The Thing Shop

I’ve ordered a few items from The Thing Shop (‘TTS’) for my Type 181 VW, which is highly regarded by SAMBA (forum) members. One of them was the TTS manufactured top frame and custom vinyl fabric roof combination. The top assembly arrived quite quickly and I was very pleased with both the quality of items and the relative ease with which everything fitted in place. The excellent geometrics of the frame were such that the fabric roof fitted perfectly, without any cracks, gaps and/​or open areas around the edges. More recently I ordered the front end lower skid plate that fits under the front end to protect the car from off-​road objects and encountered a perplexing difficulty receiving the item. After waiting quite a while, I checked my order on-​line to find out that the order was inexplicably ‘on hold’, with no further details available. A call to TTS resulted in an explanation that the part was currently out of stock (but with replacements coming soon). Apparently no one had bothered to contact me about this, which was a bit irritating. HOWEVER, things were soon straightened out and after a bit of delay the part finally arrived. The part itself was great, well made and up to the usual TTS standards of high quality, but somehow or other the installation instructions had not been included in the package, which resulted in a bit more delay & confusion. Long story short, TTS is a great place to find important and hard-​to-​find replacements parts for your VW Thing, but patience is sometimes required when a glitch occurs. They are very busy some times and available manpower may make it a bit difficult to complete things in a timely manner. This should not serve to discourage others from patronising TTS. They are great people who really care a lot about our Type 181 ‘Thing’ VWs. Thanks, folks!

We ordered a couple drive axles for a GEM. After only a few months they went bad. All though we were told they have a 1 year warranty we have been waiting 6 months for replacements. We are told they are on back order and have to be made. As much as their prices are good, this situation is NOT. Because of this I cannot give a high rating at this time.

I uncovered this shop by chance and I’m happy I did. It’s not often to find a shop that takes care of their customers like they are longtime friends and family. They are the experts in their niche. The pride in their work shows in the quality of the products, parts and vehicles they sell. It doesn’t matter if it’s a small part or the entire car I highly recommend The Thing Shop.

An incredible place with high quality aftermarket and original parts. They actually manufacture some of the parts themselves in an effort to keep our Things on the road. Incredible place, friendly helpful staff and reasonable prices.

A fun stop on a long road.

During a road trip I wanted to stop by the VW Thing Mecca. Very friendly team. A little disappointed they didn’t have some parts I needed. Just a reminder that some of our Thing parts are hard to come by.