This is going to be a van week, CCompadres. We’re going cubic, we’re going blue collar, we’re going slow. Issues of prime import will include load capacity, twinned rear tyres and how over the engine the cab is, which in this case, is not quite totally. I’m not really into these G-Vans, but it had to come back at some point. I keep running into these, and for once, this one was a pure mid-‘70s model.
Other plus point, it wasn’t the usual Beauville, with all that flashy additional chrome, two-tone paintwork, plastic wood trim and decadent La-Z-Boy seating arrangements.
No, this is the honest-to-goodness ultra-basic human hauler with rubber mats on the floor and nylon on the seats, suitable for a congregation of Calvinist nuns, a low-cost airline limousine service or a supply teachers’ union.
Oxymoron, you say? Your insults are but water off a duck’s back. But speaking of odd ducks, why is it that big old vans like these and their Ford and Mopar equivalents were allowed to keep their tiny and tinny chrome bumpers when most four-wheeled transport at the time was given rubber-tipped railroad ties front and back?
I realize truck-based designs like the Suburban would have escaped 5mph regulations for height reasons, but these vans were basically Impalas with a boxier body (and, in the present case, a much shorter wheelbase). Same engines, same transmissions, same width, and if you chucked everything, kitchen sink included, into an Impala wagon, the Series 10 Sportvan’s total GVWR (i.e. 5600 lbs.) would be pretty similar. But the Impala had to work under certain rules that did not apply to the van. I also note with interest that the Camaro is classed as a “small car” in the advert above. Hmmm…
Ah well, trying to make sense of automobile safety rules or vehicle classifications is a bit like debating astrophysics with a flat-earther.
This might be my favourite version of the third generation G-Series van. Doesn’t make these interesting, though – unlike the other vans we’re going to see this week, I hope.
Related posts:
CC Capsule: 1985 Chevrolet G20 Chevy Van – Just Don’t Do It, by T87
CC Capsule: Third-Generation Chevrolet G-Series – An Ode To The Chevy Van, by Joseph Dennis
Last Of Its Kind On The Street Outtake: 1980s Chevy Starcraft Conversion Van – GT Series, No Less, by PN
CC Outtake: Turn Lane Sighting – Yet Another Chevy Van Still Earning Its Keep, by Keith Thelen
In Motion Classic: Chevy G-Series Van — Close Encounters Of The Chevy Van Kind, by Rich baron
COAL: 1985 Chevrolet G20 Sportvan – Go West Young Man, In A $1 Van, by Nelson James
Cars of a Lifetime: 1986 Chevrolet 4×4 Van – Once We Were Lovers, by JunkHarvester
COAL: 1978 Chevrolet Van – The Iron Maiden, by Jim Grey
Stripped inside (that plaid is embossed vinyl, btw, no nylon or other fabric unless you did step up to a Beauville) but optioned-up outside. Chrome grille, bumpers and hubcaps (the last here replaced with Cragars) were an option group and the side chrome strips a separate option on their own.
You could get a crew bus with the same painted black-with-white highlights grille, white bumpers and hubcaps as a work van, and many were built that way.
I await the comments of memories of these vans .
Until a few years ago these were still plentiful in So. Cal. being used up as gardener’s vans .
-Nate
I wonder why/how they got the “Nissan” license plate…
This thing seems pretty swanky actually, maybe the Calvinist nuns you refer to had it going on after lights out…Chrome grille, fancy plaid seats, Cragars, even the rarely seen chrome body surround, and even curtains in the back. This looks like the SwaggerWagon of the day.
I think I dig it. And this era of Chevy vans is becoming my favorite, with more style especially around the front 3/4 angle than the Ford and MoPar offerings. A good color too on this one!
It’s got a refrigerator in it. Not a mobile 12V fridge I don’t think but a standard dorm issue small home fridge, probably run off an inverter.
It’s a “Sportvan” which was the basic passenger hauling version of the Chevy van. The Beauville was above that in plushness.
I agree; these early 3rd gen Chevy vans with the original style grille were the best looking of their class.
These things had to be designed by amputees who lost their left foot during the war. No place for your left foot, gotta put the wheel well there. Dodge vans were even worse in this regard IIRC.
Been a while since I drove a 70’s/80’s Econoline, but the 90s/00’s Fords were pretty good in terms of foot room and overall decent ergonimics. Also they steered/drove a lot tighter than old big Fords from the 70s/80s.
Kinda cool to see an old survivor like this. Here in the states full sized vans are like bubblegum, chewed, wadded up and unceremoniously spit out. Probably been a good 15-20 years since I saw a “nice” Chevy G van out in the wild still hauling for a living.
I think of these as more of a Chevy pickup with the body shoved forward and and enclosure at the back. Another odd option is that this one appears to have factory a/c, based on those vents over the engine cover.
I always found it interesting how this and the Dodge came out the same year, and how the Dodge did so much better than Mopar’s normal market share would have led one to expect. Chevrolet certainly went all-in on the sliding side door. Most early Chevy/GMC vans of this generation seemed to carry it, while Dodge and Ford buyers mostly stuck to hinged side doors.
but these vans were basically Impalas with a boxier body
They shared nothing with the Impala except for engines and transmissions, as did pickups and such. These were designed from the ground up to be trucks.
Impalas weren’t exactly designed to haul huge camper bodies and cargo bodies.
Per your musings, these were still considered trucks for safety and emissions regs, hence the lack of head restraints in front. It speaks to the absurdity of EPA/NHTSA regulations the the PT Cruiser was classified as a van for CAFE accounting.
I’m surprised at the depth and breadth of the Japanese imported van scene beyond the stereotypical Dajiban. Related is there is a thriving Chevy Astro scene over there.
^ These vans are also kinda weird in that they are a unibody, the floor and frame rails are welded together. The cutaway version like that motorhome does use a conventional frame but Im not sure how the “cab” part and front suspension crossmember/engine cradle mount
Impalas were seperate body on frame and were built more like the c10 pickup truck.
When the Japanese owner is finished with it those US boxy vans often surface in NZ, never sold here new we had Bedford and Ford Transit vans before the Japanese van invasion US vans never stood a chance at commercial use with V8 petrol engines here,fuel was not free like in the US.