1974 Volkswagen The Thing "Thing"
Type: Automobiles
Model: 1974 Volkswagen The Thing
Real Name: Mike
Location:
Web Site:
Gender: Dude
Age: 60.64 years
These were sold in the US only in 1973 and 1974. They were called Things here, but in the rest of the world they were know as the Safari. They were designed in the 1960s to become the German military's 'jeep', and were used as such. Besides being made in Germany, a factory in Mexico also made them, which is where mine came from. They were very popular in Mexico because they were reliable, rugged, and able to drive on poor dirt roads and trails.
The photo-Poor little guy almost died when a really big Douglas Fir fell on him in a major windstorm. He will never be the same again.
Comments
Thing's Stats
mike owns:
I have owned this car since 1986. The 635 was an awe inspiring design when it first came out as a 630 in 1976, and the clean, svelte lines still look good today. Mine has suspension and other improvements made by Dinan Engineering. The wheels now are BMW 5 series sport wheels-in order to get away from the special TRX wheels (in this photo) that came on this 635 requiring special TRX tires made by Michelin and Avon-now technologically outdated. A number of other car manufacturers at the time, including Ferrari, chose to use TRX wheels and tires because it was advanced compared to then tire technology, and was actually the first of today's low profile tires.
I bought the Dino from a good friend in Dallas in 1988. Like me, he is also a sports car and motorcycle nut. He has four daughters, and as each one got to driving age (in the late 80s) he bought them the car they each wanted. The first got an SL, the second a 300Z. The third was only 14, but wanted a Dino. Since he did too, he bought it and drove her to school in it almost every day (even in Texas you must be 15 1/2 to get a license.)
It was hot riding in the Dino on warm days, and Dallas has a lot of them. His daughter said she changed her mind and wanted something with air. So he decided to sell the car, and I was talking to him the day he decided. Took me about 30 seconds to decide.
One of the first things I discovered after buying it was that the heater valve was stuck open and so the interior was always heated! So a typical stupid sports car defect in this case actually worked in my favor-without it I probably would not have pursued a Dino, even though I had liked them from the moment I first saw one!
I'm the fifth owner from new-it had 59,000 miles on it when I got it. It was 16 years old in 1988, and needed new paint and timing chains and a few other things. Since then it has had a complete engine and transmission rebuild because an alloy head 'went porous'. something Italian castings sometimes do.
A good way to determine if someone is not into cars is to watch them as the Dino goes by. If they don't look, they are oblivious. Most people love them.
This is a 1967 Jaguar XKE, called the E type outside the US. It is what is called a Series 1, characterized by glassed in headlights, turn signals above the bumpers, and three carbs (265hp), as well as a dashboard with toggle switches instead of the later rocker switches. Series 1 runs from 1961 through mid 1967. In 1964 the engine size changed from the original 3.8 liters to 4.2, and the transmission became synchronized.
I am the third owner. A guy in San Francisco bought it new, but had trouble getting in and out so he soon sold it to a dentist in Hillsborough. He owned it for 20 years until I bought it from him in 1988. It had a very amateur re-paint job, although in the original beige. Sine then I have gradually gone through everything (out of necessity): the car today in late 2007 has new paint and canvas top, redone interior except for the dash itself, and complete rebuild of the engine, transmission, clutch, cooling system and brakes. I also put on Series III wider wire wheels with stainless steel spokes and wider tires to improve handling and ride. It is as good or possibly better than when it came out of the factory in 1967.
This car is fun to drive, and I have taken it on a bunch of multi day rallies. Big front engine means big understeer, so you have to stay on the gas when turning or you would have to have Schwartznegger arms. The engine sounds good at any speed. Torque is immense with big pull at all rpms.
My second M Roadster, I sold my 1999 to buy this 2001 version which BMW upgraded from the previous version many ways, including a much more powerful engine. The M Roadster is the BMW Motorsport division's uprated Z3 Roadster. It has (from the factory) numerous performance and appearance upgrades, including a 315 hp engine, the same engine as the M3 and much wider wheels and tires.
My car has a Dinan Engineering Stage 3 suspension, producing even better handling than the factory. It also has Michelin Pilot Sport II tires, adding further to the handling.
Bought new in 1973. Now has 104,000 miles, essentially all by me. I paid extra to find a yellow one at another dealer, instead of the red one my local dealer had. This car was the start of my thing about sports cars.
mike used to own:
I bought mine in 1976 as a used 1973 model. I had moved to Los Angeles in my TR6, and burned out two clutches driving in stop and go traffic on the Harbor Freeway to work every day. I wanted a second car that was fun, and had an automatic transmission for freeway driving. A friend had a Stag, and I thought it was a good idea. I sold the car in about 1995, after the heads warped for the third time-I had no more patience for the extremely finicky engine in the Stag-a special 3.0 liter V8, it was never used in another automobile but the Stag. It was cut in half to make the four cylinder engine used in the disasterous Triumph TR7.
I bought this car my senior year in college,and brought it out in 1970 to California from Atlanta when I accepted my first job out of school. It was a beauty, and I should have kept it. I bought a new Celica in 1972 and didn't realize the mistake for five years.
My car was a Rally Sport, cream with a red interior and a black power top. It had a 327 V8, automatic transmission, and a fold down rear seat that made a luggage space. The wheels covers looked like wire wheels. The headlights folded behind the grill on Rally Sports. You could also add the SS option and get the bigger 396 engine instead of the 327.
I bought a Toyota Celica when they first arrived for sale in California in 1971. I was looking for a 'sporty' car, and was considering a Vega (!!) and also a Capri. The Capri was a good choice, but the Celica was pretty, had really nice features and had great handling. I only had one color choice-blue (the picture is a green Celica), not my favorite. But I bought it anyway.
