There’s not a lot of information to go on for this dusty 1973 Volkswagen Thing, which sports great colors and a factory hardtop. Typically, Things are either in two states of condition: totally restored or total basketcases, so finding an actual survivor with no major rust issues is worth giving a closer look to. This example supposedly has just 78,000 original miles, but the seller is asking all the money for it. You’ll find the Thing listed here on Facebook Marketplace, with an asking price of $18,500 and residing in lovely Twentynine Palms, California.

Twentynine Palms sits in the shadow of Joshua Tree National Park, and a VW Thing seems like the perfect accessory for a lifestyle that epitomizes a California existence. The colors, too, are great, with the rare factory hardtop looking sharp against the banana yellow paint job. There is a temptation to paint the hardtop to match to give the Thing the look of a vintage factory SUV, but that’s up to the next owner. The factory painted steel wheels and hubcaps both appear to be in good shape, and aside from a moderate sag of the rear bumper, I see no obvious flaws in the bodywork to report.

The interior is another serious bright spot, with the seating surface presenting as-new. However, those are clearly not the factory bucket seats, so it’s likely they’ve been re-done in the recent past. I can’t say I blame this owner or a previous one for swapping in much more modern buckets, as the originals were fairly primitive in their design. The paint matches nicely inside, and the door jambs look as clean as the exterior. The interior just looks plain nice all around, so at least the seller’s two-word description – “survivor car” – seems accurate.

The engine bay could stand to be detailed, but its grungy cosmetic condition simply reflects the effects of use rather than years’ worth of neglect. The seller obviously doesn’t extrapolate on the condition of the running gear, but one would hope given the impressive cosmetics that the drivetrain is in equally good health. VW Things are certainly desired by a certain subset of enthusiasts, but it’s still obscure enough that their values haven’t exploded to the point that buyers are willing to pay any amount. If it were presented slightly better and with running condition confirmed, the asking price doesn’t seem out of reach – but the current presentation leaves more questions than answers.