1972 VW Thing Review - Ex West German Army Radio Car Road Test!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2023
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Today, a review of the VW Type 181 / Type 182 - known to the Americans as "The Thing" and the British as "The Trekker", this is a West German army car equivalent to the old Willy's Jeep, and I get to drive it.
#Volkswagen #VWThing #VWTrekker
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The wheels are EMPI 5 spokes (or replicas). They're a popular period aftermarket design for any of the VW models with the 'wide 5' (5 x 205mm) bolt pattern.
You are correct
Videos like this on the weird and the wonderful are often the best. If others don't watch they are missing out.
A family friend out in Oakland, California has an orange Thing and riding in it is such an enjoyable experience. Never fails to put a smile on your face and you get a lot of love and waves from by-passers. A truly happy car ❤️
In other words, it's a military-grade dune buggy.
The most fun cars can always be built out of an old Volkswagen. My dad tried building a fiberglass GT40 replica out of one in his youth.
Oh wow!! This is awesome. At last a 'car' that people can work on with spanners rather than computers. More of this kind of stuff pretty please. Massive thanks for posting.
I always had the mad idea how cool it would be to swap the original driveline for one of the same year 911. Euro hotrot!
About 15 years ago, I saw what appeared to be a perfectly restored example driving in rush-hour traffic on the Long Island Expressway. That was a very impressive display of bravery or foolhardiness. The New York license plate was "sum thing". Only saw it once
In the interest of balance, I would like to report that whilst driving my 911 the other day I got a hearty wave from a tastefully customized old Beetle. Of course I waved back!
One of your UK neighbors (The Tank Chat guys?) took a Kubelwagen on an off-road course and compared it to a WWII Jeep. The Kubelwagen did surprisingly well, even though it only had 2WD. It seems that the car's light weight (lighter than a Jeep), and rear weight bias (over the drive wheels) allowed it keep up with the Jeep's heavier 4WD system.
When I was 9, my Grandpa, much to the Horror of My Parents, sent Me alone across the Hollow to fetch the Mail
In His 1961 VE Beetle. Brown County Kansas. I Loved My Grandpa Beyond Measure…..
Jay finally drives a car dafter than his shirt😂 big love dude ❤
Draftier 🤣
I now look forward to JayEmm trying a Mini Moke or Citroen Mehari !
Absolutely loved the intro 😂
While I like your supercar videos, as the owner of amongst other things a 1200 beetle of the same vintage, I thoroughly enjoyed this video.
I love watching the more quirky vehicles you feature. We never know what you're gonna throw out next. Keep 'em comin'.
It’s great to see some of these old unusual cars still loved James. This reminds me of my late Uncle’s old Haflinger, which is still on the farm somewhere! Thankyou
Oh James! I had a 1971 181 in Steppe Beige! My grandmother sold the car after my dad passed away! I had lots and lots of adventures with it. all without driver's license. Great to see one again!
Cheers for that mate!
This is one of those few videos where the comment section is probably at least as interesting as the video itself. Great subject matter for a great video.
It’s funny how these vehicles put smiles on your face….. I had a m38-a1 jeep…… an the looks and people chatting to you is as you say ..priceless 😉…. I do miss it 😵💫
Back in the early 90's a neighbour of ours had one...Mr Kadelbach!
My Dad had two VW 181's... A 1973 L plate that had been imported from Mexico, and later a mint 1978 German army one with 5K on the clock... Simple, worry free motoring with a lot of noise and weather ingress...
If you ever think a Defender is uncomfortable in standard form, try one of the earlier Series vehicles. They are far more crude and agricultural than the Defender, but nutcases like me find them more fun!
Always love your reviews, especially when its on something a bit differnt. Keep it up old boy.
In the past few months ive been steadly watching your video one by one.
You are not only the most entertaing honest and charming motoring journalist but youtuber in general.
My dad has some really cool cars i would love for you to talk about but sadly im far away from the uk.
Anyways,ive learned so much about cars from your channel keep up the great content!
been waiting years to see one of these on the channel, didn't know they were made for this purpose at all
You could take over the world with that car .
Right at the start of the video I thought, that looks like it could be the pub car that James wants to add to the fleet. For short journeys on a sunny day there won't be many cars more fun than that.
