VW Thing Type 181 Convertible Our car was acquired from the nephew of original owner whom cared for it with lots of love for its duration of ownership. We acuired it and immediately got rid of a couple blems oaround the drain areas on fenders, got it painted and had the awesome vinyl applique redone back as it was when we acuired it. We loved it and no reason to undo something that is so cool to the era. The top is in great shape as are the seats in the interior, the removable side windows are a bit cloudy and replacement of the isinglass will be required but they are functional as is and obviously good to have. The VW Thing is consistently climbing in value and this example is of such and a joy to own. The Volkswagen Type 181 was designed as a forestry/military vehicle to be used in Europe, mainly the German Army. It was built in Europe from 1969 through 1971 after which, Mexico began producing the vehicle. In Mexico it was called 'Safari'. Pontiac had a station wagon in the mid 1950's named 'Safari', so Volkswagen was unable to use that name in the US market. So the decision was made to label the vehicle, 'The Thing'. The Thing was a rear-engine, rear-wheel drive vehicle based loosely on the platform of the Beetle. With its four doors, it appeared to be much larger than a Volkswagen Beetle, however, it was only a few inches wider and weighed about the same. A Volkswagen air-cooled, 1.6-liter flat-four provided 46 horsepower and 70 foot-pounds of torque. It was capable of achieving a top speed of around 70 miles per hour. With a price tag of around $3,000, it was close to one-thousand dollars more than a Volkswagen Beetle; a high price to pay for an SUV with modest horsepower and no four-wheel drive. Its ultimate demise was its inability to meet U.S. government crash test standards for 'passenger cars' in 1975. It was able to avoid those requirements by being classified as a 'Multi-Purpose Vehicle' in 1973 and 1974. In 1975 production ceased after about 25,000 examples were produced. by Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2015
