![]() |
Have we had a thread on conversion vans here yet?
Anybody have , or had one? For a good part of my 20's/ early 30's, I was a man with a van, and a plan. My first was a VW, but I quickly moved into full sized vans as I could tow with them, use them for my business to move parts, and for projects around the house. Had a really cool 80 Dodge van,that was a homemade conversion and looked similar to this,
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1409877761.jpg ( always wanted to clone this one) Wood paneling , shag carpet, lighting , the whole package. Also had a 1985 ford conversion, 91 dogde conversion, and Had started on a 1979 Chevrolet, factory standard 4 speed floor shift, but sold it when I bought my first house My buddy todd had a 1974 silver chevy with red shag carpeting, the big chrome visor, wire wheels, and a heart shaped opening leading into the back, it was baw chick a wa wa 70's . That old van saw over 100 grateful dead shows. I think he still has it rotting in his backyard. That old dodge van I had towed more 911's around the country than I can remember, was a great beach road tripper, camp van, and always came in handy for date night.... I,ll have to see if I can dig up some old photos. I took my kid on a test drive in a customers old ford conversion the other day, and he loved it. " Dad , why don't you have one of these?". Hmmm.. Possibly a future father son project? Anybody remember van ins? The dodge street van? This stuff was huge in the 70's.. |
|
|
Quote:
|
My friend drove a van during high school. It had a shower/toilet, foldout table and tall enough to stand in. The color was off white and on the side were two tone brown stripes with the word "Swinger" That was party central.
I searched for a picture with the terms 'Swinger vans". No pictures of vans, but the folks in Van Nuys have some very active social groups if interested. |
No but used to dream about owning a murals van as a kid. I was 13 years old when the 70's ended and I can still recall dreaming about "going cross-country" in a van or on a HD. Why I thought that was appealing was probably from the likes of Easy Rider, Vanishing Point, Smokey & the Bandit etc romanticing the "freedom of the road". In hindsight- even within their fictional setting- they were all characters on the fringe of society. The van projected a hedonistic attitude that nothing since has been able to come even close to recapturing.
|
I never owned one, but my friend Gary Lukehart did all the "factory" van conversions for Dodge through the 70s and did a Blazer custom package for Chevy in the late 70s. He also founded the Chinook camper company.
|
<iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3nhgfjrKi0o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
|
|
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XtSr-GLFz8s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
|
While cool as a concept I've always found the practical implementation / execution of conversion vans to be rather creepy.
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...d67ead7b76.jpg |
Always wanted one of those when I was a kid. My friend Joey's parents had a silver Dodge. Was called the "Silver Shark". had murals all over it, blue shag carpet , blue velvet walls archway, mirrors, bar, bed, coach lamps.all the cool stuff. I'd love to do a retro one now if i couold.
|
Love 'em and leave 'em!
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/cO8dHPx_Zjk?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> |
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ng0yavQjfAA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
|
Quote:
http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/...7v-d2z9qc1.jpg |
|
|
I ran around in this back in the seventies.
Drove it to California, then back to PA. http://www.dennisarner.com/pics/jaws/jawsatthebeach.jpg http://www.dennisarner.com/pics/jaws/jawsinterior.jpg http://www.dennisarner.com/pics/jaws/jawsvan2s.jpg |
Dennis, that is the bomb. Sidepipes and all the goodies. Big thumbs up.
|
dad had one of bill stout's scarabs
he bought it from Henry Ford himself as the FOMOCO got it to test/evaluate btw it was a rear engine ford v8 power dad replaced the motor 3 times that was the only car he kept more then a year Stout Scarab - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia was that the first modern van ? I had a 62 vw van used as a mobile dockbox when we lived on a 24ft sailboat slower then a bicycle and often broke |
All times are GMT -8. The time now is 12:42 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2025 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Pelican Parts Website