Secrets?

[Joanna]

I spent some time just sitting in the van today examining all the joinery and the way things are stitched together and began to wonder where I could stash papers, cash or extra keys that would be fairly invisible. I'm talking about places aside from a safe or locking underfloor storage which I don't have and which would be obvious anyway.

If the police are going to tear apart your vehicle looking for contraband, well, nothing can save you; I'm talking about casual thieves, like the teenagers who spent an hour or so one night rummaging through my Astro van in Oakland, taking change, my disability placard, the fast trak (electronic prepaid bridge toll device) and scarfing down earthquake emergency provisions (they must have been pretty bored).

While I realize the Catch 22 of talking about this, I thought I'd say right out loud that two places that were of immediate interest to me were:

1. The zipper on the armrest covers, which when open, reveal a space big enough for a spare key or two and maybe some folded bills.
2. Our van is a "50" and I noticed on the driver's side above the closets, but below the PH bed was a 33" long, 7.5 to 9" wide (narrower towards the rear), slightly less than one half inch high space. It would be
easy to cover an insert with the same upholstery material, shaped sort of like a windshield visor that could slip in this space an hold a great deal of paper, spare keys, if they were stored flat, extra debit/credit cards and other emergency identification.

Any other ideas?