The Amazing Volkswagen THING

I've owned probably 50 cars in my lifetime, super fast sports cars, family cars, you name it.  But nothing, and I mean NOTHING gave me as much pleasure as my 1974 VW THING.  I used to drive from WV to Florida every year, and the trip was brutal.  But when I got the THING, I drove it 4 times to Florida and it was THE most comfortable car I had ever taken a long trip in.  I never had the front doors on the car, so I drove it the entire distance with them off,  and the way the air hit you was almost nothing.  Now, one of the things that made the trip comfortable was the seats. You see, the seats had been changed out to nice comfortable buckets, and that made all the difference. I made the second biggest mistake in my life when I sold the car around 1986.  To this day I kick myself for doing that.  It actually depresses me every time I think about it. You see, this was a special one owner car with 3000 miles when I bought it. Factory new was the shape, and everything about the THING was perfect.  I've never tried to replace it, because at this late date, there's no way I could. I could never find another one like my THING.

About half the cars in this lineup once belonged to a friend of mine.

 

The car I should have never gotten rid of.

 

When America stopped building convertibles, city officials were desperate, so they had me carry Sen Robert C Byrd in the parade that year.

 

My car before I had it painted.

A VERY rare top that my friend Danny Davidson sold to me.

By this time, I had repainted the car a more creamy white and added new stripes.

 

One of my many trips to Florida in the THING. Best car for long distance that I ever had.

 

Loved that car.

Here's how it all started, when I passed this mans house and saw his THINGS.  I found mine just weeks later.

That's Danny Davidson on the right and we became best of friends and he helped me rebuild my engine when I needed it.

Here's one of his cars on a trip deep into coal country.

Danny and his wife on one of their many trips deep into WV

When you're young, you do a lot of stupid things that you later regret, and selling my beloved THING was the second dumbest thing I ever did in my life.  A man bought my car for his son to drive to college.  Within weeks the boy totaled it. So that's the end of my car and my story.  I'm depressed just writing this, so I'll quit now.  But for you who have THINGS and love them as much as I did, never sell your car, or you'll regret it years from now.

Somebody on "The Simpson's"  either owns or loves the THING, because many times you will see the car in the episodes involving Homer's sister-in-laws who owns one.  This is one rare car in the cartoon world that is easily identifiable.  No other car comes close.  In this case it's a 74 THING, and if you know the car, you can easily tell what year it is.

Main Index