Buying a Thing

BlueBus · Post by **BlueBus** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 8:43 am

I am thinking of buying a Thing. What are some of the problem areas I should look for. I am looking for a runner to restore over time.
Thanks, GR

vwthingboy · Post by **vwthingboy** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:08 am

Howdy. Do you want a stock, offroad or custom style Thing?

If you want stock, check the engine and transmission serial numbers to make sure that they are original.
Check this website out:
http://www.geocities.com/vwtyp181/181_3-2.htm

There are numerous things that previous owners could have changed (engine, tranny, brakes, wheels, steering wheel to name a few), so it depends on what they have and what you like. You can ask/inspect to see what has been changed from stock.

If this link works, it's related:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... ght=buying

Good Luck.

MNAirHead · Post by **MNAirHead** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 10:26 am

Basically rust on the lower 3 inches of the car.. any Rust through on a thing is a very expensive challenge..

2nd thing to look for is if it's been stripped of expensive parts... complete is a must

Top mechanisms bend if they're used wrong.. common failure part...

Bumpers bend in the middle...

By far the least expensive vert to restore out there.

Kubelmann · Post by **Kubelmann** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 4:17 pm

If you can buy a Thing that runs asn can be driven for under $3K consider yourself lucky. A bent nose is commn look inside the hood front area for signs of damage. Check all electrical devises. After 33 years there are troubles that can be tough to repair and all the parts can be pricey.

ztnoo · Post by **ztnoo** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 7:05 am

Be prepared to spend some bucks on something basic, sound, and running that you aren't gong to have to spend months & months, or.......years & years to get on the road.

A few days ago I performed a little exercise to determine the average asking price of Thing vehicles listed at Samba. Thought it might be rather revealing to all
At that time there were 69 listings in Thing Classifieds.
Of those, 7 vehicles had statements listed in the price column....pending, sold, GBP, fair, or "nice horse trailer", which I have disqualified from this calculation.
The total became 62 vehicles.
I totaled the asking prices for these vehicle....I may have made entry errors, but I wasn't going to spend all evening proving every figure.
The total I came up with was an impressive $468,450.
$468,450 / 62 = $7555.65
That's rounded off to the nearest cent.
Admittedly this doesn't reflect what an average sale price may be, but it certainly can give one some sense of what the market is, dependent on all sorts of variables....mileage, general condition, equipment, location, etc., etc.

Ran a couple of more brief studies as to asking prices.
Over at eBay were 10 cars listed, all with asking or "buy it now" prices.
They total $71,241. Divide by 10 = $7124.10 average asking price.
Not far off The Samba Thing Classifieds average price.
At http://ww2.collectorcartraderonline.com/search.php, there are 23 cars listed, 22 of which have stated asking prices.
They total $224,235. Divide by 22 = $10,192.50.

Again, there's no way of knowing what average sale prices may be, as there's no record of that anywhere.
Obviously, some of these cars sit for months with no action taken on the listings by potential buyers.
But I think this should begin to give some sense of what asking prices are running on average.
I still imagine it's a lot more than anyone thought it might or would be.
I would speculate sale prices may be the same situation....there's just no way to accurately track them.

Values from a fourth source:
Classic Car Vehicle Pricing and Information
http://www.nadaguides.com/home.aspx?LI= ... 5...&da=-1

1974 Volkswagen 181 Thing Convertible
http://www.nadaguides.com/default.aspx? ... 5...3&da=1

Low Retail Value $5,325
Ave. Retail Value $9,075
High Retail Value $15,300

1974 Volkswagen 181 Thing Convertible Acupulco Edition
http://www.nadaguides.com/default.aspx? ... 5...3&da=1

Low Retail Value $6,175
Ave. Retail Value $11,175
High Retail Value $15,875

MNAirHead · Post by **MNAirHead** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:46 am

Basic rule I've learned.. if it's under $5k.. it's normally missing about 4k worth of parts..

periodically you will find some that are not loved and cheap (like mine) ..

I still paid $3500 for ours about 5 years back.

Kubelmann · Post by **Kubelmann** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:10 pm

I just sold for $900 a dissassembled Thing parts car that has no engine top or windows. The guy was thrilled. It saved him hundreds in parts costs and still will have stuff to trade sell or have spares.

Captain Spalding · Post by **Captain Spalding** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:12 pm

ztnoo wrote: . . . Over at eBay were 10 cars listed, all with asking or "buy it now" prices.
They total $71,241. Divide by 10 = $7124.10 average asking price.
Not far off The Samba Thing Classifieds average price.

I just did the same exercise, the only difference being that I searched completed listings and used only cars that sold. Thirteen cars, with every level of condition/completeness represented, from show cars to rusted out corpses. Average price $6129. FWIW.