Hi Jay,
I know you wanted to stop this thread but......
I am just catching up on my reading and I always save the vanagonlist
stuff for last so I am a little late getting here.
I have a '74 Thing.  It is the best VW I have ever owned.  I have had
many many VW's in the past including a '65 21 window, a '71 single cab,
a '67 bug on an IRS pan and a few others.  I have been involved in the
VW scene (car shows, racing etc..) since I was fifteen.  I still have
and race a '72 super beetle built to the SCCA's GT4 classifications.  I
also have an Intermeccanica Roadster for those readers who are familiar
with that Canadian Co.  As long as I have been into VW's, I never second
glanced the 181's.  Too slow, unfinished, not really German, etc...
Anyway, something happened and I wound up getting a '74 x-Acapulco with
a hardtop that had been painted camo and I mean everything was painted
but the glass!
Once I got the Thing on the road, I have never looked back.  I am sure
that VW made this car just for me.  It is just perfect.  Mine is mostly
stock and now sports a used softtop.  I will be heading out for my
annual President's day cruise with a couple other Thingers that I
discovered who only live a few minutes from my home.
This car has been my daily driver until I bought my (vanagon content!)
'82 diesel vanagon for the winter.  I actually bought a syncro first but
it is currently living in CA while I am shoveling snow in PA.
Thing folks are just as enthusiastic and helpful as vanagon/bus folks.
My opinion is get one if you can find one with a good body.  Mechanicals
are a breeze and the interior, well there isn't one!
So there,
Mike Pidcoe
PS.  I find this sort of "thing" easier to take than a lot of the Friday
hooliganisms.  That can't be a real word!