(David Saunders has owned a remarkable series of cars, so we’re going to take a second look at them. This series first ran in early 2014) I was always a firm believer that one’s first car should be something special. I had grand visions of cruising with the top down in a classic MGB or prowling the streets in a gen2 Camaro with a fire-breathing V8. But youthful dreams all-too-often fail to materialize. So when I ended up with the old family hand-me-down, I was initially disappointed. But I got over myself and realized it had a gobs of character and made for a vantastic first vehicle.
I literally counted down the years until I could get my license and a vehicle of my own. Even at elementary school age I tried to convince my father to let me have a junk car, just to have and tinker with in the backyard. Not surprisingly I didn’t get anywhere with that one. Unfortunately, I come from a long line of non-car people who view vehicles merely as transportation at best, and an unnecessary financial burden at worst.
So it wasn’t exactly a great shock that once I got my full license there was strong resistance to any car purchase as a follow-up. My father is also an accountant, so it had to be justified against a quantifiable need. Need to get to school? Great! Here is a bus pass. Want to drive across the city to see a friend? Well you can borrow the family’s second car if it is currently unused. I had to concede that I didn’t in fact need a car but I still wanted one in a bad way.
His logic didn’t exactly stop me from snagging Friday’s newspaper every week to scan the classified ads. I had no interest in dull family saloons, but gravitated to interesting or sporty numbers. There was a grotty MGB-GT with wire wheels that sung a siren song to me. Even now I can remember the exact shade of blue it had. No doubt it would have ended in tears as at this time I didn’t have a gram of mechanical experience. Goes to show that parents do know a thing or two even if we aren’t quite ready to hear it.
Another candidate that sticks out in my mine was a black on black 1980 Chevrolet Camaro Z28. It claimed to have warmed-over small block V8 developing 300hp, and was cheap enough to fit my budget. Seeing as I had a thing for the late second generation Camaros with the urethane nose and rear bumpers this one seemed just the thing for me.
All ads were just merely read and dreamed about, but I once called the number on an ad for a 1972 Austin on the hope that it was a Mini but turned out to be a Marina. These days I’d probably rather have the rare Marina, but then I deemed it unworthy even for daydreaming.
I had a decent pot of money saved up from summer jobs as I was quite fugal even as a teenager but every time I brought up a possible car to purchase the answer usually came back something along the lines of “is it big enough to live in as well?”
Ironically, my first car was indeed big enough to live in. My 18th birthday was coming up and I only wanted to be able to buy my own car without having to move out. I was going to university the following year so I couldn’t afford a car and to be out on my own at the same time. My parents surprised me by bringing up the possibility of giving me the family’s old 1980 Dodge Maxivan. It had been our family’s second vehicle for many years before being demoted to the third vehicle status after the addition of a Plymouth Turismo. This is the one and only photo of it taken many years after my ownership. It didn’t have the rust or saggy rear suspension under my watch.
While it was a bit disappointing not to have something different than the old family hack, I finally had something that was all mine. It was a long wheelbase Maxivan with a 360cid small block V8 backed by the usual three-speed TorqueFlite automatic. Given that it was a Canadian market van, it still had the higher compression engine that specified leaded gas when new. By this time leaded gas was gone from Canada (it lasted a little longer here than the US) so I used an additive with each tankful that supposedly protected the softer valve seats. If I neglected it, then the van would randomly die when running, and I’d have to wait until it cooled off to try again. Looking back, I suspect it would have been just fine if I’d run on something higher than 87 octane gasoline, as my additive was likely mostly just an octane booster.
On the inside it had wood paneling with brown shag carpet and burgundy velour seats. The front seats were caption style that in theory could swivel around but didn’t have enough side clearance to actually do so. The rear seat was a big bench that could fold down to a rather uncomfortable bed. The dash was a plain Jane plastic affair, with the gauges separated into several round, deep-set pods.
