I remember back in the 70’s going to my first van show that was held in my hometown. At least twice a year all the custom vans from my area would line up on the avenue in our downtown and open their doors to the public. We would go down there and see some amazing paint jobs and interiors that were inventive to say the least. This is the stuff that made me want to get into vanning. Custom vans were everywhere in those days – you didn’t have to go to a show to see one. Just go down the block. You would spot them in intersections, shopping centers, McDonalds, (Remember Gino’s?) everywhere!
Back in those days the most expensive thing you did to your van (depending on the artist) was the exterior mural. If you didn’t have the bucks to spend on a real artist to paint your van, you could get a ‘stick on’ mural. I don’t remember if it was ‘vinyl’ or not, but you could stick these on the upper third of your van. It was usually a sunset or desert scene, and you could buy these at the local mall. Our local mall opened in 1972, so we had access to visors, roof vents, port holes (bubble windows) ect. This of course was before The Van House came to town. There you could by all of the above, plus get ice boxes, flares, even wooden cabinets for your interior.
By the way, not all vans had the full treatment. If you were short on cash the first thing you did to your van was put on a nice set of tires and rims. It separated your van from the work van down the street. You were still a vanner, and you were proud of your ride.
So what happened? Where did all the vans go? Is vanning dead?
Well that depends on who you talk to and where you live. My answer to that question is always, “yes vanning died the way I remember it.”
But there is a new vanning movement out there embracing a bit of the old school stuff and welcoming in a whole new flock of vanners who are driving mini-vans and conversions. What does this all mean? Well let’s back up a moment and I’ll explain it the way I saw it develop throughout the years.
What got me into vanning in the first place was quite simple. The vans. The custom vans. I marveled at the artwork and interiors that were created for show, not for convenience. The wildest interiors, with mirrors, staircases, how about the then traditional archway that led to the shag carpeted bed in the back? The vans I remember the best were rolling works of art. They stood out not just for there paint jobs and interiors, but for the body work that was done on them, chopped tops, flares, gull wing doors, ect. This is what drew crowds to the van shows. The people that went to these were not all vanners, but people who wanted to see something different than the van you would see driving down the road. Some of them saw the show and left, but others were inspired. They would go out and buy and modify there own van, and the vanning universe would expand. So how did it all change?
I hung out with a group of vanners at the time and we all had our custom vans in a cruise when one of our flock announced that he was getting a new van. He had a custom Ford called ‘Mount Rushmore’ and the guy traded it in and showed up in a long wheelbase Chevy conversion. I thought it was a nice van, (and trust me I have nothing against conversions I have one myself) but I saw it as the beginning of the end. The way it was explained to me at the time was that he didn’t want to go through the hassle of rebuilding a whole new van so why not buy one that’s already customized? This thing had the multiple chairs, lighting on the ceiling, no doubt a beautiful interior, but it reminded me more of a limo than the stuff I was used to seeing at the time.
Well what can I say. As time went on I saw more and more conversions on the road. Now for those of you that don’t know, a conversion is simply a van (Ford, Chevy or Dodge) that is customized by a company that makes them in bulk. In other words, they can make thousands of Chevy vans look the same. You can buy them in different colors, but you get the same set up – four chairs, a couch across the back, bay windows cut into the sides so your passengers can look outside, and a set of stripes. They all had stripes.
They eventually became family campers and the rest is history. They would eventually take a hit from the popularity of the mini-van, much cheaper, smaller, easy to park and family friendly.
Keep in mind that because of this, as more and more people including grandma and grandpa started buying conversions, there was no need for the many shops and outlets that sold the flares, visors, bubble windows and ice boxes. So one by one, they began to close. If there was a guy or gal out there that wanted to create there own custom van, it would become more difficult to obtain parts that at one time were available everywhere. Yes the times were changing and what about the old custom vans that were left? Some people today find the murals that were on those vans ‘hokey’ ‘awful’ and ‘tacky.’ Painting your van straight black, or red is preferable to a mural for many out there today.
Time has not been kind for the few old custom vans left. Even the once most prized award winning custom van would end up un-wanted in the used car lot only to be sold, stripped, turned back into a work truck or abused and parked in a back yard somewhere. There it would sit, be filled up with junk, rot and eventually if it didn’t become the neighborhoods most colorful shed, would end up in the crusher gone forever. Yes, vanning as I knew it - died.
However in many eyes it has not. Yes there are still vans out there though not in the great numbers that they once were, and a few websites to help get you back in the mood. There are van events that still take place in some parts of the country, and there are still those that go that extra mile to customize a van to the hilt. But alas, it is a different world.
Gone are the van shops, and gone is the local van scene in many areas. I haven’t seen a custom van in my town since the late 80’s.
Today the van world is filled with conversion vans, (some people are rebuilding some of the older ones) mini-vans of various makes, new vans like the ’Sprinter’ (which I’m sorry is one of the ugliest vehicles out there!!)
and a few restored older vans.
Many are trying various ways to bring vanning back to what it once was, but I don’t believe it ever will. What the vanning community needs to do is bring the interest of vans back to the public, not just other vanners. Think for a minute if you’re a new vanner. What was it that made you interested in vanning? A mini-van? A conversion? Or was it a tricked out van that you saw in an old magazine somewhere? A group of vanners sitting in a field somewhere surrounded by stock mini-vans and conversions is not going to bring the interest of vanning back to the general public. You have to put on a show! You have to put out there vehicles that people want to see. You’ve got to get the kids interested in fixing up and customizing vans again, not just ride in them. Once you get people customizing again there will be a demand for van product. Once you have a demand for van product, someone is going to supply it. The van shops will return. The rest will be history.
