VW Thing Just bought one.

[syncroid]

Any of you out there have one? Tell me more....

[enzo1]

subscribed... hard to find a nice one...pics?

[syncroid]

No pics yet. Money has not been exchanged. Tomorrow maybe. The situation is... I am buying it from a neighbor who's wife recently passed away. Its been non-op since 1990, stored outside, but under a tarp. Saw it for the first time tonight. Looks promising. No rot, everything seems to be there, some hideous add ons, blown motor, and transmission locked in one gear. None of this scares me. The price was right. The body is close to perfect. No rust what so ever. Minor infractions include after market oil cooler mounted to the fiberglass hardtop and through body panel, after market fog lights mounted to top, funky interior lights mounted to same, and a rear mounted spare tire carrier. Overall, I am looking forward to this project. I already have a 1969 Bug in my garage for a resto that I have not touched since the day I bought it two years ago. I never bonded with that one.

[Nostril Cheese]

its a bug with a different body and a gasoline powered heater. cool cars. Easy and relatively cheap to fix.

[Evans, Marv]

There is a guy who drives one by here every once in a while. I'd love to have one. I know wht you mean about not bonding with the '69 VW. I had one & never cared for it. I had a '65 VW with a sun roof I just loved driving to work. Got stolen though.

[Racerbvd]

I owned one years ago, but would love another at some point, and drop a 914 engine in it..

[crustychief]

181's are the best. One day I will have another.

[tevake]

Maybe you could use the bug engine and trans for the thing.

[chuckr]

My very first car was a 1973 VW Thing. Yellow with plastic windows and black top. Loved it !

[LakeCleElum]

Would think they would be rare, unique and going up in price....A nice one in the barn down the road from me. Guy won't sell. It was his mother's and she died of breast cancer when he was a kid. I fully understand...

[widebody911]

'73 or '74?

The first rule of acquisition is you keep your mouth shut until it's in your driveway.

[ckissick]

Originally Posted by chuckr

My very first car was a 1973 VW Thing. Yellow with plastic windows and black top. Loved it !

My very first car was also a 1973 Thing.

Anyway, I had the car in high school and lived on Skyline Blvd above Woodside. Back in those days there were lots of old logging roads I could drive on. (Now they are hiking trails) I used to take the doors off, put the top and windshield down, and take off through the woods. Very fun car.

The best mod I made was to place thick pillows behind the rear seat to muffle the engine noise. It was a very loud car on the highway, but the pillows helped.

[FastCarFan]

VW Thing - so ugly they are very cool. Love them. There is a nice one I occasionally see in my town. Anxious to see your pics.

[RWebb]

add SC motor

[syncroid]

Originally Posted by widebody911

'73 or '74?

The first rule of acquisition is you keep your mouth shut until it's in your driveway.

Thom, Its a done deal.
Its a 1973.

Here it is!

[enzo1]

cool! looks a lot better than some of the ones I was looking at... I like the green

[syncroid]

[syncroid]

Originally Posted by enzo1

cool! looks a lot better than some of the ones I was looking at... I like the green

Its been repainted at some time in its life. We will be having it repainted too, but back to the original avacado green. Its hard to see past all the dirt and cob webs right now. I haven't had a project since I did my 87 Carrera 3.4 twin plug car.
My wife and daughter are crackin me up. They are already doing all the research on parts, paint, mats.....etc. etc. I already heard my daughter (13) say the words..."My car!" Haha

→Editted by Syncroid's daughter

[johnco]

my catalog is a little out dated at 20+ years old but it looks like they are still in business. they specialize in parts for vw things. THETHINGSHOP.COM

[jwasbury]

Awesome.

Great buy! I actually kind of like the roof mounted oil cooler. There is a cartoonish illustration of a hot-rodded Bus in the John Muir book: How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive that showed a roof mount oil cooler.