Fair Weather, Open Air Funmobile: 1973 Volkswagen Thing
I’ve been living in my neck of the woods of North Carolina for 20 years and last week I spotted my first Volkswagen Thing on the road. And it was orange, too. So when I saw this orange Thing on the Barn Finds “Vehicles To Write An Article About List,” I had to claim it. I guess I took it as a some kind of omen. Descriptions, details, and owner history is on the light side in the ad. All that is shared by the seller is: “1973 Volkswagen Thing has been in Colorado its entire life, it has always been stored inside and never driven in the winter.” Still located in Colorado (Englewood to be exact), this ’73 VW Thing has a clean title and is for sale here on eBay. As of this writing, 16 bids had been placed with the highest bid topping out at $6,700.
Looking at the photographs, this Thing looks pretty original and appears to have been enjoyed and used but not abused. It’s got its share of little dents, bumps, scratches, and imperfections, but we’ve seen rougher and rustier VW Things here on Barn Finds through the years. The Pumpkin Orange paint looks original and isn’t perfect by any means, but isn’t bad, either. There are some thin and uneven spots along with some rust where the fender and body meets and under the driver’s door. The bumpers have a few bumps on them too but nothing serious and there’s even a trailer hitch on the rear – something I have never seen on a Volkswagen Thing. You can’t help but notice the orange roll bar. That’s because this Thing doesn’t come with the convertible top and frame. The seller shares that a 4-wheel disc brake system along with new 15″ wheels and tires were installed last year and that the original hub caps and the soft top door uppers are included.
The Things interior defines the terms “spartan” and “basic.” The driver’s bucket seat has some major tears and rips and will need to be replaced, but the passenger’s seat and rear bench seat look presentable. That “sporty” steering wheel isn’t original and I’m assuming the color-coordinated steering wheel lock is included in the sale. Just like the Thing’s exterior, there’s noticeable dust in the interior and it could stand a good cleaning.
Regarding the Thing’s familiar looking air-cooled 46-horsepower, 1600-cc flat four engine. the seller says “the vehicle runs great. The engine has been rebuilt, it has a new carb, fuel filter, plugs, wires, distributer and more.” No information is shared about how many miles are on the rebuilt engine and the odometer is listed as the infamous 00000. Like all Things, it has a four-speed manual, the only transmission that was available. And like all Things, it will be forever listed under the letter “B” for Bizarro. In addition to their unconventional styling, they were expensive ($3,150…$1,000 more than a Beetle) for such sparse, quirky, utilitarian transportation. Only about 25,000 of the 1973 and 1974 models were sold here in the U.S., but production continued in Mexico until 1980. What are your thoughts about this Colorado Fair Weather Funmobile?
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Comments
Not bad! I had a 73 Think myself back in the 90’s. Alot of fun to drive if you don’t mind loud road noise. Fairly expensive to restore today.
My business partner and I bought one new in 1971. Great little car.
Just like our ’73, roll bar included. The first thing I did was install the roll bar. Had the top frame and windows so bought new fabric. Second thing was to cut off the knee knocker bumper ends. Put 53K miles on it before a car collector made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. Lots of fun and a great shop vehicle.
Anything with a flat four VW mill sounds great and is cool, no matter what it’s wrapped in……
👍🤓
Too bad it didn’t have enough power to get out of its own way 😄
I had a ’74 Thing for 25 years and still miss it. Gas-powered ‘radiator’ didn’t work (safely anyway), and a VW collector once offered me (in early 1990s dollars) $350 just for its exhaust system (OEM). Top speed was about 70mph downhill w/ a tailwind. Great times!
Sure it wasnt a 73 that you had? Gas heaters were only on the 73 and not the 74.
My uncle had a orange 73 thing in the 80s. His had a tan interior. Also swear it was a brighter shade of orange. Any who it was great. Put the top and windshield down. Take the doors off. Thrilling. Also thrilling every time you turned on the heat in the winter. Whoosh from the gas heater. Don’t recall ever hearing of any issues there though.
Looks too much like a WWII Kubelwagon for this boy who grew up hearing war stories from those that were there. My parents generation saw them as enemy “Jeeps” and detested seeing them being imported to England starting in the late 1960s. I know, it is not the cars fault that its heritage is from a sadder time, but witnessing the reaction on the faces of men on the street that watched them go by still leaves a feeling of sorrow in my heart.
I had a very similar experience, my dad disliked them. He inherited an early 50’s VW beetle and let us boys learn how to drive with it on the farm. Late at night it sometimes found its way onto the backroads.
Seat covers for the entire vehicle are inexpensive and available across multiple sellers. I just recovered my 68 VW convertible seats and it was time consuming but not difficult. The seats come apart, you can remove rust and replace padding all in one fell swoop. Not difficult. Entire vehicle cost would be under $400 to cover all the seats to brand new if you do the labor yourself.
Gas heater under the front hood were none to safe from what I have heard.
So your saying you might get you rear burnt twice. Lol
Not really, either they didn’t work, or they would bake you out. I had one in my 1980 Vanagon. Toasty warm.
This Thing is like a possum, it’s so ugly it’s cute. I still believe this is the only VW I’d ever consider to own.
Learned to drive in a ‘74 Thing. Ocean Springs, MS. Pulled my first motor too when I was 14, Dad rebuilt it in the garage.
In case y’all don’t know, The Thing Shop in Chandler, AZ has hard to fund parts.
https://www.thethingshop.com/
James
Argh, proof reading. Hard to FIND parts however the pun is appropriate as mentioned before (pricey).
James
Where did my comment go? Was it deleted because I provided a link for Thing parts?
James
An easy daily driver in USVI – perfect !!
SOLD for $8,900.
I am the new owner. I have put a lot of new parts and work into it ,,, correct vacuum advance distributor ( the vacuum line from the carb was actually connected to the aircleaner,,to compensate for the lean condition the POs just upped the idle richness, surprised it actually ran like this,,, which in turn fouled the plugs which btw were the wrong ones for this engine) … btw got rid of the mechanical advance junk empi distributer., set the valve gaps correctly, adjusted the carburetor correctly. corrected all the mis-wiring. replaced the marine NKG sparkplugs with the correct Bosch W8AC..Also a brand new top and frame. Added standard steel 15 inch wheels / off road tires. new steering damper ….new off-road shocks. started fixing the rust. btw most EMPI parts these days suck. my next replacement will be the carburetor,,, with a rebuilt Solex,,, and the fuel pump with a rebuilt Pierburg. I have been working on VWs since I was 15 in 1975, I cant believe the abominations some VW owners commit wrt to these cars and then complain how they don’t run well.
Would love a pic. Did you recover the seats?