Seen traveling on the Interstate

[peecee69]

Wouldn't some restorer that knows what they're doing be proud of this? They don't seem to just have some paint slapped on them with similar sets of rims.

So the guesses are Shriners or a Movie? I really hope they are Shriners cars.

[GeorgeL]

[Ian Epperson]

Special effects people are good at illusions. It could very well be that most of those cars are inoperable rust buckets that have been dolled up to look good for an explosion.

Looks like some of the cars have glass windows and some have plastic. It doesn't look like any of them have glass sliders. The plastic ones are bending badly in the wind. This certainly doesn't sound like a collector spending big bucks.

Hopefully whatever movie it is will be a good movie (I'm looking at you Overnight Delivery!) and will portray the Thing in a good light.
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VW-181 shirts and stickers.
http://ian.epperson.com/vw

[Doc*181]

[FreakCitySF]

It would have to be a huge production movie like Transformers 3. Most of the time 2-3 cars are used max.

I betcha the Thing shop would know about these cars, they would supply critical parts.

[GeorgeL]

[norcalmike]

[Wildthings]

There is some unusual uniformity in the picture, like all the gas caps appear to be yellow, but there are little differences that tell me that it is not photoshopped. For one not all the windows on the front doors are the same, some are solid units and some have the flap. Can't imagine that these cars have very many miles on them. Might be a great chance to buy a low mileage unit if they end up on the market.

[J.Glo]

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=919761

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=924641


wasn't the truck full of 73's heading southeast?
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66 fastback

[77kafer]

In the OPs fotos, it sure does look like some of those (if not all) have some sort of diamond plate aluminum running boards.
_________________
Supposed to be 77käfer, but there are no umlauts on an american keyboard

Overheard on 27 June 07, one lady to another when they saw my Harli in a parking lot at West Point, "maybe he found it on the clearance aisle at the Volkswagen dealer"

[Ian Epperson]

[EODinert]

When they restored that Thing to 'new' condition, they put the wrong new wheels and drums on it.
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'61 rag top beetle, '73 type 181, '66 13 window deluxe

[Bugs4Life]

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=919761[/url]

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=924641






You wonder they go thru a pretty nice resotration like that, and then put the wrong Muffler on it?

G
_________________
72 181 Ambulance
62 Ghia

[77kafer]

[BNMike]

This wasn't exactly on the interstate...though I-90 isn't too far away ...but coming East through Newcastle, Wyo. yesterday afternoon, I was looking at the trackside neighborhoods. It's uphill, wide open throttle, so there is time to check out the scenery. On the South side of the tracks, I noticed an Orange vehicle. As I got closer, it turned out to be a Thing It was parked in the driveway of one of the houses. I didn't get a good enough look at the plate to see if it was local or not, but I know which house to keep an eye on now

BNMike

[Invaderowner]

They gotta be shriners cars. Those guys spend ridiculous amounts of money getting matching cars for their parades. And they keep them in great shape for years.

[dagimp]

A lot of them have chrome wheels but they don't all match exactly. Some have original hubcaps and some are just chromed wheels. I'd guess some sort of club (e.g. Shriners, etc). If it were a movie, they ALL have to have the exact same wheels. And getting completely matching rims and tires is just so easy to do. My $0.02.
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Buck

1973 Orange VW Thing, "Otto".

[vw7266]

they are shriners cars

[GeorgeL]

Finally tracked 'em down! They are the Olive Branch Yellow Dogs motor corps from Olive Branch Mississippi. They're a unit of the Wahabi Shrine Temple. Here's a reference, scroll all the way down to the bottom:

http://www.wahabishriners.org/DesertSandsArchive/DesertSands3rdQuarter09

Here's the obituary for Gene Freeman, who was mentioned in the original post and died in 2005:

http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/news/2005/may/09/obituaries-for-april-27-2005/

The group has been mentioned on TS:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw//forum/viewtopic.php?p=3124098

Apparently "Yellow Dog" is a club-within-a-club for Masons, with its own rituals, etc.

[thinghunter]

I saw these cars driving down the highway in Mississippi on my way back home to Texas from Chicago. They were going the opposite direction than me but if I wasn't so pressed for time I definitely would have tried to chase them down.