(first posted 5/4/2017) CC reader Teddy has uploaded scads of great finds in Portland, which is probably the ultimate CC spotting town. I wish he’s make the jump to contributor, as he has so many terrific finds that deserve sharing. But in the meantime, let’s take a look at one of them, this mild custom gen1 Chevy Van (1964-1966), sporting a ’55 Chevy front bumper. That works quite well for me.
This style of pin striping probably has a name, and seemed to be very popular a few years back. Looks a bit like a mustache.
This van is sporting quite the array of gauges just below the dash. Seems a bit overkill to me; it’s not like that if anyhting is awry in the engine compartment there between the seats, the driver will likely know about it pretty quickly.
Is the rear bumper from a ’55 too? I’m not so sure. Are you?
Those are some interesting tires. It almost looks like the driver’s side has those old, JC Whitney ‘spats’ to match ‘white-walls’ unintentionally created on the passenger side by curb scuffing.
Great photo’s as always Teddy! I have to remind myself this van is from the early 60’s, it has a very practical modern format and an airy cabin, reminds me a lot of a new Toyota Hi Ace. They both have column gear change too. All the Chevy needs is a sliding side cargo door.. it’s certainly a cooler ride..
Not the original bumper but it also doesn’t look like a ’55 turned upside down.
Rear is not from a 1955 Chevrolet. I think they were whatever was available in a junkyard that would fit and look decent. He chose well.
I see this 4×4 one around here, I assume it’s A custom job.
This would be a prime candidate to be turned into a Mystery Machine tribute van.
Is that a tramp stamp?
“Is that a tramp stamp?”
Aren’t tramp stamps defined more by their location than the style of the artwork?
The style was what made me think of that, I’ve seen too many of them.
Rear bumper looks like it came off a first gen (’61-’65) Chevy II/Nova to me…
Gene: I think you called it. The bolts appear to be in the same place and the ends are the same.
Not to mention the symmetrical horizontal crease on either side of the license plate recess. It was a guess on my part figuring that the overall width of both vehicles would have been about the same.
Nice work. That might have taken me a while.
Thanx, Paul.
I’ve always liked this generation of Chevy Van and the bumpers look pretty good, but if that is a 3 in-the-tree shifter, he needs no more theft-deterrent than that. I’d guess less that one in a thousand drivers could get in and drive away.
I have always had a thing for old cab forward vans. I was doing just fine till you came along with these pictures. Now the withdrawal starts all over again.
There’s a window Chevy van like that painted blue and white like a VW near my house in Portland Or.. Its parked next to a legal pot store. I’ll see if I can get a photo of it. ” Keep Portland Weird”
It’s got a front end for a Cars movie for sure.
Chevy van in Portland
The quality of this blue Chevy van image improves if you click to enlarge.
Note the missing grille bars because…
Someone needed room to get in & manipulate the shifter levers.
Ham-Handed peasant!! It can be done without damaging the grille.
Pinstripes: the two words that jumped out of my mouth were “Von Dutch”; very Cali/1950s:
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-bet-you-never-knew-von-dutch-and.html
I was reading to see if someone would bring up Von Dutch. Yes this is called Von Dutch style. But there a LOT of stripers who do this style of work. Lovely stuff.
I like that front bumper. If it were my feet comprising that crumple-zone, I’d want a bigger bumper, too.
The basic instrument cluster (not counting all the aftermarket extras) is a first-generation Corvair cluster, a carry-over from the Corvan/Greenbrier that these replaced.
After I got out of the service, my friend’s brother had one of these in the early 1970s. Flattest windshield ever. When he bought it, it had massive welded square stock bumpers front and rear and the van was raised at least 3 inches! It looked to be 4WD, but wasn’t. Perhaps the previous owner was going to convert it but never did.
Sure was weird riding in it with the engine between driver and passenger and sitting over the front axle. Sure rode like a truck, too!
One day in 1974 we were traveling from Jennings, MO to St. Joseph, MO to move my friend back home from college – Missouri Western. It took us 8 hours because his gas tank had so much crud in it that every 25 miles or so the fuel filter in the carb would clog!
It got to the point that when the motor began to sputter, he put it in neutral, pulled onto the shoulder but didn’t stop – it was a stick – I lifted the engine cover, removed the fuel line, removed the filter, blew it out, replaced it, reattached the fuel line and he just turned the key to on, the engine started and we kept rolling. I think I had the whole procedure down to under 30 seconds. He moved back into traffic like nothing happened! He did have to draft the occasional semi to get up a couple of hills, though!
What a day!
On the way home, we were towing their father’s old wooden-side trailer with all his junk in it. The trailer began actually falling apart along the way, and each time we stopped, we had to cram more stuff into the van. Finally, the only thing left in the trailer was my buddy’s oxyacetylene torch, which we had to secure to one of the corners of the trailer with our belts!
By that time, the only place left for me to sit was the stairwell by the side doors!
It took 9 hours. What a weekend! We still talk and laugh about that trip to this day.
Good times back then.
HA! Great story, Zackman. Crazy days back then, for sure.
My grandfather had an old Ford like this. He did carpentry work and when my uncles worked with him, I would ride on the painted engine cover. He had a mat for me to sit on, but quick stops were an adventure!
Cool old van. I saw this one the other day at a gas station near my house. The guy said he just bought it off of craigslist for $150. Are these becoming a cult vehicle?
Above is a late 60’s Ford Econoline, one of the first with engine moved forward. Then the ’75 had the motor farther out, and had the now familiar maxi-van hood.
Nice old 108 Van ~ I had one in about 1979, bought it from my boss for $250 after he’d carefully dented every square inch of it .
-Nate
Von Dutch style pin striping. Laid by hand with a swordtail brush. Thank the rat rodders for keeping this artwork style alive.
I see the Club on steering wheels of a lot of cars posted here and at the cohort. Probably well advised, yet regrettably necessary.
Those fake whitewalls were called “Porta-Walls” back in those days, crappy looking as they invariably aged and got loose from the tire side wall and started to fray.
I really dig that au naturale rust surface. It’s so even with a just a few spots of remaining blue paint on the grill and rear license plate. My guess is after the paint was sanded or blasted off they wiped it down with a few gallons of muriatic acid. Since we all know rust never sleeps maybe it was done in a, if you can’t beat em join em moment of thought.
I’ll defer to the more knowledgeable here, but that’s a front bumper on the front? I swear, it looks like a rear to me!
On the subject of bumpers, I had an early T1 VW bus that I got a ticket for no rear bumper. A cousin had a 47 Cadillac parts car he was harvesting some parts from and offered me the rear bumper. I took it, sectioned it a foot or so, welded it back together, drilled a hole in it and had a VW bus, 47 Cad, Barden bumper style tow hitch, which I did use to tow with.
Wasn’t it “Freddy Someone or other” sang a tune about his “Chevy van”, back in the mid “70’s”?
Sammy Johns song from 1973.
The trouble with getting so old is you remember this trivia when someone brings it up.