American day vans-Would you drive one?

[warren t claim]

As sad as it seems I've had a hankering for one of these for a while now. Obviously it will have to be a little bit tatty and with the spare wheel mounted on the rear door, the cover of which will have a classy mural of a snow wolf or a native american chief. Please talk me out of buying one! I no longer need lots of seats and having one may encourage me to experiment with country and western music, eating lots of burgers and drinking six packs.

[FredTransit]

Nothing wrong with em, aside from their drink problem. Get a nice tatty Mk5 minibus and rip our half the seats, much cheaper and far more shite!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Obviously it will have to be a little bit tatty and with the spare wheel mounted on the rear door, the cover of which will have a classy mural of a snow wolf or a native american chief.

LOL, I love those. If you are going to drive one of these, make sure you lose loads of weight by smoking loads for 20 years, wear a denim shirt with a leather waistcoat over it, a big belt buckle, stetson and grow a proper scratty beard.

[Guest]

That website in my sig seems to have entire sections devoted to the "home decor" of those kinds of people (that is the one with the Elvis cuckoo clock, not OJC - their houses are just filled with old trim bits and exhausts).

 

 

Having said that, I actually quite like the vans themselves, prior to application of Red Indian chiefs and chrome "Trucker Girl" mudflaps.

[pompei]

Or alternatively grow a nice burger-belly and wear a leather cowboy hat. You see loads in B&Q in these parts

[Albert Ross]

GR8 for looking like a pensioner paedophile.............

[warren t claim]

Oh and I forgot to mention I drive a truck for a living! So it's either this or a brown Rover P6 "Sutcliffe" limited edition.

[UglyAmerican]

You'll need to wear this:

 

[Ratdat]

I decided I wanted a yankee van a while back, but not a day-van. I dislike all the poncey side steps and running lights etc and the multiple seating is useless for us. I wanted something more like a proper 70's custom van from the era of side pipes, CB's and porthole windows. So I bought an '81 Dodge panel van which someone had started to convert to a day van but they'd only got as far as fitting some of the windows thankfully. I'm going to kit it out with a plush velour and fur interior (with double bed of course) and it will be heading in the direction of the Dice Magazine van pictured in my avatar only with more metalflake. I've already started the monumental task of painting painting it.

 

Frome a driving perspective I love my van. I wish I'd bought one years ago. Mine's a 5.2 V8 with a column shift auto and is effortless to drive. Once you're used to the width it's no bother hustling it round town. The ride is soft and wallowy like a yank motor should be but the handling isn't bad at all. Brakes are quite decent with big vented discs up front. It's nice to have a van with a bit of go too. It's not exactly fast but it tackles hills without shifting out of top and has enough go to overtake. Economy sucks obviously. Mine gets about 17mpg but I don't care as I don't use it every day.

 

Here it is as I bought it..

 

 

Here's a taster of things to come...

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'd like a van like that! Just a plain panel van but with a Dodge 50 face on it and a shonky old Perkins diesel. Brill!

[Justin Case]

Please talk me out of buying one!

having one may encourage me to experiment with country and western music, eating lots of burgers and drinking six packs.

I think that you have managed to talk yourself out of it quite successfully

[wuvvum]

I've only ever driven one American van - the Dodge Ram belonging to Mr. Scrapman of this parish. I really enjoyed it, despite the incredibly vague steering (partly due to the fact that the front tyres had about 9psi in them at the time) - it's a very relaxing way to travel, supremely comfortable, and if you can afford the fuel bills such a beast would be great for mile-munching. I have to say I really do like the look of Ratdat's van. Main thing stopping me considering purchasing such a beast is that it probably wouldn't fit in my driveway (the Cadillac was an incredibly tight fit) and I wouldn't fancy parking something that conspicuous on the street. Whether you then go on to subscribe to the burgers-banjos-and-sister-shagging lifestyle is entirely up to you.

[seth]

Ye Ha!

 

[UglyAmerican]

I'm so amused that you fellers like these vans so much.

 

I don't know if I could live with the shame of driving one of the kitted versions (which is to say all the velour and extra headlamps) in the States. They make a, er, social and political statement that I'm not sure I want a part of.

 

...And this is coming from a man whose family has a shite Ford Expedition for major hauling duties.

 

For years my dad drove one of these for work (just like this, in handiman white, too):

[Rusty Pelican]

Are these known as Econoline,s , bit ironic a name if you ask me

[peter9000uk]

I must own up to once owning a 1979 Econoline with a 351 under the hood. It was awful to drive and I traded for a 67 El Camino with a 327 and a 4 speed

[Ratdat]

This is how they should look. None of that line dancing yeehaw PT Cruiser style stick on shit...

