1974 Thing on 2040-cars

Year:1974 Mileage:45102

Location:

Bellville, Texas, United States

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I’ve bought a lot of stuff on Ebay, but never tried selling anything before. Because of this I will exercise great care in providing an honest, accurate description.

The earliest records I have on hand indicate this car belonged to a Texas lady who had it restored by a shop in Victoria over October 2000 to February 2001. The invoices (4) show that the mileage was then 43,971 and that she spent a total of $6,970.85 on an extensive list including new brakes, drums, shoes, seals, hoses, filters, exhaust system, fuel tank R & R, gaskets and a ‘minor tune up’ to adjust the carburetor and set the timing. The most expensive of these invoices shows $3,836.16 spent for body repair of “major dents and rust on body, undercarriage, wheel openings” with, among other items, new paint, new vinyl top, windows and refinishing the wheels, bumpers and rear storage compartment. I’m sure this was a frame-on restoration because, as I’ll describe later and attempt to show in the photos, some rust bubbles have begun to show over 13 years later.

The Texas lady sold this Thing to my father in 2007 when it showed 44,658 miles on the odometer and dad took it to his home in New Mexico where he tinkered with it. Nothing major, just tinkering as he added a new header exhaust and a few small items such as a new top latch & hook set for which I also have his invoices totaling $545.36 spent. By the end of 2010 he realized he wasn’t going to do much more with it so he sold it to me and I brought it back to Texas. The mileage was 44,961 then and the math indicates he only put 303 miles on the car over three years and, before him, the lady only put 687 miles on it over nearly seven years. I cannot say whether the mileage currently shown is truly original since I have no information about the first 26 years, but I suspect it is original.

Fast forward to today and I haven’t really done much with this Thing, either. I will say it’s a fun car and I’ve enjoyed it, but I’ve only put 141 miles on it in my 3+ years. I took it to a couple of club events and used it as a parade car where it got a lot of attention. I’ve always kept it garaged, but now I want to free my garage space for another project such as an art car or rat rod. As such, for the last year I’ve been tempted to alter this Thing, but it’s just too nice and too rare for me to do that in good conscience, which is why I’ve decided to sell it. If my relatively low reserve is not met then I’ll reconsider the art car concept.

Now for the good and the bad: The engine runs fine at speed and the transmission shifts smoothly through all the gears. The idle should be adjusted as it occasionally quits when I depress the clutch for down-shifting. It leaks a small amount of oil, but I suspect that’s common for these cars. No known issues with the clutch or brakes. I’ve kept STA-BIL fuel stabilizer in it and run only premium gasoline. I took it to a shop for a tune up in March 2012 when new spark plugs, points and a timing belt were installed. Since then I allowed the Texas registration and inspection sticker to lapse, but both legalities can be easily cured and I am confident it will pass inspection today as the lights, turn signals and horn (not original, I added a replacement plus a PA system for the parades) all work fine. The canvas top is still very good, but the frame for the top is a bit stiff from lack of use and appears to be slightly bowed. Side windows are good. It needs a new battery. I put a charger on it for 20 minutes and it started right up then re-started several times more as I drove it around town on errands. The upholstery is mostly good, but an old cat living in my shop apparently decided that the top of the front passenger seat was really a scratching post. The cat and I came to an understanding concerning the propriety of that behavior and, since then, I’ve kept the top up and use a spare car cover to keep the whole car covered at all times. This spare cover will be included with the Thing if desired. The tires should probably be replaced even though the tread still looks good. I say this because the car has clearly been sitting for prolonged periods and the tires are likely out of round, stiff with flat spots that, in my opinion, are the cause of highway vibration beginning around 45 to 50 mph. The stickers shown on both bumpers are just that, stickers that can be easily peeled off. These stickers were created and applied for one of the events supporting our club. There are some chips in the paint and, as I already mentioned, some rust bubbles appearing behind the left front wheel well. You must kneel down and peer into each of the wheel wells to see more rust around the underside edges. Otherwise, this car looks good from 10 feet, great from about 15 feet and beautiful from 20 feet away.

That’s about everything relevant. If I’ve left anything out I don’t know what it could be, but welcome any questions. The photos were all taken on March 11 and, along with this narrative, are intended to provide a clear idea of what you are bidding on. I hope you will bid with confidence on what I consider to be a very good car and, more, that you will enjoy it for more than the 1,131 documented total miles it’s been driven since October 2000. Thanks for looking!

Volkswagen Thing for Sale

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