1975 Chevrolet Van
  
Thanks for coming along.

The only photo I have of the original interior when I first bought it.
That's red plexiglass around the bar, which had lights behind it. Sure looked pretty cool at night when lit up. Trimmed in mirrors and black fun fir.
Above the bed - between all the Vista Cruiser roof glass - the entire roof is mirrored.

John Ball Park Zoo, Grand Rapids, Michigan. I am guessing 1980.
Note - the fender flares moulded into the body (the paint is starting to fail, so I had to spot, touch-up some areas).
I remember the uproar when the State of Michigan put out these black license plates (which I thought were great looking).




Sitting at my house in Marne, Michigan 1983.
Ok - van is looking like hell, but I wanted to post it anyways because this photo gives one a good look at the roof with the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser & above the driver and passenger seats, T-Tops. The van will sit for a year or 3 as I just bought a house. I have no extra money, no working engine, etc. I bought another 1975 Chevy Van from my brother, Ted and used those doors from it because they had less rot than mine, as well as the bumpers (which this van never had). You can also see the damage on the lower rocker from when it fell off the trailer after getting to my house from my parent's home. Oh - that's our dog, Flip.


Wet sanding Acrylic Lacquer in 1986.
First paint job I ever attempted on a car. I had a guy sandblast the, what appeared to be the factory paint job + epoxy paint on top of that.
I painted the van at my Dad's workshop (man, was he & my brothers pissed, as I got overspray all over his shop and tools, even though I hung up plastic).
Our other Collie, Max, keeping me company.




Guessing around 1983 somewhere in Michigan.
Note - the fender flares have been divorced form the body and are just bolt-ons now. I am still running the shorty exhaust pipes exiting out behind driver's door.
 

My wife - 1989

The next paint job in 1990.
This time using acrylic enamel, as the lacquer used in the last paint job did look great, but did not like the elements outside and quickly deteriorated.






Wayzata, MN 1992
I still haven't got around to painting that roof that wasn't painted in 1990, as the Olds Vista Cruiser glass/roof was leaking and needed to be fixed again.
I notice the trim on the Vista roof glass is missing and the roof luggage rack and spoiler, but she is wearing her White Ash running boards that I made in Michigan.

Front view
....still, looking pretty good.

Bradford Township, MN 1994
I got sick of dealing with the leaking T-tops and Vista Cruiser roof and cut the entire roof off.
The one-piece fiberglass, extended-height aftermarket roof gets bolted on and painted to match the van. Spare tire carrier puts the spare tire outside.
The van's interior gets converted (again) to a more 'camper style' with a sofa bed (that pulls out into a sleeper).
Now the kids have a place to sit & watch movies when we're traveling & camping.

Front view

The one above & the next 3 photos below is how the 'camper-friendly' interior looked.
I am really busy at work during this time frame so I had Stallion Customs of Ham Lake, MN put in this interior after I gutted the inside again.

Speaker boxes built into the rear cabinets.

TV and VCR go into the openings above.



I know -- kinda bland looking interior -- but it did now have lots of cabinet space in the new extended height roof.

 
1991 - this is another interior I had just before the 'camper-style' conversion, above it's the only photo I took that I can find.
Before this interior was another - I did a buttoned/tufted red velvet interior, but that only lasted a year or 2.
I can't find any photos of that one either, but I only did the dash and the front door panels of the interior.
This my 3rd motor and tranny in the van (and current one, too).

Well, that's about it.

.....just for shits & giggles -- here's 2 other vans I've owned.

1972 Ford Econoline
302 cu in with C-6 tranny. The van had well over 140,000 miles on it when I bought it and I had to put a quart of oil in her every time I filled the gas tank.
I sold it to my brother Ed and he made 2 trips from Michigan to Florida in it before he sold it. The entire interior was black fun fur and a wall of mirrors.

1975 Chevy G20.
I bought this van from my brother Ted. It had a neat airbrushed mural on it and a nautical theme interior.
It was really a beautiful van when my brother bought it and I was just jazzed for vans after seeing it for the first time.
This photo was taken after a few years and it started to show it's age.
I took the bumpers & exchanged all the doors from this van to my van and painted the whole shebang with some black paint I had leftover
and sold the van to a Mexican migrant worker who didn't speak English for $900 cash (cash has no language barrier).