 

 

 

[Father Ted]

Normally I despise American Tin, but a day van would tick a LOT of boxes. Must be in metal flake brown, have a strobe light, 8 track and shag pile though.

[pogweasel]

Do quite fancy one actually, as they are not hugely expensive to buy and on lpg not too bad for running either. Chuck in the kids, the dogs, bikes, pushchairs, the works and go and have fun. Obv no howling wolves/indian cheifs need apply. However I would never get one past the domestic manager, ever. Size, LHD-ness and any other negative would be amplified large and I would be in big trubble. Ho hum.

[warren t claim]

I want one that looks like a stunt prop from "CHiPs"!!! Early Econoline!!!

[Dukestar25]

I like the look of this 'incospicuous' number....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Stunning-Dodge-250-Ram-Day-van-camper-Winnebago_W0QQitemZ140353495099QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Commercial_Trucks?hash=item20adb8603b

[Ratdat]

Normally I despise American Tin, but a day van would tick a LOT of boxes. Must be in metal flake brown, have a strobe light, 8 track and shag pile though.

How about this one then FT?

[FredTransit]

Day vans have to have windows, like a minibus. Fact.

[TheScrapman]

Not really a day van, but love our Dodge Ram 250 camper

 

 

Homely...

 

Bought in Vancouver for £1023 and driven for 10000 miles taking in 33 US states, 4 Canadian states. It's seen much of the UK, Wales, Scotland and several countries in Europe.

 

Ours is a 360ci (5.9litre) that does around 13mpg. With the LPG, it's actually not expensive to pootle about in. Goes like stink in a straight line, just a little frightening in the corners...

[Pete-M]

I'd like a van like that! Just a plain panel van but with a Dodge 50 face on it and a shonky old Perkins diesel. Brill!

I'd also like one, but mine would obviously have to be the V8 petrol as I really don't like diesels. Big V8 with LPG for me.Cannot abide all the glittery shit, and have a real dislike of porthole windows etc. Cheesetastic interiors I have no problem with, it's just the wheel cover and mudflap stuff I can't stand. That's probably why I don't like Mitsubishi Wankers either.

[Guest]

Mitsubishi Wanker sounds like some weird foreign model we don't get, probably some kind of equivalent to the Nissan Bakkie.

 

 

The 2009 Mitsubishi Wanker - awkward facelift forthcoming. Now with fuel injection!

[Cavcraft]

Day vans are cool but don't discount big lazy diesels as they sem quite reasonable on fuel.Not owned a day van personally but the GMC Sub 6.5TD I had was bloody good on fuel. It was too sodding big for me to drive though, coupled with being LHD I found it awkward to be honest.

[Pete-M]

Day vans are cool but don't discount big lazy diesels as they sem quite reasonable on fuel.

I'm the last of the diesel-haters. Can't abide the things, don't like the sound they make (in cars, ok in big Scania V8s), don't like the power delivery of the turbo ones, don't like the laziness of the non-turbos, don't like the fuel, don't like working on them, don't like the smell of the fuel, don't like the soot that spews from the back of them, don't like glow plugs, don't like anything about them other than they cost a bit less to fuel - and I prefer LPG for cheapness anyway. Don't like the fact that diesel owners tend to harp on about modern turbodiesels being as quick as the equivalent non-turbo petrol, or the way diesel owners tend to tell you that you don't need to change down in diesels to overtake but they refuse to accept that if a diesel is out of its powerband they're completely useless until the turbo kicks in, Don't like the narrow useable 'power band', don't like the fact that if you want to go properly quickly in one you either need to row the bloody thing with the gearlever or need a 7 speed autobox. Don't like the way they all vibrate at idle.If I have to spend an extra £20 a week to drive a petrol, I'm happy to do so. My brother has had what are widely regarded to be 'the best' diesel cars for the last 8 or 9 years - BMW 530d, Golf GT TDi 150, Merc E280CDi and a few others and every time I've driven any of them I've wished they had the equivalent petrol engine instead.I sold my A6 V6 2.5 TDi a few years ago because other than being cheaper to fuel than a petrol it wasn't very nice, and it was gutless if it dropped either side of its optimum rev range. Good on the motorway, pop it in 6th and waft along, but my current A6 is a much, much nicer car, and with the 5 speed autobox the gearing is similar anyway.So, for me, it'd be a V8 GMC G-series with LPG, but kitted out in the back.

[Richard]

Having to row along on the gear lever isn't a diesel thing, it just seems to be the way people want their cars nowadays.

[Rusty Pelican]

Pete , i get the distinct impression diesels not your thing then , wonder what they ran like on the original fuel they were designed for , peanut oil