Hi there! I have a Steppe Beige 182 Trekker and absolutely love it. It is lowered with Porsche manhole cover wheels. The car never fails to attract smiles wherever you go and is so much fun to drive and work on. I have had mine for nearly 14 years now and would not dream of selling it. I spoke to the son of an old owner a while back who said that it was the first lowered Trekker in this country. Thanks for the video Jay, keep it quirky! Ian G
A good friend of mine had one of those. It was crazy!
My wife isn’t a Petrohead except for old VWs. Funny because I am, but not for old VWs. Just never been that in to them. Maybe because when I was a kid, my mom had an old yellow beetle and my most notable memory was watching the actual road go by under my feet while I sat in the back seat. It was so rusted out that if I had slipped, I could have exited the car through the floor between the front and back seat.
Oh but my wife loves them ! And especially the Thing.
Maybe when we move out to the woods we will try to find one. There’s a lot of little country roads out there that would suite it quite nicely. 😆
A brilliant car. Thanks.
Amazed they are that much money, but then original jeeps are £20k plus.
„Die“ Gang 😛
Lovely thing. Cheers from Hamburg, Germany ✌️
have a go with old military stuff he says.
someone lend him an UAZ-469
Wow, what timing! I was just thinking about my old 73 Thing that sold years ago and a few hours later this video pop up. It had about 240,000 miles on it when I sold it and drove it once from NM to NY.
one of your best videos ever ❤
… old fashioned options list … I broke down laughing 😂
Thanks J for this interesting oddity! Glad it put a smile on your face! Perhaps get in touch with some of the military re enactment associations for more military vehicles? 🙏🙏
Cool video! Anyone other than me noticed the DC Shoes logo on the rear of the car? :)
We once had a yellow one with black interior .........we had so much fun. Don´t know what happend with it.....great video bringing back very good memories
I've owned a pescaccia, 2x things, a Trekker and a military 181....and the successor VW 183 Iltis.
Great review, ( as always) and here in Ontario, Canada, those "Things" are as rare as hens teeth, rust is a reality here, and so , 16k would be a bargain here!, take care , be well, carry on!!
Excellent Jay.
Next Austin Champ. Willys (WW2) Jeep, and Unimog! Oh, and Citroen Mehari too.
If you like this you should try uaz 469 ;)
Great review. Although they were officially known as the Camat in Indonesia, everyone calls them a Safari. They are a really fun vehicle to drive, and I have even ventured to drive mine with the doors off, it is a little scary. As I live in Indonesia, it is a great cliamte for a Thing, no heaters required, very rarely use the Roof or windows and nearly always drive with the screen down. Speeds are pretty slow in our area, and it just makes people smile when driving around the local villages at sedate speeds
Beautiful intro. Your German is better than mine and I have been learning German for almost 10 years...
I'm on my 5th 181. It's a stock US spec 1973 THING from California. Now in the UK.
There's a lot of Willys Jeeps around my area - Haverhill - pretty sure that you could find one to drive...
now JayEmm needs a Mini Moke to test for a comparison .. this could be an amusing series
Love to see jay in cars like this
On point shirt pairing again James.
We still used to have a few in our Bundeswehr unit in 1988 but mostly we already used the replacement, which was the VW Iltis. Not very popular and I believe it was soon replaced with the G-Wagon.
My favorite classic VW.❤️❤️❤️
Well that makes a change! 👍 Loving the ratchet strap holding the screen up! Hilarious.
Absolutely fantastic James. Totally love it and would definitely love to see more military vehicles. I’m sure you’ve got an itch for one now 😁😉👌🏻👍🏻
James, I 100% agree "you'll never have more fun driving". Prices have been going up steadily though, so if you want in, you better jump before it just gets Fiat Jolly ridiculous money.
This is an awesome video! I've always been excited to see these things.
I remember there being loads of these in Bali, you can rent one but I wanted Aircon so I rented a Daihatsu instead.
"Thing" is very fitting.
I have a 73 Thing that l drive daily in Chardon, Ohio USA, I also have a 73 Beetle I drive when I'm not driving the Thing. Great video by the way!
I have always liked The Things
Can we place a bet on how long it takes Jay to add one to the stable?
🤣
Its like a convertible boxy beetle but even weirder.
There was a bloke that used to live next door to my Nan, he had a ORIGINAL imported kuglewaggon in orange,mint condition and took it with his other stuff to clasic car shows. Occasionally you’d see him in it ,clattering away. Don’t think his wife was that impressed though 😂😂😂😂
Now drive a Humber Scout if you can find one - preferably with the bren gun attached!
