Passing On an Unusal Van I Saw for Sale

[vanman2300]

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/cto/4811462142.html

A barn find. How many "77" vans have just 25K miles on them in such good shape. That is if the ad is legit......

Even so it is cool to see the pix of this van.

 

[skyl4rk]

http://swmi.craigslist.org/cto/4800778588.html

 

[MrNoodly]

Not unusual at all—for the '70s. It was the height of the van craze.

 

[vanman2300]

Not unusual at all—for the '70s. It was the height of the van craze.

I was in my teens back then so it bought back a lot of memories.
But still unusual in terms of such incredibly low mileage. The tiger is classic and used all over the place like road side art sales with the tiger painted on velvet.

 

[LeeRevell]

I'd be more interested in the Dodge, as it has been running more recently. That Chevy is prettier outside, but 21 years not running....... It's gonna need a LOT of TLC to get roadable again.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

im still dubious about these low miles on old vans. How do you tell the mileage when the odometer rolls over at 100k? is that really just 26k miles on a 40 yr old van or 126k? 326k? How would you know. You cant even go by mileage at title signing, as its not required on older vehicles.

My 91 van has 6 digits (i believe) but my 85 only has 5

 

[LeeRevell]

They had lots of van articles in car magazines back then and even van only magazines. A friend of mine did van murals by taking a picture of what he wanted to paint, weather original or something like an album cover and then he would use a slide projector to transfer it to the van.
https://www.google.com/search?q=van...m=isch&q=custom+van+magazine&revid=1378098854

Guy

Another technique for smaller graphics, especially for motorcycles, was to take a color magazine photo and apply it to the metal surface, and overspray with a clear coat. Cheap and easy - don't know if it lasted very long or faded with the sun exposure.
I used to get several car magazines, especially for muscle cars, also for custom bikes. A lot of that artwork was simply awesome. Frank Frazzeta's fantasy cover art was a favorite thing to copy.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

i did a lecture on his art for art design principals final in college, that raised some eyebrows lol it was a piece of a woman staring at the moon while the viewer stared at hers.

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got an A too, i played it straight as an arrow too

 

[ccbreder]

I bought a 1986 dodge showing 45,000 on the odometer. Service records in the glove box and the wear on various stuff like switches, carpet, seats, pedals, and suspension mounts indicated that to be correct mileage. However the head-piss at the MV Agency said it could not be right, and titled as 145,000.

 

[Patrick46]

the head-piss at the MV Agency said it could not be right, and titled as 145,000.

did you mind??

NOONE has the power to CHANGE ANYTHING about your vehicle at the DMV, no matter what their feelings are about it.

if it bothered you, you could file an official complaint with the state.

(...but it 'could' benefit you in cost of insurance.) I'm not sure.

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As for the 70's vans....these are what made we wanna become the customizer and painter that I am today!

I STILL LOVE these things!!

 

[cyndi]

I subscribe to a van list on facebook. Lots of people into vintage vans.

I posted this van and the comments were telling.

A couple of people knew the van and its owner
"wow miles your getting rid of that beautiful van?for real???????????????????????????"
"Hate to see him sell it!"

and

" I tried to buy this van when it was in ohio!!!!"

It's not unusual for a show van to have really low miles.

 

[vanman2300]

Good one Cyndi! I'm surprised they followed the van around like that.

I'd grab it if the wear and tear looked right and everything seemed in order but I'm not really looking for a van that will need so much TLC. I got over that a long time ago when I bought another barn find in Texas. It was a "57" Buick Special with a V8 nail head engine and dynaflow transmission. Beautiful car in very good shape but it always seemed to need something fixed on it. Jay Leno has the same exact looking car in his collection right down to the paint scheme. I guess, for me, it's nice to look at and drive but the constant repairs make it a non-starter. (Pun intended).

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

im still dubious about these low miles on old vans. How do you tell the mileage when the odometer rolls over at 100k? is that really just 26k miles on a 40 yr old van or 126k? 326k?

Look at the gas pedal and see how worn the rubber is. With over 100k the rubber will be well worn, usually down to the metal.

 

[cyndi]

I'm surprised they followed the van around like that.

Vintage van people are a special breed. Pretty regularly someone posts an old show van and at least a few people recognize it from magazines, at the very least. Often, they have personal knowledge of the van. And frequently have pictures of the van from years past.

 

[Almost There]

Vintage van people are a special breed. Pretty regularly someone posts an old show van and at least a few people recognize it from magazines, at the very least. Often, they have personal knowledge of the van. And frequently have pictures of the van from years past.

I keep checking out the vintage vans y'all are finding to see how many of them and their owners I've known from my years of vanning!

One of these days we're going to find one that I did some of the stained glass work on.

 

[vanman2300]

Never realized all this about old vans. They sure are into vans to keep tabs on individual vans.

 

[gojo]

Just found this on craigslist. I'm not lookin to buy at the present time.
Might be an interest to someone else.
http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/4832114145.html

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Found another one.
http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/4831105764.html