TheSamba.com :: View topic - What's The Difference Between A 1974 and 75 Thing??

Mon Nov 03, 2008 6:54 pm

My husband is thinking about buying a Thing....Owner says it's a 1974 but his registration paper says "Year Model, 1975", "Year First Sold 1974"....so which is it?

Does anyone know what the differences are between the 74 and 75?

Thanks!

Mon Nov 03, 2008 6:58 pm

There should be no difference between a '74 and a '75. That " '75" is a '74 with first registration in '75. Only 2 model year in the U.S : 1973 and 1974. Now if it comes from Mexico or Europe, that's a different story, it could be a '75...Only VIN number will tell. It should start by 184 xxx xxxx. Hope that helps.

Pierre

Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:09 pm

Pierre G wrote: it could be a '75...Only VIN number will tell. It should start by 184 xxx xxxx.
To clarify a bit, the third digit of the VIN indicates the model year.
183 = '73
184 = '74
185 = '75

Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:20 pm

In general the Thing was a US marketing flop. Many dealers were "required" to take delivery of a set number to keep in good graces with Der VW folks. So in 1975 a good number of Thing still sat lonely lots as new. So , if you bought a "new" Thing in late 75 you ended up with a title or registration with 75. I have seen a good number of these and the VIN on all the "75s" started 184 I even have a Welsh friend that bought a new "Trekker" 182 (right hand drive) in the UK in 1975 with a VIN number starting 184 Many Acapulcos sat lonely on a dealer's lot into 76 because of factory demands that dealers take these "losers"

Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:04 pm

Would love to have a looser Acapulco right now :D

Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:43 pm

In the late 80's there was a fleet of Things at the Garden of the Gods Campground.

40 Things were sold as scrap. Long story short... 40 x 3000 = $120,000

2008 reality: Buy a $19.99 Purex toaster and get a FDIC bank free...

Whatever

Sun Nov 14, 2010 6:36 pm

Ian Epperson wrote: Pierre G wrote: it could be a '75...Only VIN number will tell. It should start by 184 xxx xxxx.
To clarify a bit, the third digit of the VIN indicates the model year.
183 = '73
184 = '74
185 = '75

Have I got a question for you!

The first three digits of my just-bought Thing title are:

133 as in 1332403627

So did the guy screw up or was there a typing error?

The car is listed as a 1973 Volkswagen

Did he give me the wrong title or did someone at the SOS office fat-finger the VIN?

Sun Nov 14, 2010 6:39 pm

Ian Epperson wrote: Pierre G wrote: it could be a '75...Only VIN number will tell. It should start by 184 xxx xxxx.
To clarify a bit, the third digit of the VIN indicates the model year.
183 = '73
184 = '74
185 = '75

BTW, in 1971-75, how many digits did a Thing VIN have? Mine has 13.

Typicaly VINs of tha era had 14, and later, 17.

Just curious, this is an item which is not completely covered under the Thing database, since Hanno Spoelstra's many Geocities data pages are now verschunden. :(

Sun Nov 14, 2010 6:51 pm

strelnik wrote:
BTW, in 1971-75, how many digits did a Thing VIN have? Mine has 13.

Typicaly VINs of tha era had 14, and later, 17.

Just curious, this is an item which is not completely covered under the Thing database, since Hanno Spoelstra's many Geocities data pages are now verschunden. :(

Mine has ten in the format Pierre stated 184 XXX XXXX (Mine is a 74). Should be stamped on the tunnel under the rear seat.

Sun Nov 14, 2010 7:15 pm

strelnik wrote:
The first three digits of my just-bought Thing title are:
133 as in 1332403627
So did the guy screw up or was there a typing error?
The car is listed as a 1973 Volkswagen
Did he give me the wrong title or did someone at the SOS office fat-finger the VIN?

