Just now celebrating its 50th birthday – the VW 181, which at the time rolled across German Army parade grounds as an auxiliary vehicle. At the same time, the VW type 181 became a legend in the USA – as a “just for fun” leisure vehicle. Its name in the States: The Thing! The would-be off-road vehicle had neither four-wheel drive nor off-road gearing, to say nothing of ground clearance. When the VW 181 was presented at IAA 1969, its mission as a vehicle was of a purely military nature. In fact, in the 1960s, the European countries wanted to jointly build a Jeep-equivalent, but the project never got off the ground. At the time, the German armed forces were under pressure because the production of the DKW Munga had ceased in 1968. VW took action, and placed the type 181 on a platform frame, and the VW Beetle contributed the engine. Initially presented as a “courier vehicle”, the 181 was soon renamed the “bucket car” in soldiers’ slang – a vehicle name which earned the officially disapproval of the Defence Forces. 140,768 vehicles rolled off the production line between 1969 and 1980. Originally built in Wolfsburg, then in Hanover and Emden, and finally only in the plant in Mexico, the VW 181 was used as a special-purpose vehicle many deployments.

Rapeseed yellow body, chassis with interior and open folding top black. Inserted black steering wheel. Wheels with hubcaps and VW logo, aluminium. Body front with VW logo printed black. Door handles and bumpers, windscreen wipers and rear-view mirror printed black. Transparent front windscreen with window frame printed rapeseed yellow. Red tail lights. Headlamps hand-painted silver.