Old Econolines are perpetually cool, or hip, depending on the preferred adjective. So it didn’t surprise me to run into one on my short amble in one of Portland’s neighborhoods. It’s sort of a big Creamsicle, except that the cream has gone to gray.
The areo discs on the wheels accentuate the toy-like character of this van. Driving around in my Promaster van makes me realize what a long way vans have come, despite still being mostly a big steel box.
I had a ’68 Dodge A100, not all that different than this Econoline. And I still have my ’77 Dodge Chinook. But turning the key and having the Promaster’s engine start instantly, and the run more like an electric motor than the hoary, belching, hiccuping, farting, stalling 360 V8 in my Dodge brings home that the progress is in almost every area except the metal box part. Vans will be vans.
LOVE IT!!! Owned a 1969 GMC Handi-van, Home made customized. Had lots of fun with it. And I learned to drive a stick at 16 in a 60’s something Dodge A100. Owned by the store I worked for. Fun to drive. But in hindsight one realizes that in a collision, You where riding in a big bare metal box. And in a frontal collision,your first line of defense was your legs!… Yikes!!! But back then I was, as we all where, “bullet proof and 10 feet tall,” Now I’m “air-soft proof, and 5’9” on a good day. I DO get taller when I drink though 🙂 (at home ONLY)
In a collision, you are the first one to the scene of the crash. It’s right in your lap.
A close friend had a VW van (1968) and he and several friends were traveling around Canada doing day trips on bicycles, which were mounted on the front carriers when driving. Near sunset Troy hit a moose (which didn’t seem hurt much, it walked away), but it was a 45-50 mph hit. The bicycles were wrecked but the van not so much. from that time on, even after the Porsche engine, he had four bicycles on the front.
creamsicle? That’s funny. Thanks for sharing the photo of a pioneer in minivans and the laugh.
The real pioneers were the Corvair 95 FC (Forward Control) vans which premièred in late 1960 along with the Lakewood station wagons and the Monza (Corvair 900) models. Chevrolet was serious about establishing this line of vehicles. One could get a van with all-metal sides for commercial use, or glass all around with twin doors on the curbside, and a special model with twin doors on BOTH sides! Commercials even showed a guy jumping a motorcycle right through a moving eight-door Corvan.
The vans even had two pickups in the lineup, a Loadside with an awkward drop in the cargo floor forward of the engine housing; and a far-more-popular Rampside – the immortal Rampy – with a passenger-side four-foot-wide door opening from the floor down to the curbside of most urban venues. One didn’t need ten feet of space behind the truck to offload cargo…just pull up to the curb, drop the ramp, and y’all were good to go. As with the passenger cars, traction in snow and mud was as excellent as ever.
I believe the Ford and Dodge FC vans were a year to eighteen months behind the Corvair models.
No; the Corvan appeared as a 1961 model, along with the Econoline. And the Econoline could also be ordered with doors on both sides.
The Dodge came along three years later, in 1964.
Excellent title! Smiled after opening the post. I remember (too well) when these originally roamed the streets.
It is amazing what a following these still have. Every generation of van-dom has brought about great improvements in drivability (as PN notes) but these crude early versions seem to be the most sought-after of them all.
I, for one, would enjoy an occasional turn behind the wheel of something with a belching, hiccuping, farting, stalling 360 V8. Because after it is done being contrary some really good things happen in one of these lightweights. 🙂
The original Econoline was the best looking of all the early vans. And that is from a Corvair fan and former owner of a ’66 A-100, ’72 VW and ’74 E-100.
I like it, although if I found a creamsicle in the fridge that color I wouldn’t eat it.
Would like to hear any updates about the Promaster conversion progress, Paul!
I think he’s enjoying it too much as a work truck to have made much progress, once he’s out of the busy rental season we may hear more?
Quite true. A fabulous hauler, and I can leave my tools in it all the time!
And my damn Euro-style windows still haven’t arrived; good thing I didn’t really get to the conversion this summer.
It’s going to be a few more months before I get into that.
The classic VW ad from 1964….
VW Type II. Rare Lego edition. 😉
HA!
“if this van’s rockin’, don’t bother knockin'”
In the 60’s Chin’s Kitchen in Portland’s Hollywood district used a couple these painted in dragon motif as delivery vans. BTW they are still in business in the same location and still deliver.