Some of you might be wondering what that cameo headlight is in some of the photos. It's an Iltis, a weird offroad offspring, borne of the German Army's need to replace 'The Thing' Type 181 and Audi's burgeoning Quattro endeavour. Its not well known from the VW catalogue, and is basically a parts grab assembled on a single, ugly, utilitarian platform. I acquired one while I was in the Canadian Army back in 2006. My dad actually did all the legwork, dealing with an Edmonton-based auction house. He acquired 6 or 7 (can't remember) of them back in 2004, to 2006.
Mine came from Highbury depot in London, with evidence of belonging to the 1st Hussars. Here is how she looked when she was dropped off, looking like a parts machine for the repair dept. It only cost $750 at auction.
It was pretty well intact, missing the roof, and wiper motor and some odds and ends. With a new fuel pump, it fired right up. The rust was minimal, but typical of these beasties, the floor under the battery under the rear seat was rotted right thru, which is what probably sidelined this one. in 2005, the Chevy Milverado replacement was well underway and these were being pushed to the fenceline at Army depots every week.
I had no intention of keeping the military accoutrements intact, so I had a custom black boat canvas top made, and the blackout lighting was removed. The broken mesh was removed from the bushguard, and other updates made. And eveybody seems to cringe at the S1 steering wheel painted green, but f^ck off, its my ride. Other than that, it's still basically stock though. Under the bonnet, its all VW, a mild 1.7L carb'd gasser in there. Nothing earth shattering, but VERY familiar. In fact, I just donated the engine it came with to another dubb'r who is planning to install it in a swallowtail.
It has a 24V electrical system, to run the CF radios, but its kind of a pain. There's no reliability problems, and everything is rebuildable, but I can't just go into the garage and grab an alternator, coil or starter off the shelf and throw it on.
After playing with it hard for a couple years, and replacing both the trans and rear diff, I've been a lot nicer to it lately to keep the stress off the wallet. The rear diff was a real challenge to find, so if I broke it again, I'd be up sh^ts creek for another.
I rarely drive it much these days, its on silverwheels insurance, so it doesn't owe me much. My kids would disown me if I sold it, but it is in need of some considerable work. The lower windshield frame is rotten, and the clutch needs replacement, so those are on the order of battle this year. I also had a matching trailer at one time, but with it weighing 700lbs empty, it was a real pig behind the anemic 1.7
So just like my roomate bought a mk1 Jetta (whitey) cuz he liked mine, he also bought an iltis too. His in alot of ways was better than mine, and his was a rare Ambulance version. As was typical with Ambs assigned to Army Reserve units, they were driven to the Exercise and parked for the week/end. It was in immaculate shape, not wailed on like mine was, and if memory serves me, only paid $1200 for it. Again, the battery floor was rotted out too. Very common problem!
So I'm on the fence whether to keep or sell mine. (Jeff sold his) I don't really enjoy the utilitarian feel anymore, long trips really kick the sh^t out of you. With the Cabby, it can satisfy the open air feel too. I'm probably going to fix her up this year, and quietly sell her before the kids notice. :)
UPDATE
Sold May 8, 2019. BTW, the kids noticed. Mallory was furious...