Let your imagination run wild again, it’s what made vanning work in the first place.
Back in those days the most expensive thing you did to your van (depending on the artist) was the exterior mural. If you didn’t have the bucks to spend on a real artist to paint your van, you could get a ‘stick on’ mural. I don’t remember if it was ‘vinyl’ or not, but you could stick these on the upper third of your van. It was usually a sunset or desert scene, and you could buy these at the local mall. Our local mall opened in 1972, so we had access to visors, roof vents, port holes (bubble windows) ect. This of course was before The Van House came to town. There you could by all of the above, plus get ice boxes, flares, even wooden cabinets for your interior.
By the way, not all vans had the full treatment. If you were short on cash the first thing you did to your van was put on a nice set of tires and rims. It separated your van from the work van down the street. You were still a vanner, and you were proud of your ride.
So what happened? Where did all the vans go? Is vanning dead?
Well that depends on who you talk to and where you live. My answer to that question is always, “yes vanning died the way I remember it.”
But there is a new vanning movement out there embracing a bit of the old school stuff and welcoming in a whole new flock of vanners who are driving mini-vans and conversions. What does this all mean? Well let’s back up a moment and I’ll explain it the way I saw it develop throughout the years.
What got me into vanning in the first place was quite simple. The vans. The custom vans. I marveled at the artwork and interiors that were created for show, not for convenience. The wildest interiors, with mirrors, staircases, how about the then traditional archway that led to the shag carpeted bed in the back? The vans I remember the best were rolling works of art. They stood out not just for there paint jobs and interiors, but for the body work that was done on them, chopped tops, flares, gull wing doors, ect. This is what drew crowds to the van shows. The people that went to these were not all vanners, but people who wanted to see something different than the van you would see driving down the road. Some of them saw the show and left, but others were inspired. They would go out and buy and modify there own van, and the vanning universe would expand. So how did it all change?
I hung out with a group of vanners at the time and we all had our custom vans in a cruise when one of our flock announced that he was getting a new van. He had a custom Ford called ‘Mount Rushmore’ and the guy traded it in and showed up in a long wheelbase Chevy conversion. I thought it was a nice van, (and trust me I have nothing against conversions I have one myself) but I saw it as the beginning of the end. The way it was explained to me at the time was that he didn’t want to go through the hassle of rebuilding a whole new van so why not buy one that’s already customized? This thing had the multiple chairs, lighting on the ceiling, no doubt a beautiful interior, but it reminded me more of a limo than the stuff I was used to seeing at the time.
Well what can I say. As time went on I saw more and more conversions on the road. Now for those of you that don’t know, a conversion is simply a van (Ford, Chevy or Dodge) that is customized by a company that makes them in bulk. In other words, they can make thousands of Chevy vans look the same. You can buy them in different colors, but you get the same set up – four chairs, a couch across the back, bay windows cut into the sides so your passengers can look outside, and a set of stripes. They all had stripes.
They eventually became family campers and the rest is history. They would eventually take a hit from the popularity of the mini-van, much cheaper, smaller, easy to park and family friendly.
Keep in mind that because of this, as more and more people including grandma and grandpa started buying conversions, there was no need for the many shops and outlets that sold the flares, visors, bubble windows and ice boxes. So one by one, they began to close. If there was a guy or gal out there that wanted to create there own custom van, it would become more difficult to obtain parts that at one time were available everywhere. Yes the times were changing and what about the old custom vans that were left? Some people today find the murals that were on those vans ‘hokey’ ‘awful’ and ‘tacky.’ Painting your van straight black, or red is preferable to a mural for many out there today.
Time has not been kind for the few old custom vans left. Even the once most prized award winning custom van would end up un-wanted in the used car lot only to be sold, stripped, turned back into a work truck or abused and parked in a back yard somewhere. There it would sit, be filled up with junk, rot and eventually if it didn’t become the neighborhoods most colorful shed, would end up in the crusher gone forever. Yes, vanning as I knew it - died.
However in many eyes it has not. Yes there are still vans out there though not in the great numbers that they once were, and a few websites to help get you back in the mood. There are van events that still take place in some parts of the country, and there are still those that go that extra mile to customize a van to the hilt. But alas, it is a different world.
Gone are the van shops, and gone is the local van scene in many areas. I haven’t seen a custom van in my town since the late 80’s.
Today the van world is filled with conversion vans, (some people are rebuilding some of the older ones) mini-vans of various makes, new vans like the ’Sprinter’ (which I’m sorry is one of the ugliest vehicles out there!!)
and a few restored older vans.
Many are trying various ways to bring vanning back to what it once was, but I don’t believe it ever will. What the vanning community needs to do is bring the interest of vans back to the public, not just other vanners. Think for a minute if you’re a new vanner. What was it that made you interested in vanning? A mini-van? A conversion? Or was it a tricked out van that you saw in an old magazine somewhere? A group of vanners sitting in a field somewhere surrounded by stock mini-vans and conversions is not going to bring the interest of vanning back to the general public. You have to put on a show! You have to put out there vehicles that people want to see. You’ve got to get the kids interested in fixing up and customizing vans again, not just ride in them. Once you get people customizing again there will be a demand for van product. Once you have a demand for van product, someone is going to supply it. The van shops will return. The rest will be history.
Let your imagination run wild again, it’s what made vanning work in the first place.
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