01/27/2021
It’s one of those Things.
Power comes from a 1.6-liter flat-four mated with a 4-speed manual transaxle. The Thing was built on the same chassis as the pre-1968 Microbus and propelled by VW's air-cooled, 46-hp, 1600-cc flat four. A four-speed manual was the only transmission. Acceleration is ludicrously slow: 0 to 60 mph in 23 seconds!
The Thing wasn’t introduced to North America until 1973. This 1974 model functions on an air-cooled, flat four-cylinder engine with a four-speed manual transmission, and it could reach roughly 55 miles per hour. The car was distributed in the United States for only two years, and its rarity has been part of the appeal.
The doors come off, windshield folds down and the roof folds back making it a really fun vehicle. It's just one of those Things.
Some THING Facts:
It may look like the illegitimate love child of a corrugated shipping container and a dumpster, but the Volkswagen Thing was, in fact, the resurrection of a German military vehicle known as the Kbelwagen. More than a specific model, the Kbelwagen was a concept; consider how Americans tend to call any military runabout a Jeep, and you've got the idea. And with Kbel meaning "bucket" and Wagen meaning "car," what could have been a better name for such a steel tub than, of course, the Thing?
But VW's convertible breadbox was called the Thing only in North America, where it went on sale in 1973; it was known elsewhere as the Trekker, the Safari, or, simply, the Type 181 (right-hand-drive models were called the Type 182). The Thing was built on the same chassis as the pre-1968 Microbus and was propelled by VW's air-cooled, 46-hp, 1600-cc flat four. A four-speed manual was the only transmission. Acceleration was ludicrously slow: 0 to 60 mph took more than 23 seconds.
The interior was the very definition of stripped. The only instrumentation was a speedometer that housed a fuel gauge on its dial, and the glove box was really just a glove hole since it lacked a door. VW also boasted that the Thing's cabin could be hosed out.
It wasn't conveniences or ability that sucked people in, though--it was how screwy the Thing was. The windshield folded and the detachable doors were swappable front to rear. Warmth was provided by an optional gasoline-fueled heater hooked directly to the fuel tank. Most important, however, was that the Thing looked so very, very weird.
Naturally, North America's youth loved the Thing--the only problem was that few of them could afford it. In 1973, the Thing cost $3150, almost as much as many sports cars and nearly $1000 more than the '73 Beetle. Prices dropped slightly for 1974, but the Thing remained expensive for such simple transportation. To downplay this fact, Volkswagen advertising talked up the Thing's modest off-road ability and pitted it against more expensive trucks such as the Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser. But the two-wheel-drive Thing, with its four-wheel independent suspension, had as much chance of keeping up with an FJ40 on the trails as a roller-derby queen with an inner-ear problem.
In 1973, Ralph Nader pushed to have the Thing pulled from the U.S. market on the grounds that it failed to meet safety standards for passenger cars. He soon got his wish, as tightened regulations forced VW to stop importation after the 1974 model year. Only about 25,000 examples were imported, and the Thing remains as goofy and unusual today as it was thirty years ago. Since so many parts are shared with the Beetle and the Microbus, the Thing is inexpensive to run and maintain--but what else would you expect from a bucket car?
The Volkswagen Thing’s origins date back to World War II and N**i Germany. It was Germany’s version of the American Jeep during the war.VW produced the type 62 Kubelwagen during the war to fill the German army’s need for a utility vehicle.
Production halted as the war drew to a close, but it was resurrected in the 1960s when the Mexican government showed an interest in entering the automobile industry.
When the Second World War was over, the molds were mothballed, and it wasn’t until the late 1960s that they took those molds out.
The car was known as the Safari in Mexico and as the Trekker in Britain. In North America, it was the Thing.
Old American advertisements depicted it as a versatile, tough, rugged, utility machine.
“Take off the doors, fold down the windshield and you’ve got an instant Dune Buggy,” an ad reads.
The Thing wasn’t introduced to North America until 1973. The 1974 model functioned on an air-cooled, flat four-cylinder engine with a four-speed manual transmission, and it could reach roughly 55 miles per hour.
The car was distributed in North America for only two years, and its rarity has been part of the appeal.
As the ads encouraged, you could, “make it your Thing.”
It’s just one of those Things.
