The Volkswagen Thing Is Slow, Old, Unsafe... and Amazing

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Thank you to Morrie's Heritage Car Connection for letting me borrow your Thing!!

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[stitchk]

Wood floorboards are a military feature. It was original to the predecessor, the Kubelwagen. It let hot shell casings fall below a passenger's feet.

[laranaarana]

In Latin America, it was sold under the name Safari. My father gave me one and it was very fun and reliable. No a/c, no radio but who cares when you are 14 years old and have a car? I drove everywhere with it and my friends loved it!

[priesermax]

Here in Germany we say "Kübelwagen" or in dialect where I live "Kiablwagen"
Word by word translated to English it means "bucket car"

[PapasBlox]

Wood and orange.

My god, it's the Home Depot of cars.

[hvrtguys]

Had one. Lots of fun. Real pop can of a car, light as a feather. You could drive real deep into rugged terrain. If you get stuck everyone piles out and lifts the car over the log or whatever. (Not joking!)

[dicoll]

With the windshield down, some minimal eye-protection is advisable.
A mosquito in the eye at 40MPH would hurt like hell.

[grizzlygorilla]

It looks like the Jeep from hill climb racing

[tamifedele]

I owned a Thing as my first car. It has more power than you are commenting on, i drove my Thing across country, 2500 miles, on freeways and off road. It did make it up to speed easily and i even got a speeding ticket for speeding on the freeway. The wood floor was put in probably by an old owner. You also did not mention that the doors come off. I put a roll bar, bought at the VW dealer, then moved one of the back seat belts and made it into a shoulder seat belt, before they were standard equipment in cars. It’s high off the ground for off roading. It was a Super Beatle chassis with a WWIi inspired body. If you watch the old sit-com Hogan’s Heroes, you can see a WWII staff car, in green once in awhile. The Thing came in 3 colors, white, orange and yellow. The windshield wiper motor on the one you shone must have been a replacement as mine was much smaller, it did not touch the hood. The heater was gas, as in gasoline, so if you were low on gas you went cold. It had two settings, lava and freezing. I lined my car with carpet to match the color, orange, which deadened the sound a bit. Also, the back seats folded down giving you quite a bit of storage, for traveling across country. Remember, this car was built in the 70’s, before there were safety features on any cars, pre-standard AC, pre-child seats. AKA the good old days, so lighten up on the comments. You could say the same things about a Corvette, Triumph, MG, or even a VW bug from that era, which were all very popular cars, way back when.

[yeetbomb]

Is this the Tesla cybertruck everyone is talking about

[VMUH]

The main reason for the fold-down windscreen is a relic from the Things' military heritage. Just like the American Jeep, a windscreen that folds-down won't reflect sunlight and give away the position to the enemy.

[DodgeDartSongs]

"...the rollcage is my skull." Pissing myself laughing.

[railgunawesome]

Imagine seeing a dude driving past you in an orange box yelling into his dashboard

[mckennaConfig]

That is a '73. As a Thing owner, I can confirm that it is the most fun car to drive of all time.

[josephbiohazard]

this car is as simple as it gets. no computers, no electronics, no complex technology. I bet it will still be running fine in 30 years with basic maintenance

[Frb]

Drove one while in the army!
Doug forgotten one amazing feature.
The windshield washer is “powered” by the pressure in the spare tire.

[jenniferk]

My grandmother’s neighbor had one when we were kids. She lived in northern Michigan. My cousins and I would pile in and drive around her farm looking for deer in her fields at night with a big flood light. It was awesome. Great memories! Thanks for helping me remember that!

[thejeffersonian]

THAT DOES NOT MEAN PUT IN PREMIUM FUEL

91 RON AND 91 AKI are not the same. 91 RON is roughly 87 AKI which is regular for the US.

[markbunn]

I've ridden in a Thing before. When i was about 13 my neighbors had one. They also raised fighting chickens.

[ThePiquedPigeon]

Here in Italy the Thing was called the "Pescaccia", because it was marketed as ideal for hobbies like fishing ("pesca") and hunting ("caccia")

[brentgilmore]

Having owned two THINGS, you are nuts. I would drive from my home to Santa Barbara, CA to work, almost 60 miles one way.
Freeway speeds of 65 to 70. Not a day went by that I did not get a thumbs up or some one taking my picture. It was the most fun I have ever had. By the way I'm 71 years old.