This Kubelwagen is a Type 82, and was built in November of 1944 for the German Army. It had a 69 cubic inch engine, with a whopping 25hp.

I don’t think it would win any races.

But it is pretty sweet looking. It is slightly different than the more modern Thing, but still has some differences. The biggest difference to see is the front end, the Kubelwagen is much more sloped than the Thing.

Things were only made in the US for 2 years, 1973 and 1974. So many others have been imported, or if you want to buy one, you have to import it yourself. I’m not sure i want to get into all of that.

Of the Type 181’s available in the US for sale, I would say that about 90% of them are from California, which is quite a ways from most of the country. Even then, I can’t believe the shape that some of these are in, and yet still demanding more money than many other cars. For a Thing to have rust is like another car having some paint chipped, it’s not that rare.

Now I can handle most repairs and work, but I haven’t done, and am pretty sure that I can’t do, any body work. So I kind of need a Thing that has no, or next to no rust. Of course, those are over $10,000.

Even at the Beetle Barn VW Graveyard, there were no Things.

Why do I have such good, expensive taste?

This is in German, and is kind of long, but wait till you get to about 4 1/2 minutes into it, and see the Thing whup up on the Land Rover.

This second part of the video shows the Land Rover beating the Thing up a steep incline, but only by a tiny bit.

Unfortunately, in the end, the Thing has to be pulled out of the mud by the Discovery. However, I think that the fact that a 30 year old, 2 wheel drive, VW Thing could hang with, and even beat in some instances, the brand new 4 wheel drive Land Rover Discovery shows the awesomeness of the Volkswagen Thing.

This is a beautiful blue and white Volkswagen Acapulco Thing. The paint job was brand new for this weekend, and it had only 1 mile on it. Inside, it still had an 8-Track player with a Beach Boys endless summer tape. A perfect VW Thing for the beach.

I love the Thing, I want a Thing, I need a Thing.

Until then, I’ll be happy to just look at other people’s Things.

There are some beautiful cars on this site, and, of course, Things. Including one Kubelwagen built in 1942 and delivered and used in Africa during WWII. They also have a 1944 Schwimmwagen. Just perfect.

The one really great feature about West Coast is that they put pictures up during the restoration of a car. So we can follow along, and see what they did once they are finished. For example, here is a page about Jim’s (I don’t know Jim) 1949 Beetle restoration.

So if you have a Volkswagen that needs some love, and you just aren’t that mechanically inclined, check out West Coast VW Restoration, or anyplace around you that can do the work for you.

If you have no VW, then sorry. But you could, because West Coast sells Beetles, Things, and Ghia’s.

It’s not powerful and fast, it’s not really that great for off-road use, but it sure looks cool. My favorite Thing that I’ve ever seen is already here on The Classic Beetle on the post about the pictures we took at the Mid America VW Funfest

I just found a company in Vancouver, Canada that is actually making new Kubelwagens, or Things if you prefer. Intermeccanica Custom Coach Builders is also making new 1959 Porsche Roadsters, ‘55 Speedsters, ‘58 Speedsters, and other custom order vehicles.

I gotta get me one of those.