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Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:48 am

So, my boyfriend got this bright idea to take our 74' Thing and drive it to Michigan. We bought her just a few months back and she was only driven about 500 miles every year in the summer, for the past 8 years by the previous owner. The condition she is in, is pretty shabby as she wasn't cleaned for 8 years either and the man that had her previously did a really crappy job trying to make her driveable. When we had bought the car the owner told us that he wouldn't be surprised if it broke down while on the test drive. But, we needed a hardtop for the winter and weren't going to pay the full blown price everyone is asking and we found a guy selling one really cheap in Michigan that was in great shape.

We drove her around town every once in a while, but no where far. We got insurance and fired her up for her first "real" drive and were on our way. I'm not sure if I had high hopes for the car, but for some reason she's a fighter and knew she would make it! Some funny things happened on the way there and it's an adventure I'll never forget. Driving to get our second tank of gas we discovered that the meter on the inside doesn't work so we overfilled and gas went spraying everywhere. After that we almost lost a door because the ride was so shaky that it took one of the bolts off. And going off an on ramp, the throttle cable snapped. But being prepared he had brought the hole tool chest and another cable, not to mention lots of other parts. I had to use my cell phone to light up everything because we did forget a flashlight, however.

Oh, and lets not talk about heat! I'm not sure if everyone realizes but- in Illinois right now it's only 32 degrees. It was snowing while we were driving and if it wasn't snowing, it was raining. My boyfriend bought three little back seat heaters which worked for about an hour and sucked all the life out of TWO batteries. Thankfully, we had died out on a hill so we were able to push start her. It was our first time push starting anything so we weren't really sure what to do, but it did work. We could only use 1 heater on the way home that didn't even let off any heat, only enough to feel our toes every once in a while. When the heater would go dim and the turn signal wouldn't pulse, we'd know the car was just going because of the speed. When we couldn't feel out limbs anymore we'd stop to get hot chocolate, but because we don't have an emergency break and first doesn't stick, we had to use a heavy box to hold her in place. We even had two men eyeing up the box wanting to steal it so we had to watch that too!

Needless to say, we didn't get there until 1:00 in the morning on the first day. We had to sleep in a dumpy, sick, grubby, motel because all the lodging signs were crap. We would see lodging signs on the road and get off, but NOTHING would be there. But being tired did deteriorated the feeling of being freezing, so that was okay for the time being. We disconnected a part in the engine so no one would try to steal her and finally went to sleep.

Finally we made it to St. Clair, picked up the top(Thanks Keith!), and we realized we were right on the border of Canada! We could see over the water, the side of Canada! I was amazed. I was so amazed that I was speechless. We made it to CANADA in a 74' Thing that didn't have it's oil changed for years before we got it, we made it to Canada in a car that had holes I had to plug with pretzels! Not only that, but we were going with the flow of traffic the hole way there, that's 70-75 MPH the hole way!

This is the beast. Layla. With Canada in the background!

Tue Oct 24, 2006 2:39 pm

Nice looking Thing. These are the adventures you will treasure in years to come.

Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:12 pm

We've had trips like that :lol:
Where in Illinois ya from. I'm in Sycamore.

Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:53 am

Great story. It's epics like yours thast make me appretiate that I live in Florida!

My new project is an 84 Vanagon Westy. Brought it back from my last trip in Germany. Interior is nice, but the previous owner painted the outside completely blue. Ugly color of blue. My story to tell was when I had to pick it up at the Jacksonville port. I had never driven this before, as I bought it looking only at pictures and talking through a friend who spoke both english and German, as my German is limited. I arrive, take care of customs and port fees and the like, and drive over with a friend to the port. There it was, parked right next to a Mercedes AWG. Perhaps the owner of the Mercedes was happy I removed the Vanagon before he/she arrived! I step inside, and turn the ignition key, and nothing. Seeing as how I expected this, I had jumper cables. It started! However, as soon as the jumper cables were removed, the engine quit. The blue alternator warning light was of course glowing the entire time it ran, so I knew I had an alternator fault. I opened the rear engine lid, and found that the rear hatch struts were kaput, and would not hold the rear hatch up. So my buddy held that open while I discovered that the blue wire to the alterator was busted at the connector. I rumaged around the parking lot and found an old telephone box on a pole that was opened, and a "few" exposed wires were there. I cut one off, did a very crude parking lot splice, and fired it up again. This time it ran when the jumper cables were removed. The 2 hour trip to Orlando went without any other incident, but I realized that I would no longer complain about my slow 1971 military Thing with reduction boxes. It will certainly beat the pants off of the Vanagon for sure, even though it an't saying much!

Congrats on the trip, you will now most likely be replacing those heater boxes in your 74 Thing, or at least investigate why they don't work.

Fri Oct 27, 2006 5:41 am

bucko wrote: I rumaged around the parking lot and found an old telephone box on a pole that was opened, and a "few" exposed wires were there. I cut one off, did a very crude parking lot splice, and fired it up again.

"Bucko McGyver" :D

Mark