I'm no VIN expert, but isn't the 133 vin used on the beetle? Looks like you may have gotten a eroneous title?? Certainly a '73 model, but not neccesarily a Thing title.....
What does the "body type" section state? (i.e. 4dr, 2dr, coupe, etc..)

Also, my vin consists of 10 digits..

Sun Nov 14, 2010 7:30 pm

Just guessing here but I suspect either someone read the number off the tunnel wrong OR some did a typo. Making an 8 can look like a 3 is easy if there's enough paint, dirt and grease.

Sun Nov 14, 2010 8:33 pm

strelnik wrote: . . . Hanno Spoelstra's many Geocities data pages are now verschunden. :(

Have a look here.

Mon Nov 15, 2010 8:15 am

I'm pretty sure a VIN starting with 133 belongs to a Super Beetle.

Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:13 am

uberautowerks wrote: I'm pretty sure a VIN starting with 133 belongs to a Super Beetle.

You are correct.

After much cleaning I found the number stamped on the tunnel, painted over about sx times:

1833232063

So it's a 1973 Thing, left hand drive, built in a year in which VW made more than a million cars.

I read in a web article from Rumania that whenever VW made more than a million cars, the fourth digit of the ten-digit code was the number 3. It certainly holds true for 1973, but I don't understand why they would do that.

From what I understand about Thing VINs (PLEASE correct me if I am wrong):

18 series number (German: Reihe/Typ)
3 year manufactured (1973)
3 unknown (plant number?)
2 unknown (power train? features?)
32063 production number

When I used this VIN on other website decoders for the pre 1981 VINs, they always said: VW Thing of unknown origin.

So far, that's all I know. Please enlighten me.

After this I want to start a sticky on Thing VINs since they are not treated elsewhere that I found.

Thanks!

Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:13 pm

strelnik wrote: From what I understand about Thing VINs (PLEASE correct me if I am wrong):

18 series number (German: Reihe/Typ)
3 year manufactured (1973)
3 unknown (plant number?)
2 unknown (power train? features?)
32063 production number
This is wrong.
the 18 means it's a Type 181 or 182
The next digit is the year, 1973 in this case.
From then on, it's just a sequential number.
All 1973 Type 181s and 182s were made in Puebla.

Wed Nov 17, 2010 1:30 am

Bruce wrote:
This is wrong.
the 18 means it's a Type 181 or 182
The next digit is the year, 1973 in this case.
From then on, it's just a sequential number.
All 1973 Type 181s and 182s were made in Puebla.

Wow, Bruce, are you ill ? :lol:
You don't make mistakes often, but when you do...
Maybe you meant "all 1973 Things imported to the US were made in Puebla"...?
Of the 40327 181s made in 1973, 21598 were made in Wolfsburg and 18729 in Puebla. And we don't know exactly how much were made in Indonesia...

Wed Nov 17, 2010 1:59 am

Pierre G wrote: Bruce wrote:
This is wrong.
the 18 means it's a Type 181 or 182
The next digit is the year, 1973 in this case.
From then on, it's just a sequential number.
All 1973 Type 181s and 182s were made in Puebla.

Wow, Bruce, are you ill ? :lol:
You don't make mistakes often, but when you do...
Maybe you meant "all 1973 Things imported to the US were made in Puebla"...?
Of the 40327 181s made in 1973, 21598 were made in Wolfsburg and 18729 in Puebla. And we don't know exactly how much were made in Indonesia...

Did anyone ever try to contact VW to find out how many Things were made in each location? Are they willing to talk to people about things like this? I know Mercedes does.

Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:24 am

Production numbers are known, except for the Indonesia plant...

Sat Nov 20, 2010 2:17 am

strelnik wrote: L'audace! L'audace! Toujours l'audace!

Danton ?

Sat Nov 20, 2010 8:44 am

Pierre G wrote: Production numbers are known, except for the Indonesia plant...

Didn't the Indonesia plant just assemble knockdown versions manufactured from either of the other plants (Wolfsburg or Puebla)? Could be that the original factory got credit for that production number.