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Mon Apr 22, 2013 9:12 am

So I have an friend of the family that has a bunch of VW's in a field here in MO and I called him out of the blue and asked what ll he has, he said he has a "Thing sitting out there with a rebuilt engine, doors were taken off and stored inside with top, some body work and where you sit is rusted, but overall in good condition and would like to get $500 for it (my dad says he'll probably give it to me if I wanted it that bad)". I have never worked on cars and know very little but think it would be fun to spend a lot of money on a car and get away from the misses for a little. I have looked at the "what to look for thread" and its very helpful and when I go look at it this weekend I will keep it in mind but I wanted to see if there was anything else to ask on the car to help get some info. Also like the title says, what did you pay for your thing and what condition is it in.

I will post pics when I go and take a look at it to get some feedback.

Mon Apr 22, 2013 12:30 pm

I'm not a VW guru but I'll give you my $.02.
Here is a nearly identical post less than 20 days old. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=550726&highlight=worth

As you can see from the post above the price for a rusty VW can range from $500-1500. If you have the skills and the shop like the Domeck brothers - citroen in that post - you'd be more willing to spend more on a VW because you KNOW you can fix it yourself.

Seeing as you know very little about cars, it won't be hard for you to bite off more than you can chew so to speak. Can you weld, do you have the right tools, do you have the garage space for a body off if it comes to that?

If you want to learn more about working on cars and you want to "get your feet wet," buying a none running, rusty VW would be the equivalent of jumping head first into a shallow swimming pool.

I've had my Thing for 6-years now and with life getting in the way, I finally have gotten to it this past Sept. I'm shooting for firing her up for the first time this July.

Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:54 am

Its probably worth $500 based on what you described. However it will likely need lots of work and parts. The Thing specific parts can be very expensive.

Fri Apr 26, 2013 8:10 am

There are a few people here who might buy it for that price if you don't! :)

You've been a member for a while and poked around here, so you should be in good shape to see what's a deal breaker, but as a long time Thing lurker that has never bought one, I'd say that there are precious few that are running for that price.

Anything can be fixed if you have enough cash, of course!

Fri May 03, 2013 12:23 pm

Curious, was it actually the buggy from the other thread, and not a Thing at all?

Tue Jun 25, 2013 9:29 am

Here is what he had. Let me know your thoughts

He has the doors and top under cover and say theyre in good shape. Let me know what you think.

Tue Jun 25, 2013 9:46 am

That looks like a big project. I wouldn't pay $500 for it. I saw an add for two rolling thing chassis a while back in much better shape for the same price. Maybe $200... or free? I would guess you need to spend 3-5 k to make it a good driver and you can buy a good driver for that.

Tue Jun 25, 2013 9:48 am

Yeah I agree, he ended up saying he would take $100 for it but I do not want to get in that deep with something.

Tue Jun 25, 2013 9:50 am

If I didn't have one already it could be worth it for $100 just for something to work on in the garage... but it is a big project.

Tue Jun 25, 2013 9:52 am

I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole. Maybe if he paid ME $500 to get it out of those weeds. With that much rust and missing parts, you'd be better off paying more for a solid Thing than investing the time, money and effort needed to bring that back to life. Just my 2 cents.

Tue Jun 25, 2013 9:52 am

Well you can give me your and take this for a project... sound like a plan? :)

Tue Jun 25, 2013 10:35 am

$100 and the motor was rebuilt? Let me check my secret cash stash when I get home from work....

Tue Jun 25, 2013 10:49 am

By the looks of the car that would be a 20yr old rebuild...

Tue Jun 25, 2013 11:09 am

What a shame.

I repeat what others have said, he should pay you to remove it.

Not worth the time or effort.

Tue Jun 25, 2013 11:20 am

I've got a 13 and 10 year old that can learn to fix it, slowly if need be, so if it's "give me $20 and get it off my property," (or something similar) I can get a trailer! :)

How buried is it?

Tue Jun 25, 2013 12:05 pm

While some may be skeptical. That THING is a gold mine!

Why?

From original post: "rebuilt engine, doors were taken off and stored inside with top,"

That one may never see the road again, but have you priced even USED top frames? if an AM engine, even not running those two items could net you a nice hunk of change. Hard to tell from those pictures, but I would bet you could even (with lots of work) ride in that one once more.

Were I nearer to it, I wouldn't wait for lunch! I'd be chopping weeds and dragging that one home!

Tue Jun 25, 2013 12:19 pm

The bottom line is: What you pay for it could be miniscule in comparison to what you put into it. If you plan on parting out, it could be a fair deal, but not a big money maker.

Tue Jun 25, 2013 1:10 pm

If you get it for free it might be worth messing with.

Good Luck!

Tue Jun 25, 2013 6:14 pm

best offer should be going rate of scrap metal less a few dollars. figure what 2000lbs at local going rate. at least that way you can haul it yourself if it becomes too much.

there may be a gold mine of parts to separate out.

folks get a good price for a Thing beam. OG engine cases and tranny drive decent prices. you may be able to pull sheetmetal sections for others.

so get it for the right price, pull her from the weeds and then survey whether you want to sink another $5000-10,000 into her. it does look a little scary sitting exposed buried in the woods. the body most likely is toast in rockers and floor.

keep us posted, we are all gluttons for punishment in the Thing forum. That's why we love them

Thu Jun 27, 2013 7:29 pm

If you want to make some money and not touch it , let me know how much $$ ?
Im building 2 things and needing thing parts and will gladly move it out of the woods too!

I also sent you a PM.