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My Favorite Ride: What in the world is that Thing?

The Herald-Times

Tim Lloyd has refurbished this rare 1973 Volkswagen Thing.

A few months ago, I wrote about a 1978 Lincoln Continental Mark V a car dealership owner had squirreled away with five other trade-ins he decided to keep instead of reselling.

Through the years, they got parked inside a glass-walled building at an old car lot west of Bloomington that evolved into a ghost-town-like showroom with an eclectic collection of vehicles from yesteryear.

Peering through the glass, trying to get a close look at that old Lincoln and take a few pictures, I could see the front corner of a bright yellow squarish vehicle I couldn't identify. Hmmmmm.

You never know what will be parked in Tim Lloyd's Bloomington driveway. That's his daily driver, a 1954 Hudson Hornet, on the right, and a 1973 Volkswagen Thing he fixed up on the left.

It turns out Charlie Royal, founder of Royal Chevrolet, has ordered the fixing up of his assortment of old cars. Local car guy Tim Lloyd, who's partial to Hudson automobiles but can rebuild and repair about any engine, is one by one getting them back on the road.

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Lloyd has just finished work on a 1973 Volkswagen Thing, the yellow mystery vehicle I wondered about back in March. He had the gas tank cleaned out, rebuilt the fuel and engine cooling systems and replaced the brakes.

The taillights on this 1973 VW Thing are not the original ones. These are from a 1964 Chevrolet, said Tim Lloyd, who has refurbished the vehicle.

He also dismantled a gas heater, an eberspacher in German, that was featured on the 1973 models.

"That's right, under the front is a contraption that burns gasoline to keep you warm in the winter," Lloyd said about the unusual heater. "Might as well start a fire on the back seat to keep warm."

Lloyd doesn't know who traded the Thing in at the dealership. It was someone local, because he remembers seeing the lemon-colored vehicle parked around the IU campus in the early 1990s. There's a mechanic's sticker from Newt's Marathon on the frame, indicating the VW had been serviced there in 1991.

Things were mostly sold as NATO military vehicles known as VW Type 181 and 182 models. A Type 181 had left-side drive and a Type 182 had right-side drive. Volkswagen sold the vehicles in several markets under different names. They were called Camats in Indonesia, Safaris in Mexico, Trekkers in Britain and Things in the U.S.

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They were cobbled together with parts from various Volkswagen products, including VW Beetles, buses and even Karmann Ghias. Things were sold in the U.S. for just two years, 1973 and 1974. That, along with their relatively high cost of $2,800, explains why they're not often seen on the road.

Lloyd said the next car on his list is Royal's prized 1978 Lincoln Continental. Like the Thing, it will be a challenge to get going.

A headlight on Charlie Royal's Volkswagen Thing.

"There's nothing wrong with them except that they've been sitting in storage for anywhere between 15 to 30 years. And that's not good for a car."

Having never seen a Thing close up, I went to check this one out, hoping to take a ride. Lloyd warned that the vehicle's safety was questionable, given the oversized tires, lack of doors, no roll bar and absent safety belts in the front seats.

We climbed in. I grabbed a bar attached to the dash. Lloyd shook his head.

"I suppose you can hang on to that, but it's pretty loose, so, well, I don't recommend hanging on to that."

Great, I thought. "I'm going to fall out," I said.

"You won't fall out," he replied.

I didn't.

Have a story to tell about a car or truck? Contact My Favorite Ride reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.

This Volkswagen Thing is a rare find; they were only sold in the U.S. for two years.