Show us your old van

[REF]

I don’t know if a thread like this exists, I couldn’t find one. There’s been several posts I’ve seen of people’s old van along with their new ride, but not in a dedicated thread.
Anyway, going through piles of photos recently at my dads place after he passed away this last summer, I came across the only known photo of me and my first van, a 1973 orange and white “creamsicle” VW bus I acquired from someone that owed me money. Mind you, I am not THAT old, this was ~91/92 while living in Providence, RI.
Well, long story short(er), upon acquisition of said bus from a house that this guy was couch surfing at, the thing suddenly died on my buddy I was following on the highway, seized engine! Great! I got bilked from this guy not once but twice! Well I couldn’t let that be the end of it, another friend had a VW 1800CC engine block out of a Porsche 914, I dropped everything off at a little VW specialist in town where it spent the next 3-4 months getting rebuilt while I ran for parts at the local pick places, luckily there’s a ton of old VW’s sitting in salvage yards out east-need a wiring harness, ok, be back in a few hrs....I also managed to pick an intact camper interior(unfortunately no photos to be found of my very first interior rebuild!)
That thing was a hoot to drive with all my buddies, and it really boogied! To Boston for the Dead shows, Great Woods for concerts, Newport, fall drives up the coast....ahh the good old days!
Anyway, post up photos of your old, no, really old vans, if you’ve got em, stories are great too!
Eric, you could fill this up real fast, got any old ones we haven’t seen yet? Fords, Chevy’s, Dodges, VW’s, all are welcome! Let’s see ‘em, here’s mine

[campism]

I don't have a pic of my '63 VW hatchroof Westy, but here's a pic of the 'Murrican van-type thing that replaced it, roadside with a couple of my Air Force buddies.

[shadetreevanman]

I had several VW buses back in the 80's. But here's the VW Vanagon that got me back into vans during this decade. This VW has a 1.8 Turbo Motor in it and hauls ass. I still have it we just haven't driven it lately.

Here we were in Utah in 2016 with our friends Ford behind us.

[larrie]

No longer have photos of my old vans so resorted to the web to find some generic ones.

My first van was a grey 1959 VW Transporter. It was a cargo van with barn doors on both sides. I lived in it for a couple of years in the early 70s.

Generic photo


Our second one was a blue 1972 VW pop top camper. We camped and traveled around Oregon in the 90s.

Generic Photo


Our first official Sportsmobile was a 1989 Ford E150.

[wadewaydo]

I love how so many members here came from old VW vans. I've had the fortune of having a partner of 20 years who has a VW camper. We have had years of memories in her van. I loved it so much I repainted it, renovated the interior, added a Propex heater and piped it into the duct work. I added a sound system, solar panel and converted the fridge to electric. It's got the sink and gas stove. We still have it, it fits in the garage (unlike the SMB).


Redwoods





Monument Valley







Watchman Campground






Grand Teton NP





Boondocking near Sedona





North Rim Forest





Arches NP





Canyonlands NP





Coconino NF

[deserteagle56]

1976 GMC Terravan. Bought new, drove it for 32 years!

[TomsBeast]

[TomsBeast]

My buddy and I completed several over highway rally races in this highly modified VW bus

[nemesisnight]

My obsession began with a pretty sweet Eurovan Winnebago that was super clean and upgraded all I could till I realized I wanted/needed 4x4 capabilities and room for 4 kids.






Started out like this before the lift and upgrades:

[campism]

Okay, in the old van spirit (not old as in the one we used to have, but old in the sense that it will soon be an ex-van of ours), here's a photo of the Vanagon Westy we've had for 12 years and the big Dodge that will soon be replacing it.