While it guzzled fuel, the van was generally very reliable … except when it rained. For some odd reason it just didn’t want to start when it rained or it was really damp. I do remember taking it to a few different mechanics but none could diagnose the issue. Fortunately, Southern Alberta isn’t a particularly wet climate so I just worked around it. At the time I worked at an amusement park just outside of the city and sure got some odd looks when I requested to be let off work early any time it rained. Luckily this also coincided with when they needed less staff so it worked out.
At some point one of my friends nicknamed it “The Cheesewagon” because of the orange color. There were some good times had in the Cheesewagon, as it could carry many more folks than there were seat belts or even seats. A quick stab of the brakes would send everyone unbuckled flying inside; endlessly entertaining for teenage minds.
Then there was that first drive after a heavy snowfall. Being a bit inexperienced, I just cleared the snow from the windows and set off. At the first traffic light I had to slam on the brakes when someone decided they must do a left hand turn directly in front of me. A huge avalanche of snow poured down off the roof right onto the road in front of me. I didn’t exactly get out and measure it, but given that we’d received five to six inches of snow and then multiplying that by a very long roof there must have been at least a four foot pile left in front of me. To this day my wife wonders why I insist on brushing the snow off the roof before pulling away.
There were more great memories made in that van, as I met my wife while I owned it. We took several camping trips in it, although she was somewhat less than impressed when I openly wondered if it would start after an overnight snowfall on long weekend trip. I did eventually give in to the desire to buy something that was a little more practical for everyday use a few years later. The van had very low mileage for its age, but the orange paint turned off quite a few prospective buyers and it proved a bit of challenge to sell.
The new owner was the local blues musician Johnny V, who was retiring his old and very rusty Ford Econoline. He had driven it all over Canada and the above photo is actually from the time of his ownership, as I’d see it around once and a while. It has been a many years (probably well over a decade actually) since I’ve been, by so I searched his name online and found his website but also a news article that he passed away this April. I hope the van served him well and he enjoyed it as much I (eventually) did.
Help me, I am a bit color blind. Isn’t that the van that was in the Red Green show?
The first van on the Red Green Show..the Possum van, was a 1985 Dodge Ram Van, 1st gen, ‘B’ series, maxi van. Painted a couple shades of light blue.
I used to drive one of these Dodge Maxivans during my security guard days. Many late nights spent bombing around campus to hit the key stations at the right time. Good times, but handling was not it’s forte, particularly with that enormous rear extension.
Slow and steady would be the cornering strategy. Still I only had a Ford Tempo and Plymouth Turismo to compare it to at that point.
A memorable first vehicle indeed, and I love that colour. Ever wonder if that van is still alive and motoring around Alberta?
I currently have the 2000 version of your first vehicle…in a Dodge Ram Van 3500, 15 passenger, minus the seats,painted flat black, dubbed the ‘locomotive’, as it looks like a miniature version of a diesel loco. Although the tin worm seems to have taken up residence as of late.
My experience is not unlike your own. When I first got my licence in the early 70’s, we were a one car family, so after a couple years of summer jobs, my parents were more than happy that I was able to buy my own set of wheels….a 68 VW Beetle.
Thanks for continuing the COAL series . It has become a big part of my Sunday morning!
I’ve owned a pile of vehicles so there are plenty more to come!
Won’t start when damp? Isn’t that the famous Chrysler ceramic ballast resistor issue?
“although she was somewhat less than impressed when I openly wondered if it would start after an overnight snowfall on long weekend trip.”
She might have thought it was a ploy to spend more time with her. 🙂
“…For some odd reason it just didn’t want to start when it rained or it was really damp…” Hahaha…because Mopar!
A friend of mine had an old Volare wagon. He always carried a hair dryer and extra long extension cord in the cargo area for those damp days.
What about the old trick of spraying wd-40 inside the distributor cap when it wouldn’t start? The stuff drove water away.
