Future of the Van Scene?

I would like to convey the thanks of my club and all vanners to Ed Sanchez for all the time and effort he has put into giving space to vans on this site. Vans are coming back and vans are showing up more and more at car shows and in magazines. There are many websites dedicated to vans among them www.vannin.com, which is by far the largest, www.inlandvansberdoo.com which is my clubs site and www.VintAGE-vans.com which is dedicated to "early" (1961-1967) vans and their pickup counterparts. Check them out.  
Mike Cook
Vice President
Inland Vans Berdoo
2008 Route 66 Hall of Fame Inductee

Hi Ed - I just want to thank you again personally for the interview at the Route 66 celebration.  The Dirty Ol Van video come out very well, thanks to your editting skills, and so did the others in our van club - Inland Vans Berdoo.  I am also pleased that my van was in the top rated section of the website.I would have wanted a better picture, but I will try to figure out how to put some in asap.  Let us know when you are in the area and we'll pop a cold one.  You guys ROCK!  Alan Cook
      Charter Member
      Inland Vans Berdoo
      So. Cal.  

Being a 2 percenter for many years now, I would love to see more vans both here and in the magazine.  I have fun driving my 1966 flatwindow Chevy G-10, and take it everywhere.  My van club is my extended family, and I feel fortunate to have known them for so long.    Alan Cook     The Dirty Ol Van  

My pleasure, guys. It's a part of Truckin's history that I'd like to keep alive and help carry on the tradition and legacy. Even though the mag is almost all pickups and SUVs now, once and a while, you'll see a van sneak in. Hopefully we'll start to see more of them! Keep contacting the editors and let them know.  

That's great news Ed. Not sure if I mentionned it here before, but it's a circle.

You see, when I started reading Truckin' (when I was 16 in 1992), there was barely any vans in the magazines. Yes there was an odd article about Astro's here and there (hence my choice of vehicle) but there was barely any full size vans and no coverage of Van events. I simply did not know that there are people who love to gather together, have a few drinks, enjoy a band and sleep in there cozy home-made beds.

Now, if Truckin' starts to show more vans... I'm sure some of the younger people who, like me, didn't know it existed will start taking interest in vans. More vans in the shows means more van coverage. Hopefully, this will also bring new ideas too.

Of course there's a limit. Variety is great. My ideal would be:
-20% Full-size p-u
-20% Mini p-u
-20% Classic
-15% Van
-15% SUV  
----- Mathieu -----

"Electric Avenue", my '79 Ford.

I agree with you Matt. It would be nice to get some younger people into vanning. The biggest reason I don't think there are many is that they don't realize all the cool things that can be done with a van.

How bout trying for even 5% in each issue about Vans????  

I want to give my opinion on the initial question on the "Future of the Van Scene"...

With car companies virtually killing the production of full-size vans (historically the favorite), and many vintage (60's and 70's) vans being lost for salvage, the minivan is the likely direction for things to go.

On the side topic of van features in the mag, I like the multipart format used for so any features, like you did for project Red Rocker... spread over multiple issues  If there was van features in 4-6 mags per year, that would make me happy, and would probably help me understand the truck stuff seing it side by side with the van tech.
However, I encourage people to try to save a 60's-90's van from the crusher for your next project.  A 64 Ford Econoline and 68 Fargo A100, both kinda pathetic to look at right now, followed me home in 2008, and I can now preserve a little history, and drive hotrods that no one else does... it's cool to be different!  
.
sasktrini, Saskatoon, SK, Canada

'64 Ford Econoline - 170 FalconSix, 3-on-the-tree
'85 Chevy G20 - 350 TargetMaster, 3sp auto
'68 Fargo A-100 - 225 SlantSix, 727 3spd auto w/ dash shifter

We are seeing a big demand for the early vans. They are the easiest to work on and parts are still available especially for the early Econolines (1961-1967).  Plus there are two great websites where you can get help with your earlies , vintagevans.com and vannin.com. .Check them out. There are a bunch of great people on both sites with many years if not decades of experience in building vans.  

My first car was a 64 or 65 Econoline panel and now I'm gettin back into them. Just picking up a 62 no-door Econline and when its done, or maybe before, will be lookin for a Econo P/U.  

Vanning for 32 years and hope to see you put some vans back in the mag.

Hope to see you at the nats this year.  

I think the future of vannin looks good. Once upon a time there were thousands of vans at runs, now there are hundreds and sometimes less. So now you have quality instead of quantity. Maybe with a little more coverage more people will come along and see something so great that it will become their lifestyle. Either way Vanners will continue to van and there is always room for more.  

Having been out of the van for so long, 29 years, I'm glad to see it's still alive, I still see it as a really great time in my life. My first was a 66 Econoline, that I drove the wheels off of, first club was Our Gang Vans out of La Mirada California, second was a 74 Dodge also drove the wheels off being part of Our Gang and Have Vans Will Travel out of South Gate, California.  We had the van council and at that time "tweety bird" was president, I don't remember his name and a women at that time was very vocal at these meetings.  Being new to this forum  this may not be the right place to post this, sorry.

                         Keep on Vannin!
                                      JW  

I am a 34 yr old vanner.  As a kid we always had astro vans which were great.  and I can still remember the fading of the full van scene in the early eighties w the conversion van craze being the last gasp.  But the core enthusiasts never went anywhere, and I was happy to find them at www.vannin.com

Maybe Ill find them here too.  I am going to check out iss#7 and if there are vans I will be buying.

 

By the way ed..  Have you noticed what 70's vintage Truckin back issues are bringing on Ebay?  Big $$$s.  If that is any indication of the future  it will be bright for whoever starts covering vans.  

With Manufactures dropping vans like hot potatoes and mini vans without windows being non-existant, I for one think that the future of Vanning will be carefully restored classics and a few speciality vehicles.....I know there are some die-hard old skool vanners that disagree with me but with gas going up again these: are looking better and better to me.  Yes, Mike I went over to the HHR side that is my new "SS"