Fully restored VW is his Thing

GLOCESTER, R.I. — If any car could say "Happy Halloween," it would have to be Thom Milligan's Pumpkin Orange 1974 Volkswagen Thing.

Yes, Pumpkin Orange is the official color.

In fact, it was the original color, which he restored after buying it in Arizona in early 2012. "It was blue outside and tan inside," he said. "Personally, I would have preferred yellow, but it was the original color and it went better with the beige convertible roof and door panels that came with it."

Milligan spent a number of months looking for a Thing after selling his 1971 Corvette, which he bought as a basket case in 2004 and fully restored. He said he always liked the look of the cute but rugged-looking VW.

At the same time, he conceded that it was an "odd" vehicle. "They're in their own little class," he said. "It's not an SUV and also not a Jeep."

Milligan has always been a car guy, and he got involved at an early age. "I had friends who were good mechanics," he said.

In 1978, he funded the purchase of a 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle, which his friends prepped to race in the Street Stock Division at Seekonk Speedway. "I was 15 and couldn't drive, but I had a job and had some money and put a few hundred dollars into it," he said, adding that the driver was Ron LaPerche, who went on to race successfully for many years on local tracks.

Milligan got out of racing after a couple of years and helped work on a friend's 1968 Corvette. It introduced him to the third generation of the sports car, and he bought his 1971 Corvette about 25 years later. 

Volkswagen produced the Thing, which was sold under different names, such as Kurierwagen in West Germany and Trekker in Britain, from 1969 to 1980. The design was based on the Kubelwagen, which was produced for the German Army from 1940 to 1945.

Milligan said it was imported into the United States for just two years, 1973 and 1974. VW pulled it after it failed to meet U.S. safety standards.

Milligan looked for one all over the Northeast, but could not find one for sale that was not rusted out, he said. Given the large proportion of exposed metal — even the floors were bare metal — the vehicles were notorious for rust in colder climates where salt is used on the roads. 

But during a trip to Arizona, he found half a dozen that were acceptable. "It was in pretty good shape," he said of the car that he bought from a seller in Apache Junction, Ariz. "And the floor was in great shape, and that's what really sold me." 

After shipping the car home, Milligan sent it out to Cerroni's Service Center in Smithfield for work on the suspension. On its return, he took it apart and sent out the metal parts piece by piece to be sandblasted.

He then prepped it, including minor body work, and primed it before sending it to Steve Antonelli in Chepachet for the paint job. "I did 90 percent of the work," he said.

He bought a number of parts including the upholstery — cushions, basically — and rear lights from The Thing Shop in Chandler, Ariz., and buffed the original hubcaps into a shine. The motor was in good shape — the previous owner had built in a dual carburetor — and the wiring and instruments are all original.

It took two years to bring it to its restored orange condition, and Milligan said he runs the car in the summer months only, mainly for family jaunts.

"It was tough to take the family out for ice cream in the Corvette," he said. Milligan, 51, a technology teacher at Johnston High School, is married to Terri-Ann ("She loves the car, she did not like the Corvette too much") and they have two children.

"This is fun, different and the family can go out for a ride," Milligan said.

His son Owen, 14, agreed. "I like it and my friends like it. I liked [the Corvette] but I like this one better."

"A lot of people giggle when they see it and at car shows they always come by," said Milligan. "It's a real conversation piece."

— pelswort@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @peterelsworth