Why bother with the inside of the distributor cap when a good spraying on the outside was all it took? I always kept a can of WD-40 in my Rabbit in case of rain and used it often.
That might have fixed it. I wasn’t too mechanically minded as a teenager.
It often does. The WD in the product name stsnds for Water Displacer. It was the 50th version that was developed. 39 failures…
By 1980, the valve seats were hardened, even on Canadian cars.
Many Chrysler products put the distributor on the lower right front corner of the engine block. This made it easy to take the drive from the crankshaft and made the distributor easily accessible but it also guaranteed that the distributor would get wet in a heavy dew. I found that using a copious amount of Permatex Formagasket #2 to seal the distributor cap was a big help.
Great story, Dave! I’m looking forward to the weekly Sunday surprise and welcome the perhaps slightly different possibilities that your Canadian market offers. It’s interesting how they moved the side doors between the ’71 in the ad and yours. Any idea why?
Possibly rear seat vs. straight cargo versions?
When they re-engineered them for sliding side doors, the whole body was re-done some. The little plug between the front door and side door (with the little window in passenger versions) was originally how they lengthened the body for the LWB versions.
With the sliding door, the opening was always right behind the passenger door, and the additional length came at the back of the van.This also corresponded to the loss of the smaller side windows, and larger (double-sized) ones replaced them.
It was a substantial re-do of the body. Also, the Maxivan’s rear body extension became longer, with side glass on the 15 pass version. The original Maxivan was a shorter extension, and had no side glass back there.
Here is our 1977 Dodge B200 maxi van (pardon the Buick taking up the foreground- this is the only pic I have at the moment showing the slider door). It has the sliding door, but still the extra space between that and the front door. I think this was the last year for that extra plug- then in ’78, the nose stayed the same but the back end grew a little longer and the “plug” went away.
*VERY* good vans in spite of the common ripping out of the dual steering idlers from both sides of the frame…
We bough this same van with windows & bench seats all the way to the back , ex CalTrans Crew van , we ran it for several years then sold it to The Bike Pimp who ran it many more years but finally sold it to The State for $1,200 (!) as a pollution reducing by back program .
I still miss it .
The handling was easily addressed , they were made for work , not blasting down twisty roads like we enjoyed doing while scaring the living daylights out of the Sports Car Guys =8-) .
I still can’t get any avatar to load here , no one in charge seems to care ? .
-Nate
Around here, the Dodge Maxivans with the tail extension, in cargo form, were the almost exclusive domain of carpet installers. I think you could get a 5 yard roll inside.
The Dodge Cargo van, the van of choice for all the serial killers in the Hannibal Lecter series of movies. How can you go wrong?
PUT THE LOTION IN THE BASKET!!!!!
No, no, no Carmine, The lotion goes on the skin. “Precious” goes in the basket. Don’t ever help anyone load a sofa into a van when Tom Petty is playing…
Oh geez, what a vehicle and something I would not have wanted to drive around rural New York when I got my license especially with gas at $4.20/gallon. Then again, my tired old Caprice was probably not a whole lot different except for being quieter and more planted on windy dirt roads.
A 77 Dodge van with the 318 was a friend’s first “car”. Served him well for several years until a burned exhaust valve resulted in no compression in one cylinder. The lack of leaded gas probably didn’t help, plus it already has a lot of miles on it by the time he got it. The body was still good though.
I don’t personally know anyone that’s ever complained about their Mopar having a no-start problem when it was damp. If spraying the distributor cap with something helped, then you probably either needed a tune-up including new wires and cap, or you should have swithed to a vented cap.
No doubt it was something like that. I’d be able to solve now I’m sure but neither of my parents know anything mechanical so I had to teach myself over the years.
At one time I desired a van, fortunately I got over that very quickly and stayed with cars and an occasional pick-up.
Dad really wanted to give me his 1960 Impala as my first car, but sadly, couldn’t afford to, as he needed the money it would bring on a trade-in when he bought the 1966 Impala.
