VW 181 Facts & Figures

VWoA Accessories

Shawn Sitar's detective work has been instrumental in making up this list of accessories which VWoA (Volkswagen of America) made available for Things. Since the last edition of these VW 181 Facts & Figures, he has a list of them - complete with photos - on his web page. Therefore, I have deleted the relevant items and added a link to the corresponding page.

Covers

Side Curtain Bag: original side window bags were white in early 1973 and were black after that through the '74s. They are vinyl and have very flimsy vinyl tie-straps that usually are broken or dry rotted. The inside has a cloth liner.

Windshield Edge Cover: the windshield cover is a green vinyl cover that covers the windshield frame, but not the window glass. It is about 5-6" wide and is a pouch that has two pin holes to fit the windshield pins through (that rests in those two rubber lined brackets on the hood) and has a few tie-straps made of cloth that hold the cover on. It is used to cover the frame when it is folded down, but the specific role is unclear.

Top Frame Edge Covers (2).

Source: Shawn Sitar (VW Thing mailing list digest 1.7.97); VW Thing/Type-181 Registry newsletter (June/July 1994, p.9).

Tools

Tool bag w/wheel stud socket, bar for wheel stud socket & removing wheel covers, doubled ended screwdriver, and a pair of pliers. '73 bags were probably vinyl bags with tie-straps. '74s are thought to have come in a little black plastic bag (thin like a garbage bag) that had a flap and two pin holes in it.

The original Thing jack has the part # 211 011 031 C stamped on it (it was also used on the VW Bus). The tommy bar and socket are used to turn the jack and used as a lug wrench and spark plug tool.

Source: Shawn Sitar (VW Thing mailing list digest 1.7.97); VW Thing/Type-181 Registry newsletter (June/July 1994, p.9).

Wheels

Chrome
The only original VW accessory wheels for The Thing were the Chrome Wheels (ZVW 148 184). They are chrome and not spoked and have a round plastic-chrome center cap with a Wolfsburg Crest decal on it. These were made by a US manufacturer. See Shawn's homepage for a photo of one. He thinks Acapulcos usually came with Chrome Wheel Covers (ZVW 154 181) which were put over the stock 14" rims.
Source: Shawn Sitar (things-digest 29 Oct 1998).
Note: The so-called 'Jackman-style' (white steel, 5-bolt pattern, 5-spoked, 14"(?) wheels without center caps) can be seen on many Things (incl. Acapulcos). Shawn Sitar thinks they were aftermarket wheels since he has not seen them listed in the US VW dealer literature on accessories.
Source: Dave Cormack ("SomeThing Special", VW Trends, vol.16, no.3, March 1997, p.68-69, 97); Shawn Sitar (e-mail 03-11-1998).

Winch

The VWofA accessory winch didn't exactly mount on the vehicle. It came with two clamp-on trailer hitches, one for each bumper, and you "hung" the winch on the hitch ball with it's mounting plate. This winch was made for VW by Powerwinch, of Leitchfield, KY and is still available as an accessory winch in about three different sizes. The winch still comes with everything but the bumper mounting hitches.
Source: Bob Miller (VW Thing mailing list digest 8.12.96).

Links

Shawn & Kristie Sitar's VW homepage has notes and photos on the following accessories:

Last update: 24-03-1999