I don’t know about you, but I for one am never vanned out – Van Week or not! For those of you who’re of the same mind, I offer two sides of the same coin, both spotted in the same neighborhood a mere two days ago.
As many of you have likely gathered by now, I hail from just outside a small burg somewhere between the Twin Cities and Duluth. For me to be killing time in Minneapolis is virtually unheard of. (Heck, for me to be in Minneapolis at all is unheard of.)
But this past Monday, I found myself doing just that. Paperwork for the 9C1 Impala I’d just adopted was caught up in some sort of snafu. The resolution was going to take at least thirty minutes. So I decided to swing back and snap this pair of CCs while I waited, there being nothing I could do to speed things along.
Yes, folks, the CC Effect is real! Here’s living proof: an early ’70s high-roof Chevy camper van.
Those of you from out west and down south (including the lucky, lucky folks who frequently post Oregonian cars here) might not think much of this view. But for me, here in the heart of road salt country – where we measure it in terms of pounds per resident, per season – this borders on miraculous.
Here we learn two things. One, it’s gotta be early ’70s (I’ve never seen that particular badge before… wild guess ’71-72?). And two, it’s local.
Wayzata is a ritzy western suburb located on glamourous Lake Minnetonka, where the rich and famous partake in weekend sailing and yachting, while politicians pose for photo ops with fish likely caught by someone else. That this van is here in a blue-collar Minneapolis neighborhood tells us it’s surely on at least its second owner.
Clearly this one’s been kept in service, still doing the job it was built for. The crappy respray is unfortunate – but at least it’s a solid 20-footer when clean.
The lap of luxury, or something like that. (Blue interior with woodgrain trim? “Far out, man!” Or perhaps, “It’s like the dash of my boat!”)
Hard to tell whether the sticker is in jest or not – perhaps they sometimes park it on the street? The bias spare is also worth noting.
A couple blocks away at Big Bob’s Carpet (seriously), we find this cream puff. Just $750 and this rolling disaster handyman special can be yours!
Can’t see the rockers? That’s because there are none. This is more typical of what becomes of Chevy vans around here. Consider that this is a ’90 or ’91, and you’ll see why the survival of our previous Smurf-esque example is so extraordinary.
Interior with the usual vinyl buckets, and a cargo cage – the sort that might have made Mr. Grey’s story much less harrowing, had the van he was driving been so equipped. The yellow paint also hints strongly that this van was once part of a rental fleet.
Many cargo vans live a tough life, but this one looks to have taken a few more lashes than most.
Being without the bottom six inches of the rockers and quarters is one thing, I guess; but being without the bottom six inches of your back doors is another. Two different conversion vans donated to the cause.
What’s almost as scary as the condition of this thing’s steel brake and fuel lines? The fact that it only had 160K miles on the clock. A hard life indeed!
I knew a family with a 71 or 72 Beauville, so I am familiar with that nameplate. Someone else was waxing poetic last week about the grille on the early Chevy van, and now I will do so on its tail. The early taillights with the chrome bezels were the only decent looking lights ever put on these. I never understood what was so attractive about a big untrimmed red lens of the later ones.
I am quite a bit south of you in Central Indiana, but you are absolutely right about the amazing lack of rust on the hi-top. This must have been a summer trip van that got parked the rest of the year. As for the newer one, there is not much sadder than a white or yellow vehicle that has been attacked by the rust monster. Ugh.
> The early taillights with the chrome bezels were the only decent looking lights ever put on these. I never understood what was so attractive about a big untrimmed red lens of the later ones.
Completely agree.
Bring on this generation of Chevy vans; they were around so long I’m sure most of us have a connection to them. There was a family up the street that had a Beauville in the early ’70s, I’d forgotten all about it until now.
I think this Beauville is at least a ’74, because this dash has the a/c outlet in the center. My Dad’s ’73 still had the outlets on the engine cover. Perhaps this van is a ’74 to ’77 vintage; I’m sure someone else will know for certain.
> But for me, here in the heart of road salt country – where we measure it in terms of pounds per resident, per season – this borders on miraculous.
I agree. Getting pretty rare to spot a GM fullsize van with this bodystyle being used as a daily driver in southern Ontario.
I used to have a 1984 GMC 3/4 ton van. It had been my dad’s daily driver from 1988 until he bought a replacement vehicle (Suburban) in 1998. I replaced all the doors, welded a new floorpan in it, and tried to fix-up the bodywork. Finally decided to give-up on it and bought my pickup in the fall of 2001. I scrapped the van the following spring.
I used to have some pictures of my van but I can’t find them anymore. I wanted to do a more thorough write-up for van week.
Big Bob’s van looks sinister
I get a kick out of that sticker. For some reason it reminds me of the Pacer I saw years ago whose window sticker read “My other car is a piece of shit too.”
Lol 😀
Thanks very much for these Keith.
Love those deep dish wheels on the camper… they used to be so common, especially on Chev pickups.
I wondered if Minnesota used road salt… the condition of Big Bob’s van, answers that for me, which is too bad.
I want to hear more about the 9C1 Impala.
Cop cars stir my soul (I know it’s a sickness.)
They stir mine too, even after I owned one for a while.
It’s not really worthy of a feature, but you will get to see a little more of it in tomorrow’s Junkyard Outtake.
Very nice finds, even if one’s quite rusty.
That 90-91 vintage van I think may have been yellow when new, but got resprayed white at some point.
I think I see some of the yellow on the inside of the doors from the factory, and where the trim around the upper passenger side grill/headlight shows the yellow underneath.
However, it’s RUSTY.
That Beauville looks mighty fine for it’s age and vintage, bad respray or no.
Out here where rust never seems to know we exist, you can still see vans of these vintageses still on the road, sans rust.
That rusty cargo van could be on the border of flunking NY’s safety inspection. Depending on where you go they are more or less strict on body rust, but really rusty frames will flunk you. Wonder how much longer that cargo van will be on the road before the cops impound it for lack of integrity.
Is that beige car in front of the building a ’69 Impala?
Good eye! Another one of those right-place-right-time finds… clean California car with a 327 and too many doors. I recently sold it in order to further my other projects; it’s leaving on a transporter tomorrow, strangely enough. (I’m planning to do a write-up on that one sometime next month.)
Is that the original bias ply spare tire at the rear door position?