Did Things ever come with AT code transmissions?

[Olli from NJ]

I am looking at a THING ( '74) on Bring a Trailer. It is quite original. The seller bought it from the original owners estate, so he doesn't have any first hand knowledge of the specific history. I asked the seller for a picture of the transmission case code. I was expecting to see AV, the picture shows AT. To me it looks like the case was also painted black, not a good sign. My gut tells me that the original owner wanted lower revs at cruising speed ( 3.88 vs 4.12 R&P) and swapped out the AV for the AT. They must have also then swapped the output flanges, Type 1 for THING.

Am I nuts in thinking that THINGs only came with an AV trans? My '73 has an AV.

Olli

[Bruce]

You are correct. USA delivered Type 181s only came with an AV code trans. The AT is the taller Beetle trans.
The black paint likely indicates it was rebuilt since IRS gearboxes were never painted from VW.
I bet the original owner had a problem with his gearbox so he just sourced another IRS gearbox. Then swapped his old flanges onto the Beetle trans. This is what happened to a local Thing owner who came to me to get his trans rebuilt. We put the right gears back in it.

Trivia: When an IRS Type 181 had a factory installed ZF diff, the code was AW.
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[germansupplyscott]

Great info Bruce.
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SL