upcruiser
Perpetual Transient
AKA the Thing.
I was downstate at my pole barn where I store my vehicles this past week and spent some time comtemplating my forlorn but trusty old VW Thing. The Vdub was my first car when I was 16. Prior to that it was my father's daily driver for a good 10 or 11 years. We took it on hunting trips to the UP of Michigan, loaded down with 2 dogs, three people, all of our gear, plus a camper trailer and did so with no complaint. I've always considered it one of the most underated offroad vehicles out there. Basically it used the VW Beetle's floorpan and 1600 dual port engine. The suspesnion, brakes, and other driveline bits come from the Type 2 (bus). The car's strength is its light weight. With no interior accomdations other then seat cushions and its simple design it is a light weight. With the engine behind the rear wheels, it has formidable traction off the pavement similar to a dune buggy. It's pretty versatile too, with a removable convertible top (or an available hardtop), removable doors, and a fold down windscreen it can look the part of the original Kubelwagen. Economy was pretty good with me calculating 25-27mpg with some fairly aggressive snow tires I always had on it. Performance wasn't bad either with the light weight it was much quicker then a bug. I saw 90mph on the speedometer once with mine, not shabby.
My Thing has been sitting now unregistered since 1993. I'm hoping over the next couple of years to start the long road of restoration with it. The idea I'm toying with is to go with a WWII look paint job (desert sand biege, or an olive green) and maybe a small lift for clearance. I'm not going for a concours restoration. I'm planning on doing body repair to the cancer that accrued from years of driving on the evil salty roads that are Northern Michgigan's in the winter. I want it to be solid, but I don't need it perfect. I plan to use the car and don't want to worry about pinstriping it in the woods or getting it dirty. Anyway I thought I'd share my ideas a bit since its a fairly uncommon vehicle and I figured some of you might find it interesting.
Here's a picture of one that I found with a lift of about what I'd like to do with mine...
Paint-wise, I'm thinking something along the lines of this....
While I'm not intending to use if for expedition work really, I would like to drive it cross country and do a western trek in it. Otherwise it would be used primarily for a fun weekend, beach cruiser, and local backwoods explorer.
I was downstate at my pole barn where I store my vehicles this past week and spent some time comtemplating my forlorn but trusty old VW Thing. The Vdub was my first car when I was 16. Prior to that it was my father's daily driver for a good 10 or 11 years. We took it on hunting trips to the UP of Michigan, loaded down with 2 dogs, three people, all of our gear, plus a camper trailer and did so with no complaint. I've always considered it one of the most underated offroad vehicles out there. Basically it used the VW Beetle's floorpan and 1600 dual port engine. The suspesnion, brakes, and other driveline bits come from the Type 2 (bus). The car's strength is its light weight. With no interior accomdations other then seat cushions and its simple design it is a light weight. With the engine behind the rear wheels, it has formidable traction off the pavement similar to a dune buggy. It's pretty versatile too, with a removable convertible top (or an available hardtop), removable doors, and a fold down windscreen it can look the part of the original Kubelwagen. Economy was pretty good with me calculating 25-27mpg with some fairly aggressive snow tires I always had on it. Performance wasn't bad either with the light weight it was much quicker then a bug. I saw 90mph on the speedometer once with mine, not shabby.
My Thing has been sitting now unregistered since 1993. I'm hoping over the next couple of years to start the long road of restoration with it. The idea I'm toying with is to go with a WWII look paint job (desert sand biege, or an olive green) and maybe a small lift for clearance. I'm not going for a concours restoration. I'm planning on doing body repair to the cancer that accrued from years of driving on the evil salty roads that are Northern Michgigan's in the winter. I want it to be solid, but I don't need it perfect. I plan to use the car and don't want to worry about pinstriping it in the woods or getting it dirty. Anyway I thought I'd share my ideas a bit since its a fairly uncommon vehicle and I figured some of you might find it interesting.
Here's a picture of one that I found with a lift of about what I'd like to do with mine...
Paint-wise, I'm thinking something along the lines of this....
While I'm not intending to use if for expedition work really, I would like to drive it cross country and do a western trek in it. Otherwise it would be used primarily for a fun weekend, beach cruiser, and local backwoods explorer.
