Vans!

[JimVonBaden]

Originally Posted by Lee C

Cool Opel the van not so much

The Opel.



I have one still, just not that one.

Jim

[Monroe]

Originally Posted by Ahar

coming out of lurking for a celebration of both actually getting threw one thread and getting some of the old pictures scanned.

65 Dodge I farkeled between 70 and 79. This was taken with an old friend and his 69.



with the old Greeves, the bumper said "Ole Ragtime Ralph"



back to lurking

.....a little late to this thread, very enjoyable. THESE ARE A COUPLE OF GREAT PICTURES!!

Steve

[Monroe]

Originally Posted by NDEBT

My Nephew just finished up his 71 in time to use it for his escape rig with his new bride last sunday. Thats my Son pelting them with bird seed.
I like the sink with the hand pump and dry ice ice box in it. Pretty cool little rig.

......and yet another great shot.........some memories there.

[Bbasso]

Got me some wheels put on today...



anyone have two rear center caps?

[Hayduke]

Nice. I really want to put some wheels and BFG all-terrains on... but I'll wait until my tires need to be replaced.

Used the Stalker Van to haul the trials bike today:

[NDEBT]

Originally Posted by Monroe

......and yet another great shot.........some memories there.

Thanks, He did a good jobHe had it at the Starbird show in Tulsa and got first in the van class. Check out the wood floor. I like it.

[Bbasso]

thanks, my bfg's have about 35,000 on them now... not even half way worn.
tough tire+easy use= lots of miles.

Oh and my XR650L is aways inside unless I'm riding :)

[foster]

89 chevy


Unfortunately, the front end was destroyed by a suicidal deer a couple of months ago. Gotta find some salvage parts and get her back on the road.

Would love to paint the thing but am guessing that the paint job would cost more than the van is worth

[BigT]

Originally Posted by JimVonBaden

4-speed? I had a similar van with a 3-speed.

I liked mine. It was slow, bad brakes and handled poorly, but fun to drive anyhow!

Yep. Some of the early Falcon/Econoline vans came with the Dagenham (England) 4-speed. 1st gear was very, very low. Almost a "Granny".

It was fun to drive, but along with your list of characteristics, mine routinely overheated and blew exhaust gaskets.
I had the steering box completely rebuilt at one point, but it still wandered all over the road.

It was a very useful little van, but I always wished it was one of those Econoline pickups. Now those are cool!

[JimVonBaden]

Originally Posted by BigT

Yep. Some of the early Falcon/Econoline vans came with the Dagenham (England) 4-speed. 1st gear was very, very low. Almost a "Granny".

It was fun to drive, but along with your list of characteristics, mine routinely overheated and blew exhaust gaskets.
I had the steering box completely rebuilt at one point, but it still wandered all over the road.

It was a very useful little van, but I always wished it was one of those Econoline pickups. Now those are cool!

Interesting. I have never seen a 4-speed on the tree before. Were they good shifters? I bet they were finicky when the shift linkage was worn, I know my van and my 67 El Camino were horrible when the bushings wore down, which was often!

Nice truck there!

Jim

[BigT]

Originally Posted by JimVonBaden

Were they good shifters? I bet they were finicky when the shift linkage was worn, I know my van and my 67 El Camino were horrible when the bushings wore down, which was often!

Yeah, the linkage sucked big time! In fact at one point it was so loose I was able to put it in two gears at once, and that was the end of the Daganham right there. I had to, reluctantly, replace it with a 3-speed.

I used to have '67 El Camino too, only mine was a 4-on-the-floor.

[JimVonBaden]

Originally Posted by BigT

Yeah, the linkage sucked big time! In fact at one point it was so loose I was able to put it in two gears at once, and that was the end of the Daganham right there. I had to, reluctantly, replace it with a 3-speed.

I used to have '67 El Camino too, only mine was a 4-on-the-floor.

Very nice! Mine had 600K miles on two rebuilds. I finally replaced the 283 motor with a 250, and moved the shifter to the floor with a Hurst.

My dad drove the crap out of it for years as a delivery truck before I got it.

IMHO It was the nicest looking year for the El Camino, though the early ones were pretty cool too!

Jim

[dwayne]

Originally Posted by Hayduke

not a van

So what makes a van then

The only thing that this doesn't have that a standard NA van would is an engine hump. This thing would be awesome for hauling bikes, but I bet it's pretty thirsty. It would be pretty easy to bolt Titan 4wd components in as well.

[madeouttaglass]

Originally Posted by NDEBT

Very nice! We had a 74/75 Westy that I built out of two. What a great way for kids to go camping. We used to fit two boxes of Pop Tarts in that little cubby under the little fold out table in the lower right. They fit perfectly.

[TroySmith]

Originally Posted by dwayne

So what makes a van then

At least some degree of cab-forward design. Large interior space relative to exterior footprint. I would say the old 60s American vans, VW buses and vanagons, Mitsubishi Delica, Toyota HiAce and similar cab-forward vans are more true vans than are current ford and chevy offerings, and especially more so than the nissan.

It's TRULY a van when the pedals are in front of the front wheel.

....or at least, that's like, my opinion, man.


PS - Sold my westy the other day. Now officially shopping for a 4x4 Ford van!