(first published 4/16/2012) Now here’s a true gem, shot in the 1980’s on the island of Malta. It’s a custom bodied (duh!) bread van, built on an ex-Army Bedford truck chassis, using some vintage American car parts in the process. Bonus points to anyone who recognizes the front bumper. It’s from berresford’s motors limited’s Flickr page, and there’s quite an unraveling of its origins in the comments. Here’s the gist of it:
Commentator chairmanchad did the research:
I have now been able to find the file for this vehicle – and a very interesting story it is too ! 22056 (1958 to date) In April 1958 a 1-ton Bedford truck as purchased from the Army (lot 245). It had chassis number MW4193, and was fitted with Bedford engine number 112214. In October 1959 an application was made to scrap the existing body and to build a new body with side windows to sell bread. In September 1960 permission was granted to convert the vehicle from a truck to a closed van. The exam document at the same time gives the engine number as now being MW43828, and the authorised payload as being ¾ ton. The bodywork was probably built by a bus bodybuilder as it had the same stylish look as many buses being built at the time. In July 1968 a Perkins engine (number 3R253844) was fitted. In April 1980 local chassis number CHMP2655D80 was punched, and by November 1980 new registration K-2056 had been allocated. In December 1983 an application was made to convert the vehicle into a minibus, but it is not known if this ever happened (probably not). In October 1991 it was declared garaged. In 2011 it is believed to still exist tucked away in a garage.
There’s even a shot of it in its current resting place (photo by Johann Tonna). Now that would make an awesome camper van!
And people dare to call the Aztex ugly…
Would love to own that van.to me,artistic.
I think this might come under the heading: There are just some things that you don’t want to know.
H. P. Lovecraft would probably agree with you.
This is pretty damn cool. 1958 Pontiac bumper?
I think it’s the back bumper of a Cadillac or something….or the top edge of one of those hideous late ’50s/early ’60s Chevy trucks.
58 Pontiac front bumper for sure.
Yup, front bumper is from a 1958 Pontiac Chieftain.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=1958+poantiac+cheiftain+images&qpvt=1958+poantiac+cheiftain+images&FORM=IGRE
Oops, forgot to say, I didn’t see your answer until I posted mine. I searched 50’s European vans and utility vans. Then I was about to search pie wagons and decided to look up 50’s rear bumper images and saw the front end of the Chieftain.
Custom-built by these guys. Strong resemblance here.
I’m thinking maybe ’59 Dodge, but definitely late ’50s. The phrase “same stylish look as many buses”, I find a little suspect. There is nothing else with this look.
This is the Peter Dinklage of vans.
Nothing else with this looks?? Are you serious??? Have you never seen the Maltese buses??
Looks like a cross between a CA Bedford van and a Dodge.
That front styling would be great on a car for a haunted house type ride.
Its so ugly even the Russians would have thrown it back —- this thing is grotesque! .
I came across that van last year somewhere on the interweb. I can’t find where now, but there was quite a write-up about it, and several others that were very similarly customised – from memory there was a photo of a yellow one too. Darn, now I’m going to have to spend hours searching for the site and the article, what a shame 😉
yeah, i saw that to… it was on a bus site, i think…
go to campingroadtrip.com …. don’t know if it’s the same one, but there’s one pictured, customized into the ‘batvan’…. pretty cool…
Look up “Batvan”
Hi, I’m from Malta.
Google for ‘Malta Bus’, because up until like 2010 we had MANY of these as pubic transport buses. They were vintage and adorned our roads every day for, like, 50 years. They were (British) ex-army buses customized into buses in the 1950’s (the country was poor back then and still a British colony)
Looks like Christine’s aborted fetus.
…if Christine spent a significant amount of time at Chernobyl.
Well she did crushed into a cube at the end of the movie, maybe this was the best she could do un-tangling herself.
And to think that we all wondered what Harley Earl did in his retirement years.
This van would have fit right in on at least one Twilight Zone episode.
Hell, seeing that van roll by slowly on the street in front of your home in a dark, quiet night would make you feel like you’re in a Twilight Zone episode. You’d half expect the jingle to start playing out of nowhere.
Hell with that, I’m in love with this thing. I want one.