I only kept this car for a year because I wanted a real sports car, and a roadster at that. So I traded mine in for a yellow TR6. The Celica was a really great car, but no match for a sports car when you are only 23 and single!
After I moved to California from college for my first job in 1970, I started noticing that some really OLD cars were driving around on the street and looked really good. I wanted a cruiser with some style, so search around. This 1940 Commander was for sale in good condition and at the right price so I bought it in 1971.
It was an original San Francisco owner car. It had a hill-holder for the clutch/brakes. Appropriate for SF hills! Running boards, three windows on each side, the last one being a slider. The back seat was like a sofa, and even had a foot rest. The floor was totally flat.
Studebaker had great model names: Champion, Hawk, Lark, President, Dominator, Dictator. OK, maybe Dictator is not so great, but it is a model name they used until WWII made it a non-starter.
The photo car is not mine-I am not sure I still have any photos. Mine was a light brown/beige. Fawn.
I gave my Commander to an aquaintance in Dayton who restored cars as a hobby in 1986. I do not know what he finally did with it.
I bought this Diablo with a partner in 1994. We got a deal when he was offered the Diablo and two Countachs as a package. Divorce distress sale. We intended to drive it for a few weeks and then sell it for a small profit. Turns out there were more Diablos on the market than the world needed, so we kept it for 18 months.
The engine heat warped a taillight lens. It was replaced under warranty as a pair, since color matching was a problem. The list price was $1200 for a pair of plastic lenses!
Diablos drive like a dream. Massive power, great handling, quiet with the widows up, and very comfortable. Poor rear vision is not a problem-you step hard into the accelerator and everything behind you is instantly irrelevant; except police.
Bought in college. Sold to buy the Camero. Had the V6 that Buick engineered long before others had equivalents. Also available in a small block V8.
The last car I drove in high School up to when I went off to college. Ours was metallic silver-blue with a black interior. Started my love for cars bacause it had some juice compared to a lot of others of the era. 289 cid. Auto, air, deluxe wheel covers!
I bought this car new in 1981 because I needed a car that wasn't a sports car or a pickup. This one caught my attention because of the great press about its looks, handling and quality.
It looked like a BMW 320i. Paint, interior trim and materials and comfort were all really good. The back seats folded down to allow long items to be carried passed through from the trunk. One seat folded down to allow the opening 1/3, the other 2/3. So you could carry something and a passenger in comfort too.
Not an exciting car, but a very competent car with good looks, style and quality. Mine was light metallic green exterior, with a tan interior with cloth upholstry in what looked like corduroy in tan and brown fine stripes. My wife liked it so much she bought one just like it but metallic red exterior and charcoal interior.
The Dirt Truck was owned before me by one of my best friends who won it in a bar dice game. It was called the Dirt Truck because nobody remembered it ever being washed. I bought it from my friend when he moved and could not take it with him. It was a long bed step side with the special floor shift transmission with a 'grannie' gear first for pulling heavy stuff. It had compound wheels, which meant no normal tire place would put new tires on or fix flats.
I used it for real hauling in my development/building business for 6 years, and had a great lumber rack made for it. Also used it to pull the big jet ski boat. Good thing about the grannie, we discovered the boat had some drain plugs we did not know about, and when opening them let out about a ton of water we had been carrying in the boat inner hull, and the truck when pulling on the trailer. Also good the boat had about 400 hp and a jet drive so all that weight did not slow it down!
Moving to the San Francisco Bay Area out of college in 1970 really did a number on me. I had one very old motorcycle, but felt I needed a new one as soon as I arrived. So I bought a Honda CB450.
It was the road (vs trail) bike, and the first for Honda with a front disc brake. It was candy apple red, and chrome. It was so cool to ride. I make weekend trips all over this part of California, from Yosemite to the nearby coast, and San Francisco.
After two years, I was feeling really expert as a rider, and one day coming down Mt Hamilton I nearly went off the road from not paying attention while looking at the view. I reflected on three friend's deaths from motorcycle accidents, none really their fault but they died anyway. So I did a very uncharacteristic thing and put my two bikes up for sale.
The eventual buyer for the 450 was raving about two girls from the east coast who had recently moved in to his apartment complex for the summer, so I met them when I delivered the bike. One was a hot Nordic-type blonde, and ended up being my girlfriend for two years! Not a bad consolation prize, even though the bike was really cool. The guy who bought it made it into a chopper. Too bad, but it was his bike to mess up if he wanted. And I stayed alive all these years.
I bought this partially disassembled when i was in college in Atlanta. A friend and I rebuilt it to ride around town. The transmission needed some adjusting, so the guy I bought it from offered to reassemble it at his workplace. We drove over and it was a pizza place. He disassembled and reassembled the whole transmission right on the big wooden pizza table in the backroom!
Not many were sold in the US, so the American shop manual was run off on a mimeograph machine, and the photos were black and white photos glued onto the pages. The translation was obviously someone who spoke English with a real heavy accent. dictating to a typist There was a section on "Ramp renewal". Turns out it was 'lamp (bulb) replacement'. Someone was dictating 'lamp' as 'ramp'! There were a lot of passages like that one that took a while to figure out.
It was a great cruiser-big torque and a great throaty rumble. The big chrome pipes and fenders plus black gas tank and headlamp made it look really cool.
Even though it looked like a BMW replica, the pistons and rings were not the same size as BMW, so rebuilding was eventually a problem, and that was what hastened my decision to sell the bike. I sold it in California in 1972.
This is mike's friend's rides:
My girlfriend in highschool owned this car. My first experience up close with a convertible. Made ma a fan for life.
Transaxel. Not common...
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