a 3.6L VR6. The first motor turned out to be dead, so the following day he made a seven hour round trip to collect a Facebook Marketplace find. He hasn’t had an issue with it since. Well, except that one time the swap kit for the VR6 transmission mount broke in half and the motor dropped to the ground. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the show? The motor wouldn’t have started had it not been for the wiring harness from the gifted Dave at TDC Shop. “He’s the best,” Erik says matter of factly.

Inside the carpet has been cleaned and re-dyed. Erik applied Dynamat prior to reinstallation as well as recovering the headliner. An early Scirocco steering wheel takes input from the driver and sends it to the front wheels. The Recaro Trophy seats look inviting for a cabin that’s already intimately small. The door cards and floor mats were the work of Zoran at Scrape Empire.

It was only a few months to get to the finish line with the green Caddy. Erik thought he was done for the year, but by May of 2023, a new project had found its way into his possession. “A friend of mine was selling another truck in Virginia, about 10 hours away from me, that I just had to have.” No stranger to the open road, Erik hooked up his trailer and off he went to retrieve it. The white ’81 pickup had been sitting for close to 20 years, accumulating dirt and grime and all the fun stuff, and it lacked an engine or transmission.

“Shortly after picking it up, I had a carbureted motor in it and drove it for a couple weeks and decided I wanted to put a 2.5 07K in it. With my previous truck, I had bought a swap kit, but the problem with VR6 and 07K swap kits is you need to run custom size axles which I’m not a fan of.” His solution was to cut the frame rail and custom make the mounts so he could run stock axles. After completing the swap, some ECU problems plagued it momentarily, but once they were sorted it ran great. The motor itself, originally from a 2015 Rabbit, has an Integrated Engineering intake manifold and valve cover. S&P Automotive was tapped for the radiator and oil relocation kit. Erik paints every motor and transmission and you’ll notice, in this instance, it’s a complementing red. Once again, his buddy Dave from TDC Shop cooked up the wiring harness. It all sits nicely in a bay that isn’t exactly shaved, but is still missing a few things that the keen observer would notice. He drove it as-is for over two months before deciding to tear the whole truck down. In the interim, his green truck took Best in Class for Rabbit Pickups at Roots Classic in Wildwood, NJ.

“I spent six long months redoing everything on the truck, with completely new and redone interior, redoing the paint and bodywork and swapping it to a round front end because the other front end was mangled.” The paint, which was applied twice because he didn’t like how it first came out, is Toffee Brown from later model VWs. As incredible as it looks now, at times he wished he went with white. Regrets, he’s had a few, but then again, too few to mention. The finished combo of brown over red is nothing to be sad about.

The wheels are colour-matched Japanese 16” Autostrada Mk8 3-piece rollers from the late 80s. Again, it’s hidden Airlift air suspension with 3P management provides the lows. The tank and compressor are tucked under the bed. He figures since it’s not hardline or anything fancy, he may as well keep it out of sight. And while they should be mostly water-proof, he doesn’t drive them in the rain so it shouldn’t matter. A similar set of small bumpers lack the stainless trim here. The icing on the exterior cake is the VW LooseNuts rear safari window, adding that extra air flow to a cabin that lacks the comfort of air conditioning.

In addition to the stunning exterior, Erik also stripped out everything inside, cleaning out the old carpet and laying down some Dynamat before installing a new red carpet. Once again affirming his straightforward approach, it was a parts car he had with an all-red interior that was the inspiration for this one. “I’ll get one idea and it just branches out from there,” he tells us. “I don’t ever start something and go like, this is how it’s going to be.” He also found an early dash, repairing the cracks before sending it out to be recovered in red leather along with the door cards. They’re a perfect match for the recovered Recaro Trophies, something he did on his own after ordering a kit online. Six out of the eight bolsters were unsalvageable, so he bought a big green block of foam from a craft store and used a turkey carver to shape new ones. He also redid the headliner in red. And that Haltech digital display? It’s since been removed returning the interior to an all-analog haven. Coincidentally this truck placed second in class at Roots Classic 2024.

Seeing both of these trucks together shows just a small glimpse into one Volkswagen enthusiast’s world of hard work. But it’s not just the friends made and the awards earned, or the miles driven and the completed projects. They represent his determination to keep building, as he said he enjoys the journey more than driving them. Most importantly, it’s the motivation and distractions he needs to steer clear of his past addictions that only lead to dead ends. And with a supportive wife and son, and hands-on talents most people could only dream of, this road to recovery is well traveled by Erik and his creations.