“What we have heah is bastard offspring of a menage a trois between a ’58 Plymouth Fury, a ’57 Chevrolet Nomad, and a ’61 Ford Falcon van. The Big Three trifecta or trifuckta if you will.”
Now re-read that with the voice of the warden from Cool Hand Luke.
What to park next to your ’62 Monaco to make it look normal.
It looks like the body was done by one of the companies that made buses. Malta is famous for bus bodies with scaled up 1950s car styling like this one.
Here is the front of that bus
Criminy!!! this one has a major unibrow!
Its like a Christine and and Ice Cream truck had a baby.
+1!
I would drive the wheels off that thing.
I’m of Maltese heritage, and I’m tempted to claim my last name is, um, Basque, after seeing that abomination.
It’s bad enough when my fellow Americans say, “Like the dog?” when I tell them my grandfather and my surname are Maltese.
I would love to own that and rebuild it as is, I think it’s great 🙂
Certainly amazing to say the least. Has had a few changes in it’s day, motors and body wise, still garaged or they think it’s garaged tucked away somewere as late as 2011. This would be an excellent project for restoration or a Campervan.
To the article writer, please be sure to give credit to all the photographers before publishing an article. Thanks.
I’ve added your credit for the second photo.
Front bumper is from a 1958 Pontiac Chieftain.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=1958+poantiac+cheiftain+images&qpvt=1958+poantiac+cheiftain+images&FORM=IGRE
Found this on Facebook.
Its the exact same picture. Look at the background.
This is so Ugly you have to fall in love with it. Dang I would love to have one here in the states.
I’d like to see what the inside looks like. I wonder if it’s as wild as outside ?
Ain’t it a bit early for April Fools? This thing doesn’t actually exist does it?
If it does I want it bad! Ultimate push truck/tow rig for a 50s era drag car.
This has to be one of the weirdest things I have ever seen – I love it! The owner needs to fix it up like new!
Isn’t the front bumper actually a rear bumper from some old GM Pontiac?
So who put the LSD in Christine’s gas tank? It made her go out and eat a VW bus.
The front clip keeps the styling of a late ’50s fury
This is scary looking, something you’d expect to find abandoned deep in a forest.
I think if I happened on this one, I’d just steer clear. Don’t know why. Seeing this reminds me of the old dilapidated school bus in a remote field in the movie “Rest Stop: Dead Ahead”, where a maniac tortures his kidnapped victims who stop at a remote rest stop, except this looks way more sinister.
That van is fantastic! Where did that windscreen come from?
Cool! Looks like something George Jetson would have driven when he was just starting out at Spacely Sprockets.
I dont think it’s ugly!
I’m glad it was built , the world needs vans like this.
But for some reason I’m reminded of the verse from the Bo Diddley song.
” Who do you love.”
Night was dark and the sky was blue
Down the alley , ice wagon flew
Hit a bump and somebody screamed
You should have heard just what I’ve seen.
A bread van ? Judging from the look on it’s face, with that big mouth and eyes, I think it must have eaten all those loaves of bread !!
It’s certainly polarizing, but I for one love it! It does look kind of like the illicit offspring of a late 50’s Mopar and a small bread van, to be sure, but I can’t help but enjoy the looks! it almost looks like the van is trying to “hide” within the car’s fenders. And are there some Mercury elements on the rear flanks?
Also absolutely fantastic that this thing still exists. It certainly needs to be put back on the road, but at least it’s out of the elements and not in danger of being scrapped.
That bus is fascinating too–need to find more of these creations!
Id so cruze this
All three of these are pretty cool to my eyes .
Kinda Baroque but in a good way .
? No one else noticed both vans have their photo taken in the same place ? .
-Nate
It’s pretty famous now from the internet, probably would be worth a decent amount of money if you could get it out of Malta.
On the internet, I’ve seen a blue “bat-mobile” and two different red ones. The side trims on the red ones differ. And the dents and missing trim bits on the blue one are different than the others. The same back drop just means that someone really loves these beasts. Send medical help quick! Then tell me where I can get one – beyond ugly and into superb!
That body was built by Brincat Brothers Coach Builders of Paola Malta. The body is a miniature version of the bus body nicknamed The Diamond, due to its diamond shaped front grill and probably one of the most beautiful buses which were in operation in Malta at the time built by the same coach buiders.