Plenty of Chevy (conversion) vans around here, at least enough to say that these are not really special. But this rather sinister looking beastie might well be the first cutaway I’ve ever encountered.
Both Duel and Jeepers Creepers come to mind. Too bad it wasn’t parked in a more remote location, with gloomy weather conditions. For that extra, uncanny twist.
The Chevy is powered by the 6.2 liter, V8 diesel engine. Searching the web, I found many pictures of cutaway hi-cube vans with exactly the same body.
Like this identical 1986 Chevy G30, there’s a sliding door on the right side of the cargo box. To me, these look like (former) parcel delivery vans. Yet I also found several of them that were used by the US Army.
It would also be a nice starting point for a motorhome conversion, in which case a brighter exterior would be appropriate too.
I’d say this is the definition of “aggressively nondescript.” Just needs a little rotating antenna on top to complete the look. A nice company vehicle for [REDACTED].
Creepy indeed, though mainly due to its ominous color. If it were painted as a plumber’s van, for instance, it would just blend in to the background (well, at least in North America).
Amusingly, earlier this week a friend of mine texted me the picture below, of a similarly menacing Chevy truck (though not a cube van) that was parked outside of his office for a few hours. This truck was painted is a comparable green-brown-scary color. He (sort of) joked that it must be someone planning a kidnapping or something.
That’s the sort of truck that just screams “Evil Private Military Contractor” in action movies these days. Your friend’s not an unwitting part of A Vast Global Conspiracy, is he? 😉
FBI Surveillance Van
It’s not weird that it’s a box van, or that it was an Army vehicle… one of my neighbors has a similar one with some govt agency stencils fading on the drivers door. The weird thing is the windows in the back. Why are those there? You expect to see someone peering out at you…
Used to see tons of these on USAF bases identical to the blue one in the last pic. Very common for transporting flight crews & equipment out to planes.
With a B1
Yup, ex-USAF in Europe surplus auctioned into the local market, these things come up here from time to time and represent a cheaper option to someone wanting this type of US-made vehicle than importing a “nicer” vehicle from the States or Canada.
Yup. I met a guy a couple of years ago who picked one up and converted it to a camper. They all had the 6.2 diesel. Must have been a big government order.
I’ll second and third that…used to see these all over flight lines in my USAF career – they replaced the older Chevy “bread vans”.
USAF was trying to standardize some of its vehicles during the 80/90’s. Besides these vans with the 6.2 diesel, they also ordered others – mostly the M1008/9 CUCVs and the HUMVEE.
Looks kind of like there’d be a large bowl of candy in it (free, of course). Unheimlich indeed.
What do you even call that color?
Drabbrown-Overblue.
“Olive-Brown Malaise Firemist.”
The extra windows in the back doors Ive seen before on panel vans in OZ so the drivers can see cars directly behind them when parking I cant remember exactly which agency did that but they did it to everything in their fleet, Chevy vans were built as Ambulances here and came as cab n bare chassis for the bodies to be fitted and resemble the one Johannes found there are lots of survivors being used as campers and tradie vans.
I’m not sure what “official use only” duty G30s had,but yes, there were tons of them in the government surplus.
Before internet bidding caught on and ruined it, the G30s could be had for chump change. And… many of them had roller bearing drawered cabinets in the back that were worth more than the truck. Lol
These were popular, and new ones are still built, because they have a certain interior volume but they do not have an eight-foot width. Thus, similar to a conventional van, they are maneuverable within the confines of narrower roadways of which we have plenty in The U.S., whether local streets or highways that are aged. I also sold these with the long CA (cab-to-axle) dimension for what we call a “mini school bus.” Further applications include “ambulette” service. The contractor body is what we consider as the main use of this vehicle – for plumbers, builders and the like. The color is creepy on this one. Thanks Johannes!
I saw one like this last week in Oregon fitted out as an offroad camper. The striking thing is how short some of these are compared to the more common Ford or Dodge cube vans
Here’s one with pictures of the interior
https://www.purplewave.com/auction/170426/item/J2584
Thanks for that link, a lot of interior pictures indeed!
These mostly use as fly line vans. Army were green and AirForce were blue. 6.2, 3 speed transmissions. All Government contracted vans and truck were emisión emission exempt.
They are slow as hell. We turn our into a camper.
The inside