“Kübelwagen” VW 181 – USA Coast to Coast in just four only days

Under its official name, no one knows the VW 181 in the United States. Here he kept his nickname from the 70s: “The Thing” – that thing. A car that looks like a thing. Not beautiful, but practical and almost indestructible.

The US name is the program, and then this yellow painting! It is not surprising that the first thumb will go up at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, when the yellow 181 rattles past. Hardly anyone knows that he was a secondary actor in the Hollywood strip “Speed” with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. Nevertheless, the Army convertible, which is technically hardly more than a VW beetle, are not only familiar with the old hippies. A compact commercial vehicle for the army, civil protection or fire brigade-the four-door was designed with a PVC hat in the late 1960s. An off -roader for four people without a lot of ground freedom and without all -wheel drive – emerged from necessity, since the Munga expired at the end of the 1960s and a successor was missing.

The originally planned joint project of the most important European nations of developing an inexpensive off -road vehicle for the respective armed forces failed. However, this resulted in the VW 181, which reminded so much of the bucket trolley from the war that many still call it that today.

But the VW 181 did not convince and was replaced faster than planned by the Mercedes-G class, which was developed from 1975. The 181 was built as a VW Safari in Mexico from 1970 to early 1980s to attract leisure -crazy Americans. This only succeeded in manageable quantities, and the name Safari was soon replaced by the nickname “The Thing”, but the cantile-cap and remained cult. Til today.

You can quickly feel that on the tour through the southern states of the USA. From Charlotte on a northern route it goes through the Pisgah National Forest and Knoxville to the west. Not only because of the landscape with its green hills and forests, it goes over small country roads like the Route 70, because the VW 181 is really not for high speeds. At full throttle, maybe 70 miles per hour would be in it, but it goes more pleasantly between 50 and 60 km / h. Then the 1.6-liter four-cylinder boxer does not sound as hard as at really high speeds.

In the mountains, thanks to manageable 33 kW / 44 hp and narrow 98 Nm, it is leisurely uphill as downhill, and the fourth gear allows the chattering rear -wheel drive through towns such as Sparta or Alexandria, names that would rather be assumed on other continents. Here and there are small cafes like the “Southern Creamery”, in which not only older car fans address “The Thing”. The yellow color is an eye -catcher – police officers stretch their thumb up. There is no danger from speeding speed. Maybe that’s why the sheriffs of modern times cheer.

“What kind of year of construction-72 or 73?” Smiles the elderly senior, who shuffles to his Chevy van at one of the countless lakes in Alabama. “My wife used to have one too. But of course not in yellow.” On the tour of four and a half days, the next detour to Memphis, Tennessee, the Music City, to the King of Rock follows ‘n’ Roll. Its Graceland villa with a vehicle collection in the south of the city has lost none of their attraction, but is getting old as well as most of the daily visitors.

Further towards the west, after hundreds of miles, it goes past towns with German names such as Stuttgart and a culinary stop in the “Kibb’s Bar-B-Que” there before going through small country roads in the no man’s land between Oklahoma City and the greater Dallas area from fuel stop to tank stop. The 40-liter tank, together with a defective fuel gauge and a consumption of 12 to 16 liters, ensures super fuel per 100 kilometers that after an hour and a half hours you take short breaks and take your legs as if you were traveling with an electric car.

The short synthetic leather seats can be moved a few centimeters in length, but there is nothing to be done in terms of inclination to the backrest – not only because the luggage is strapped on the usable area under the folded back seats. The rest in the VW 181 is spartan, and cool temperatures together with the striking parking heating as the only heat source ensure that the roof is usually closed. This only changes in Texas, where after several steak intermediate stops in Amarillo. In the steakhouse “The Big Texan”, Tony Christie does not smash from the boxes this time, but a country musician tries in vain to spread Christmas mood.

For a long time, the curvy country road 60 with its thin petrol station network is a loyal companion, which leads past Indian reserves and army support points when it rains and onset. Beyond the 2300 meters of altitude, it gets icy, and winter jacket, gloves and hat also cause warmth in the vehicle. After a short night behind Socorro, New Mexico, the “very large array” illuminates on a high plateau in the early morning. The satellite system consists of 28 radio stalks, each with a diameter of 25 meters, which can be moved on a track system in order to listen to the vertical New Mexicos into space.

The museum there only opens at around ten o’clock, and so it goes past the Apache National Forest and the Sitgreaves Forest in the cold yellow thing at the right temperatures and sloping height towards Phoenix. There, in Arizona, the roof can finally be folded backwards, and the sun heats the interior and occupants alike.

The last stage through steppe and desert shows in the early morning of near Scottsdale that the lights of the 1973-The 1973-Theching are more limited than real headlights. Especially in the early hours of the morning or in the evening with fogged slices, the journey is not easy if the yellow 181er breaks out between full-size pick-ups and 40-ton peterbilt trucks. The boxer rattles past the Joshua Tree National Park and Twentynine Palms via the Colorado River and the border to California. It was only far behind the sunny Palm Springs that the open trend mobile of the 1970s turns towards San Bernardino and the millions of Los Angeles’ millions.

Created – more than 2,800 miles, almost 4,500 kilometers, put “The Yellow Thing” through eleven states in four and a half days, made a musical detour to Elvis, dreamed briefly from a trip to Vegas and picked up a few “Thumbs Up” of the automotive environment in sunny California. It is difficult to find a sympathizer like the VW 181 in the United States, who has made such a career as a cult vehicle apart from its original destination as a army vehicle and in Malibu as well as the young car fans in the southern states.