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Those "prerunner" raised front and rear fenders are common at VW parts houses. Kustom 1, SoCal Imports, etc. Not at Moore or Pacific for some strange reason. I saw them in the Kartek shop a few years ago, I don't know about now. Some are 3" wider, some are 4" wider. I really can't feature all that huge of a market for them as there weren't that many Things in the 1st place. The rears supposedly clear 3x3s, but I'm sure would not work for your cars.

The front end is also pushed forward. Pretty much any headlight bucket would be torn off. Something flexible is good.

dustymojave wrote:Those "prerunner" raised front and rear fenders are common at VW parts houses. Kustom 1, SoCal Imports, etc. Not at Moore or Pacific for some strange reason. I saw them in the Kartek shop a few years ago, I don't know about now. Some are 3" wider, some are 4" wider. I really can't feature all that huge of a market for them as there weren't that many Things in the 1st place. The rears supposedly clear 3x3s, but I'm sure would not work for your cars.

Both versions of the front raised fender sprung from one guy who was a very talented body man. He owned the Leopard Thing if anyone remembers that one....it's been out of sight for the last few years. I believe the first set were all metal. From what I've heard Socal Imp copied the originals and made them smaller for more of a limited build. The original builder of these fenders then sold the design off to Stuart(K-1) and he is the only game in town if you want a set. The fronts do bolt to the body in stock openings, but the rears attach to the outside of the body with nutserts or your fastener of choice. The Socal Imp's are about 2"-2.5" wider and I think the K-1's are about 4" wider to work with a +10 beam. The last time I saw a set of the K-1 fenders they are noticeably thinner than the Socal Imp fenders I have on my 481. My rear fenders are out of Mexico and I've never seen another set of them in the States. The bolt into the stock wheel opening but wrap higher and wider outside the body fender opening. I saw them on a Thing that came up from Mexico for a Thing Shop show in Vista years ago and went thru lots of hoops to get the set I have. If they weren't so difficult to get, I'd get more The same glass shop has other Thing parts in 'glass.

The fenders in the Samba ad link appear to be modified K-1 fenders if you ask me. Keep going Denny....lookin' awesome!

Mattt wrote:...Both versions of the front raised fender sprung from one guy who was a very talented body man. He owned the Leopard Thing if anyone remembers that one....it's been out of sight for the last few years. I believe the first set were all metal. From what I've heard Socal Imp copied the originals and made them smaller for more of a limited build

Here's the Leopard Thing from back in 2003:



I own these fenders now. Or at least, that's what the guy told me that sold them to me. He said that he had put countless hours making them. The are all steel and I love them. I bolted the front one's on but I need to learn how to do nutserts in order to install the rears.

Thanks for the info Mattt and Mark, they look good on that car. I think I may run into rubbing issues with them though. I think I will trim mine up and run them for now. I may be pulling the trans in the near future to change 4th gear, it's a little short on the road.

mgirdner wrote:

Mattt wrote:...Both versions of the front raised fender sprung from one guy who was a very talented body man. He owned the Leopard Thing if anyone remembers that one....it's been out of sight for the last few years. I believe the first set were all metal. From what I've heard Socal Imp copied the originals and made them smaller for more of a limited build

Here's the Leopard Thing from back in 2003:



I own these fenders now. Or at least, that's what the guy told me that sold them to me. He said that he had put countless hours making them. The are all steel and I love them. I bolted the front one's on but I need to learn how to do nutserts in order to install the rears.

Hey Mark, what are you building, Thing wise, that those fenders are for? You own the Leopard Thing fenders? Did that Thing have a tragic end, if you know? Brent, Brett was his name if I remember correctly. Although, I think he sold the Leopard Thing after having it a few years.

Denny, the JK fenders look surprisingly good on the car. With the Thing fenders being 'glass, you could also re-work the problem areas if you know how to work with fiberglass.

Mattt wrote:...Hey Mark, what are you building, Thing wise, that those fenders are for? You own the Leopard Thing fenders? Did that Thing have a tragic end, if you know? Brent, Brett was his name if I remember correctly. Although, I think he sold the Leopard Thing after having it a few years.

What am I building? Nothing. I just plan on attaching my new metal rear fenders some day. I lack imagination, motivation, and moolah. Yes, I was told the four metal fenders I bought at the Irwindale swap meet were off of the Leopard Thing. The guy was giving me such a good price, it was all I could do to drop the bills in his hand and take off running. (Like that commercial where that lady gets a good deal then runs out to the parking lot: "Start the car, STAR the CAR...".
Later on, I realized that I never asked him about what happened to the leopard car that made the fenders available.

[Hijack Limit Exceeded!]

Anyway, back to Denny's car, it occurred to me that with the exception of his killer power plant and a-arms and amazing ground clearance and rear suspension mods and custom chassis and a couple other things, his car looks a LOT like mine. If it weren't for the different paint schemes, they'd look identical to my eyes.



(Mine is the one on the right)

Well, butter my behind and call me a biscuit! How coincidental is THAT?

Separated at birth, or what???

What was that line from that Supertramp song?

"Dreamer... silly little dreamer..."

Was looking for the side shot. But this is bump.

Getrdone wrote:Was looking for the side shot. But this is bump.

I DO believe somebody's gonna need to re-think the instant removable fender deal...

There was a pickup at a MDR Ridgecrest race a few years ago with the front fenders mounted on hinges along the tops, and springs to keep them down (part of the time). Pretty entertaining to watch it through the whoops.

Make a bracket the attaches the fenders to the top of the spindle. That would be fun to watch through the whoops.

Big Dave wrote:Make a bracket the attaches the fenders to the top of the spindle. That would be fun to watch through the whoops.

I've thought about doing that... Using a carbon fiber or other super lightweight fender just for being legal on the road.

Z

Trimmed up the fenders a bit more today and added some paint. They don't stick out quite as bad now. Also, the wife made me a super cool cover for the small light bar. Need to pick up some material for the upper. More to come and hopefully a desert run soon.

baja5 wrote:Trimmed up the fenders a bit more today and added some paint. They don't stick out quite as bad now. Also, the wife made me a super cool cover for the small light bar. Need to pick up some material for the upper. More to come and hopefully a desert run soon.

Let me know, we'd likely be up for it. We'll be out there next weekend, but Chuck & Lucas are in the DIR Chili cook off, and I am riding the Desert Dash on the KTM. But it's been two weeks and I am ready! I could maybe pull the buggy out on Sunday...

Z