Beach Van – Cheap & Cheerful #2

[Dave Tartaglia]

A few months ago I posted a series of photochops on a Ford Pinto wagon. The idea was to create a custom beach cruiser to tote our kayaks to the Gulf in style. The design constraints: it needs to be relatively cheap to buy and maintain as it will be a daily driver. It needs to fit in my garage where space is at a premium. And I like the challenge of making retro-styling work on untried vehicles.

I missed out on the Pinto, so I have been on the look-out for another auto-victim on Craigslist. I was thinking early sixties Ford Econoline or Dodge A100, but the prices are way out of range for me. Then I spotted photo of the first generation Dodge Caravan (1984-90) and thought, “Hmmm…”

These vans were everywhere in the eighties. So there must be a few left in decent shape, especially here in Florida where snow birds and retirees leave lots of low-mileage cars. I started with the panel van version – a little harder to find, but better for my purposes.

[Dave Tartaglia]

Shave the trim, add some whitewalls and Radirs, then drop it. I’m sure they don’t make Radirs in an FWD configuration, but they’ll do for illustrative purposes. The front and rear wraparound taillights could be paneled in, too. And the ugly park-bench bumpers would get replaced by some nice chrome ones tucked in nice and tight.

[Dave Tartaglia]

If you need some light in the back, here is an idea: take the side window shape and install it reversed and flipped. I believe the side panels are flat, so ordinary flat glass could be cut to shape.

[Dave Tartaglia]

Here is the full-on beach cruiser, complete with surf board:

84RamCV008 by DaveTartaglia[/url], on Flickr

[Justin Kudolla]

Dave Tartaglia wrote:

If you need some light in the back, here is an idea: take the side window shape and install it reversed and flipped. I believe the side panels are flat, so ordinary flat glass could be cut to shape.

You have some interesting ideas, Dave. The treatment above is how Chrysler should have done it originally, it breaks up the slad-sidedness considerably.

Trend Books Custom Cars Annuals
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[Justin Kudolla]

Admittedly, I’ve never been a big stock or custom van person (especially of the ones built in the 1970s) but here’s a more modern van that I saw on Ebay and thought was interesting. It’s built off of a 1985 Chevy Astro. I’d ditch the wing immediately though.

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Trend Books Custom Cars Annuals
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[Dave Tartaglia]

Hi Justin,
Thanks for your comments. I’m not a big fan of the 70s “Shaggin-Wagon” look, either! I just try to keep it clean and neat.

By coincidence, I did a chopped version, too. The Astro seems to have its windshield leaned back, which looks too severe to my eyes. On my version, I shortened the windshield and lengthened the roof. I think it looks more proportional that way.

84RamCV01 chop by DaveTartaglia[/url], on Flickr

[Jeff Neppl]

I think the Ron Jon surf wagon is cool and I love old custom vans,probably more then I should admit. 🙂 I also know for a fact im not the only one.

This is definitely beach friendly! I spend a lot of time at the beach and I would love to have a van to cruise .

[Rik Hoving]

I really like the chopped Version Dave.
And you know I love old vans as well Jeff… there is no reason not to admit this 🙂
I still plan to do an thread on the 60’s – 80’s vans here on the CCC… but I just can seam to find the time to get it started.

Enjoy the beauty of Customizing

[Dave Tartaglia]

Thanks, Jeff and Rik.
I especially like the sixties-style vans and related forward control pickups. Here in the states, we had the Ford Econoline, Dodge A100, and Chevy Corvair-based Corvan and Rampside. I know there were similar styles in Europe and the UK.

I have been working on front-end treatments for the Dodge Caravan panel. I picked the early version because it still had separate (and ugly!) bumpers and easily removable grille and headlights. When the wraparound turn signals are paneled in and grill/headlights removed, it leaves a nice open space to play with. As I looked at it, I was reminded of the 1951-52 Ford F1 and the 53-56 F100.

So I was thinking a grille from one of those models would work as they had the headlights and grille bars in one unit. As I looked for suitable photos to use, I came across the 1955 F100 which was customized by West Coast Customs for the Sylvester Stallone movie, The Expendables. The Ford bar is modified with the addition of what looks like some ’53 DeSoto teeth – it looks truck-ish and custom at the same time, so I tried it. Now I’ll have to find the movie on Netflix!

Here is a before and after:

[Dave Tartaglia]

This version uses the F1 grille bar with two extra teeth and a 1957 Ford front bumper.

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