Find Of The Day: The Fire Roasted Thing

Happy Labor Day everyone! While many regard this weekend as the end of summer, you can make it last a bit longer with today’s Find Of The Day, a 1973 Volkswagen Thing. It’s been a while since we’ve featured a classic air-cooled Volkswagen, and when this one popped up while searching for convertibles, we knew we had to feature it.

What the heck is a Thing? Shortest story: it’s Volkswagen’s Jeep. Less-short story: it’s a four-door, off-road-ish car/truck hybrid, with a folding vinyl roof and removable vinyl windows that Volkswagen sold in the United States for only two model years. The long answer: it’s an update of the Kubelwagen used by the German military in World War II. It’s also known as a Volkswagen 181. Volkswagen cobbled together the 181 using existing parts from its other cars: the engine from the Type 1 Beetle, the floor pan from the Karmann Ghia, and the rear reduction boxes from the Type 2 Bus. This kept development costs down so a small production run would be profitable.

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Things are very spartan. The seats are very basic. The dashboard features a speedometer and a few switches. There’s not even carpet on the floors. The interior door panels are metal. What makes these little cars fun? Open air motoring: put the top down, remove the doors, and flip the front windshield forward to really take in your surroundings. Summer is all around you in a Thing.

Take a look at the details on this Thing. The patina’d finish is probably the first thing to draw you in. But check out the wild 60’s looking marine fabric used on the top; it’s also on the seat panels and seat piping. This Thing rides on Raider wheels (google them) wrapped in genuine red-line tires. Make sure to check out the incredible metal-flake painted floorboards. There’s an 1835cc engine out back powering the rear wheels.

The real kicker here is this car came back from the dead after being nearly destroyed in a garage fire. It really is like a Phoenix rising from the ashes.

You can see the car yourself in Mesa Arizona at Doug’s Buggs and Bunnies. Check out their ad on thesamba.com. The current asking price: $18,950.

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