Oh man, my father had a '73 Thing growing up that he bought new (I was born in '79). My horrid memories of it were riding it in the winter when the rust holes in the floorboards would blow cold air up into the cabin and the heater was so anemic that it wouldn't start puffing hot air until we reached our destination.

I remember having to pull over on the interstate in heavy traffic on numerous occasions because the engine was getting too hot, and I remember asking "can we leave yet" and hearing "no, not for another half hour because the engine was still too hot.

It also was so horribly slow, loud, and uncomfortable that it made for a miserable commute everywhere.

And of course, today I would kill for one and this was the primary driver in me buying my Ghia.

Not to mention the LeSabre he drove in the '50s.

No photos handy, but when my sister and I were in high school in the early '90s he gave us his E21 to drive and dailied our Fiat Spider ('81 Turbo), which seemed kinda committed to me at the time.

Daily Driver 1979 to 1984. 66 Westy.
I chopped the rear frame out in 1980 and spliced in a Bus IRS.
Put in a 69 Bus ball joint front end. 77 Bus brakes (front disc) with no power assist.
Bus IRS tranny, 1750 cc ? motor bored for 92mm running thick walled 90.5 NPR P&L,
Engle 110, Kadrons
full flow to a dual oil filter set-up, doghouse cooler, original safari's.
Built a full roll/crash cage, gauges above in the air vent.
Had the wheels built with 15" rims on the small 5 lug bus wheels.

Did all this at 20 to 23 years old.
30+ Mexico surf trips, ski trips to Mammoth.
Drove the **** out of it for years, probably 70,000 miles, never broke down.

https://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i...260931_n-2.jpg

My first car...a '50 Ford coupe. Flathead, 3 on the tree. Never left me stranded in the 3 years I had it.

Don't have pics handy, but my oldest DD was my 1961 Land Rover 109, back in Los Angeles in the late 1990s. A tin box with no AC and I wore a suit and tie. Apparently I was adapted to the heat. That vehicle broke a lot, but never stranded me. The starter went out, so I started it with the crank. A rear half shaft broke, so I locked the front hubs and drove it in front-wheel drive. I sold the truck in 1997 to help finance a year-long sabbatical / trip around the world. I still miss it and my wife even mentioned to other day that it would be nice to get it back. After that we had a 1995 Range Rover LWB. Someday I'd like to get another series truck or another gen 1 RR.

A friend of mine just sold his really nice '73 Type 181 for $14k

Here's a partial list of some of the more interesting DD's I had when I was growing up:

1968 VW Bug - Sportomatic
1965 VW Bug
1965 VW Bus
1970-(something?) Peugeot 304. That's Three oh Four, not the more "common" 504. I doubt if there were more than a few hundred imported into the US.
1965 TR4
1968 TR250
1955 Ford PU with a 283 / 3speed on the floor.
BMW Bavaria
1963 Buick Skylark V6

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1560455286.jpg


When I was a kid, I got tired of people telling me how UGLY my thing was.......

so I made it cool !

Kidding
 

Iwasonlykeedingmeng !!!

This is NOT my car, I saw it at the Pomona Swapmeet a couple of weeks ago.

I thought it was super cool. I have never ever been a fan of those things, but when I saw this thing, I thought it was just cool!

I had to take a picture, never thought I would post a picture, but then this thread came up !

This was my dd for quite a while back in the '80s ↓

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1560458686.jpg

Wish I still had it...

I bought this '63 B in Germany when I was in the service in the late 60's. Drove it every day over there then shipped it home and drove it here. Got married and sold it for a ham sandwich.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1560460541.jpg

1973 - A knee-jerk reaction to the Life of gas lines and gas rationing:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1560483836.jpg

Mazda 1200 coupe