upcruiser
Perpetual Transient
So, after 18 years of sitting in storage, I've pulled my trusty but rusty old VW Thing out and brought it the 5 hours north to my house and new garage. This car has some major history and nostalgia for me. Prior to me owning it, it was my father's primary vehicle that was his daily driver, our camping vehicle that we used to explore alot of the backcountry of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and just about everything in between.
The Thing didn't have an easy life, and never let us down or standed us. Even despite an overexuberant 16 year old me rolling it, it just kept taking the abuse and kept going.
Now, the years of sitting, combined with the use, and the effects of road salt from the long Michigan winters leaves it in a state of needing some MAJOR TLC. My plans are to completely dissasemble the vehicle, seperate the body from the chasis and slowly start the process of rebuilding and restoring it. My goal is to build it back, not to concours standards, but more to use for its purpose. Where my Land Cruiser falls on one extreme side of the spectrum of how to build an offroad vehicle, the Thing has to be the other extreme side. Super light, minimalist, and very old-school, yet progressive engineering that is suprisingly versatile and capable. It is going to be a fun challenge no doubt. Hopefully when its all done, I'll have a vehicle that melts away all the overly complex crap this hobby seems to be gravitating towards and embodies the absolute core of what I enjoy about it.
This will be a slow process, but hopefully by starting this thread, it will get me motivated! ha ha :sombrero: So, here I begin, down a long road of learning, sweat, likely some blood, and hopefully some fun along the way.
Stay tuned......
The Thing didn't have an easy life, and never let us down or standed us. Even despite an overexuberant 16 year old me rolling it, it just kept taking the abuse and kept going.
Now, the years of sitting, combined with the use, and the effects of road salt from the long Michigan winters leaves it in a state of needing some MAJOR TLC. My plans are to completely dissasemble the vehicle, seperate the body from the chasis and slowly start the process of rebuilding and restoring it. My goal is to build it back, not to concours standards, but more to use for its purpose. Where my Land Cruiser falls on one extreme side of the spectrum of how to build an offroad vehicle, the Thing has to be the other extreme side. Super light, minimalist, and very old-school, yet progressive engineering that is suprisingly versatile and capable. It is going to be a fun challenge no doubt. Hopefully when its all done, I'll have a vehicle that melts away all the overly complex crap this hobby seems to be gravitating towards and embodies the absolute core of what I enjoy about it.
This will be a slow process, but hopefully by starting this thread, it will get me motivated! ha ha :sombrero: So, here I begin, down a long road of learning, sweat, likely some blood, and hopefully some fun along the way.
Stay tuned......
