Serial VW owner Andy reveals his latest quirky air-cooled classic – which has travelled to him all the way from Texas
1973 VOLKSWAGEN ‘THING’
A feeling of déjà vu? I have owned many quirky Volkswagens over the years. In fact, my last update in these pages was on a VW Iltis 4x4. I’d owned four 181s before, so how and why did another end up on my driveway?
The last 181 I had was an early example in a civilian Ivy Green with the early production split-screen and reduction gears; that car now resides in Pasadena, California. But here’s the thing (pun intended) – the irony of selling that car Stateside is that I had always wanted to find a Thing, the USA version of the 181, having first seen them in movies like The Fog and Pacific Heights. Then Matt Richardson (of this parish) and his YouTube review of a ’73 Thing fired my passion to start searching for one in earnest.
Volkswagen had been a little slow in jumping on the lifestyle vehicle and Dune Buggy bandwagon, popularised by the late great Bruce Meyers and his Manx. With the Type 181 now being produced over in Mexico, VW wanted a beach, dune and lifestyle vehicle for California and the wider US market – perhaps a bit late. Arguably, the 1973 updates improved the Thing – independent rear suspension, larger Super Beetle rear lights and a palette of bright colours.
Strikingly pretty period US advertising sold the lifestyle with images of surfboards and California sunsets and encouraged buyers to add dealer accessories to make it ‘Your own special Thing’. With values and shipping costs rising, I decided to search the American Thing pages on Facebook. A friend steered me to an ad for a Blizzard White ‘survivor’ – an ex-Southern California 1973 Thing with many original accessories. I jumped in and started the ball rolling with Tracey for her beloved ‘Fritz The Thing’, residing in ‘the middle of nowhere