Yeah, I was disappointed, but understood and evenually bought a friend’s dad’s 1952 Chevy DeLuxe. What a bomb, but thankful I had a wheels. Many don’t appreciate that, anymore.
That was a lucky escape from that Marina,there again you would have learned mechanics,electrical repairs and quick rusting body work repairs/welding very soon!
My first car crash involved a Marina. It crumpled like tinfoil while my HG Holden van sustained a cracked tail-light lense.
Im thinking of all the fun things I could have done in that van when I was 16 and none of them include driving
Chrysler /6s were notorious for stalling in wet weather due to the low placement of the distributor in relation to the splash panels; V8s not so much unless moisture getting trapped under the engine doghouse in a van was an issue.
I spent a lot of time in a 73 Dodge Maxi owned by my best friend’s family. With the 360, the thing would scoot.
I also used the WD40 back then. Between distributors that were intolerant of moisture and the tendencies towards carburetor icing, Mopars were not the best cars in cold damp weather unless you knew their ins and outs.
The problem with this recollection is…everything.
For one thing, the valve seats in your 1980 360 engine did not require lead; they weren’t soft. They were induction-hardened, just like those of every Chrysler-built V8 engine since ’72 and \6s since ’73. Your van took leaded gasoline solely because it didn’t have a catalytic converter; it met Canada’s looser-than-US emissions standards without one. The same was true of a fair number of other Canadian-market Mopars through ’84.
The additive you used may or may not have been an octane booster, but that 360 didn’t require anything more than regular (87) gasoline. Insufficient octane doesn’t cause random stalling or difficult starting, it causes ping (spark knock, preignition).
There is nothing about unleaded fuel (of any octane) that could have caused random stalling, with or without an attendant need to wait until the engine cooled before it would restart.
It is most likely you got a tank or two of less-than-clean, less-than-dry gasoline and mistakenly attributed the resultant running problems to the gasoline’s lack of lead or insufficient octane.
Sounds more like vapor lock to me. . . Just guessing.
Could also have been that — which unleaded gasoline also doesn’t cause.
(Also, there was no specially high-compression 360 for the Canadian market in ’80.)
What a neat first vehicle – was it an ex-highways vehicle with that colour? Our Dept. of Transportation vehicles are the same colour.
No – my father bought it that way brand new.
Of course a van lends itself to certain activities, as in “If this van’s rocking, don’t bother knocking.” Either you didn’t do this, or you’re being discreet. 🙂
my first car was a truck 1998 GMC pick up M Y second first car 2007 Subaru Impreza wagon both got from dad and were both kind of mine so the first car that I actually bought was a 200 Volvo V70 wagon Cross Country sadly this one was short lived as the dealer wrecked the car over filling oil a axle issue a window that did not work were a few things that were wrong with it However I would get one again if it was one taken care of and checked out heated seats awd a wagon little wipers on the headlights Oh did I mention the seats were leather? Dang I really loved the car and if my dad was around I think he would approve too I felt he did really the Volvo bought last year after he passed away and the estate was sorting it self out and still is but he had the pickup for me as it was something I would not get hurt in if I was hit The Volvo I feel was the same way they are known for being tough cars and maybe it was the size but the car felt tough too something about the Volvos that although were boxy shaped had a tough car appearance somehow I am sure someone knows what I mean and perhaps can say it more clearly being in Edmonton know away from my home in Surrey I would want a AWD car preferably a wagon if I was to buy a car here I plan to keep the Subaru
Brock Yates wrote a couple of articles about one of these he called the pumpkin. He inherited it from his late father. These cars, and really almost anything of that vintage, required so much care to keep them on the road compared with anything built after, say, 1990. All their faults and foibles make for much more interesting reading although I know what I’d rather live with.
Whoever coined the term ‘shag carpet’ knew exactly what they were doing. 🙂