In the Bundeswehr this car was called Iltis (polecat).
2:00 in Indonesia it's called VW Safari but also called VW "Camat" [t͡ʃæmæt] due to it being an operational vehicle for the Subdistrict Official, which is locally known as a camat
Great stuff - I love the variety on your channel 👍
Air cooled VWs are pretty cool things in general. This is just a cool Thing. (see what I did there?).
James, I have another ex-Bundeswehr vehicle you're welcome to drive.
Ausgezeichnet! Loved this.
I did not expect to see that! Epic! :D
I dont get it why only 285000 subs, you should be in the millons 😎
I couldn't agree more
Actually that Indonesian name should be read like 'Cha-mat'. The reason for the name Volkswagen Camat is because back in the day the VW Thing was used by camat, the administration of sub-district (aka. Kecamatan in Indonesian) of a city, to go around doing administrative stuffs. Remember, our infrastructures weren't the best back in the early days of independence all the way to... ummm... today, to be honest. Nowadays those Thing, now known as Safari, are retired and kept by enthusiasts. Most camat these days just use mopeds to do their administrative work. Or WhatsApp.
Hi the wheels are emp.
The wheels are EMPI 5's or replicas. EMPI was an American tuning company specialising in air cooled VW
Fun video, thanks!
Great video!
But now we do need the Kubelwagen or the amphibious version
Brilliant video and fascinating car.
Tremendous! Thanks.
I fail to see why old crappy shite is so addictive!. But it is!!! Given the choice of visiting a car museum or an old scrap yard and its the scrappies every time!
Have a watch of a few '6DDiesels vids , they are fun too,
Someone in my high school had a Thing and was declaring it unsinkable. So we felt obligated to test.
how did the test end?
@@toniraff5488 yeah he's teasing us here
@@toniraff5488 (sorry had to run errands) It quickly took on water and needed us to pull him out. He found out the rubber drain plugs were mostly missing, which certainly sped up the taking on of water. Fun day(s).
jay come to Portugal on hollidays and make a video with the UMM witch was a Portuguese brand of 4x4 from the early 80s and ended in meddle 90, was a pretty "jeep" with a peugeot 2,5 diesel engine, and there was also the turbo version, called the ALTER TURBO, search in youtube...
Fantastic video. 😊
Love it! Super cool car
fuchs? Is that a brand, I must be having a senior moment.
A 60s/70s era W German military "jeep" turned into a retail road car. Much cooler than a G Wagon. Next VW retro should be based on this - simplest EV they can get away with.
James, you need to take out my series 3 land rover...
James this will soon be safe enough to drive on UK motorways due to the proposal which will no doubt go through to limit speeds to walking pace on them due to the millions dying on our roads apparently every week.... 😢
This has HubNut written all over it!
Entertaining video. I’ve owned my German military 181 since 1997. A few of the stats in your video are wrong. 181s either had 44 or 48 HP. Mine has 44 hp and those reduction gearboxes at the rear wheels, but still cruises comfortably at 90kph. If I push it, it will get to 110kph.
The test vehicle you drove was in awful shape. Maybe that’s why it performed so bad.
Mine also brakes quite good at city speeds. On the Autobahn, the 4 drum brakes are bit sketchy.
Rented one in Mexico. Rode trip Vallarta to playa Blanca and return. First stop we lined the front storage with cardboard. Went to a ice factory. Loaded up with water soft drinks and beer and headed south. Had Mexican GF so we were in great shape. The Thing was great. Nice trip.
Try and find a 712 Pinzgauer to drive.
2:17 btw this implies that vehicle mass effects top speed, which it doesn't, apart from small factors like heavier cars squashing rheir tyres more and causing more friction. Top speed is pretty much just power and aero drag, and with that body shape and horsepower, i doubt it could do much over 50mph even without the portal axles
If you make it stateside I have a 1995 US Army Special Forces Ground Mobility Vehicle GMV variant of the AM General HMMWV Humvee.
DAS DING
This is one of those cars which i wouldnt mind electrifying long term. It might even improve its performance.
Yeah I can see that
I wonder how much the machine gun option cost?
Let me know if you wish to test a survivor USA spec 1973 Thing..ex California
Those pedals are sooooooo close to each other, Ferrari style.🤣
"DAS Gang"? You mean "der Gang" or "die Gang". 🙃