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fastfredracing's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Valencia Pa.
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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,
( 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..

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Old 09-04-2014, 05:10 PM
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I'm bored tonight, sorry.
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Old 09-04-2014, 05:26 PM
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Old 09-04-2014, 05:27 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fastfredracing View Post
I'm bored tonight, sorry.
Dodge Other Tradesman | eBay
That is absolutely fantastic! I wonder how I can convince my wife to get one!
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Old 09-04-2014, 05:55 PM
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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.
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Old 09-04-2014, 06:03 PM
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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.
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Old 09-04-2014, 06:17 PM
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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.
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Old 09-04-2014, 07:54 PM
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Old 09-04-2014, 09:04 PM
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Old 09-05-2014, 03:23 AM
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Old 09-05-2014, 03:39 AM
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While cool as a concept I've always found the practical implementation / execution of conversion vans to be rather creepy.

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Old 09-05-2014, 04:22 AM
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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.
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Old 09-05-2014, 04:30 AM
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Old 09-05-2014, 04:50 AM
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Old 09-05-2014, 05:47 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile View Post
While cool as a concept I've always found the practical implementation / execution of conversion vans to be rather creepy.
Largely based on the individuals that drive them.

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Old 09-05-2014, 05:53 AM
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back in the saddle: '95 993 - just another black C2
*SOLD*: '87 930 GP White - heroin would have been a cheaper addiction...
"Ladies and Gentlemen, from Boston Massachusetts, we are Morphine, at your service..." - Mark Sandman (RIP)
Old 09-05-2014, 05:54 AM
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Old 09-05-2014, 06:00 AM
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I ran around in this back in the seventies.
Drove it to California, then back to PA.




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Last edited by dennis in se pa; 09-05-2014 at 06:23 AM..
Old 09-05-2014, 06:13 AM
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Dennis, that is the bomb. Sidepipes and all the goodies. Big thumbs up.
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88 coupe
Old 09-05-2014, 06:29 AM
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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

Old 09-05-2014, 06:49 AM
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