Skip to main content

Ratty Rescue: Make Your Own Toasted Thing, Just Add Fire

Did you like this week’s Find Of The Day? Looking for someThing to fix up and make your own? Check out this 1973 Volkswagen Type 181; it could be just the Thing you need

School’s back in session around the country, so summer is officially over. Or is it? This 1973 Thing might help you hold onto the best season a little bit longer. The top on this car not only goes down, the windows and doors come off easily and the front windshield folds down allowing you to easily see all four corners.

While 181’s lack all-wheel-drive, their light weight makes them quite capable on light trails. We wouldn’t tackle Moab in one, that’s for sure, but for a trip to a campsite or cabin is perfect for this little Thing. The slightly raised suspension will help scramble over rocks and ford shallow streams. And its small size allows you to get in and out of tight places.

[See image gallery at www.vwvortex.com]

The nice thing with Things is they look great on a pumped up suspension, or slammed to the ground. You can emphasize the off-road nature of this little car with some small wheels and knobby tires, or put it on an air ride system with some old-school chrome wheels and cruise the streets. No matter which direction you go in, this 181 will get you some serious looks; you just don’t see these cars very often.

This 1973 Thing is in pretty good shape. Sure there’s some rust, and yes there’s at least two shades of yellow paint, but it has character. Most importantly: it drives and stops. The Porsche 356 chrome wheels and larger tires are a nice upgrade. And from the pics in the ad, it does have a top.

Speaking of the ad: it’s a bit low on information. There’s no title, so you’ll need to work that out with the seller and your local DMV/Title Agency. Check out the car for yourself in Duarte, California, or take a look at the ad on thesamba.com.

One more positive point for this car: investment potential. While the current asking price is $4800, with some work (and a title), this Thing could go up in value quite a bit. Restored 181’s are listed for $9000, $12,000, and even $18,000. If making money is your thing, then you need this Thing.

 

 

The post Ratty Rescue: Make Your Own Toasted Thing, Just Add Fire appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex https://ift.tt/2wHKxep
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster Review

“Supercars just don’t excite me anymore.” These words, spoken to me over a month ago by another journalist, friend, and (so-called) enthusiast were echoing in my head for far too long, but they’ve finally been drowned out. Drowned out by the wail of a naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12 engine mounted in the middle of the new Lamborghini Aventador S Roadster. My friend’s point is that back in the good old days, there was a crop of supercars that captured the imagination with amazing style, sounds, performance, and more. Today, it seems like everything is capable of supercar performance, with large luxury sedans outdoing some of the best and most dedicated teams of car nuts, while former pillars of automotive excellence are suddenly pumping out family-friendly SUVs. Beyond that, another league of supercars, dubbed hypercars have cropped up with hybrid gas-electric powertrains that make magical things happen quickly, but at the cost of the acoustic drama, visual flair, and engag...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

    When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier.  The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow.   While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something .  To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it.  Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait.  So with this in mind, we lined our G...
Post a Comment
Read more

Audi Teases A7 Details with New Video

Audi’s gearing up to unveil the latest iteration of the A7, and to get you excited they’ve released this teaser video focusing on the details. The lights, the lines, the interior are all teased here, and though on its own the video doesn’t give us a strong sense of what the whole car will look like, with all of the other details we’ve seen so far we now have a pretty good sense of what’s coming. As you might expect, the updated A7 will look broadly similar to the outgoing A7, but will differ in the details. Based on what we’ve seen, the changes look good. As was reported yesterday, we’re expecting a 3.0-liter turbocharged engine, a 4.0-liter V8 twin-turbo, a 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6, and an RS7 that could reportedly make up to 700 hp thanks to the Porsche Panamera’s hybrid drivetrain. We’ll know for sure, though, on Thursday, October 19, when the car is revealed. You can watch the livestream on our site or at audi.com at 2:00 pm. The post Audi Teases A7 Details with New Video app...
Post a Comment
Read more