Torn - '67 Glass Rack Van or get the Sportsman done

I own a glass shop, so when I saw this I got all excited:

http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/cto/1449003489.html

This is exactly the kind of van I started to look for 2 years ago. It's been stored inside for a very long time.

I just started stripping the many layers of paint off my '66 Dodge Sportsman. This paint job is going to lead to a lot of work and cash. I have a '65 Sportsman that I can drive around the block, but the body's pretty far gone. I had my guys on reduced hours earlier this year and I didn't want start throwing money at my van until things got a little more solvent. I also past up buying a rather clean $1,500 '69 Dodge Display van this summer because I didn't want another project that would take away from me moving forward with the '66's paint job.

If I pursue this non-operable van, I'll have to dump the parts van, but I'd have two good running vans. I swore I would someday chase down a Van-Up from out west and snag parts off the '65 if needed. Purchasing this would basically kill that dream.

Do I start to go after this '60s vintage glass truck or stay with the hand I've been dealt?

savage wrote:Looks like it might have a rust problem on pass side windshield post??

Yeah, I saw that. Looks clean compared to my parts van lol.

Some people on Vannin.com noticed that the rockers are rusty and that it has 1976 plates on it. They're computers and/or eyes must be better than mine. So if this thing has seen +/- 9 years of Detroit winters plus who knows what happened to it in storage, it may be worse off that I think. It would probably take a lot of time and money to bring this one back.

I just had visions of giving it a one color enamel paint job then having someone hand letter it to the original lettering, then getting some magnetic signs with my shop's name and current phone #.

savage wrote:How much is the glass rack worth?? What kind of motor trans??

Glass rack would be for nostalgia value only. It's probably homemade, but in 1967 it beat the hell out of using an A frame in the bed of a pick-up. You can see that it uses the van's ribs for structure. A replacement for my stainless steel glass rack would probably cost around four grand, but I could lose that much in a week if I don't have one.

I haven't contacted the seller (yet?), but I would guess a 225 /6 with a manual trans. The V8/auto was a big upgrade back in the day, that's one of the reasons why I love my Sportsman.

What are the plans for the parts van? strip and crush or sell whole? Mabee make one good van from the glass van and the parts van.

Ben, I had to take the parts van when I bought the good van. The guy wanted his garage back lol. It keeps leaking trans, brake and diff fluid wherever I park it and it takes up room inside my shop which can be a PITA. I really do like it, but it's a rust bucket, the rain gutters are shot and it has a lot of Bondo, etc. But it does have the 273 V8/auto which I would like to put in a Van-up someday. It'll kill me to actually see that thing go to the scrapper after searching so long and hard to find a descent one two years ago when I was having my mid-life crisis, so to speak.

Making one good van out of those two definitely happen if the glass van had lots of 'issues'.

I thought about making the good Sportsman a glass van when I first got it, but I'd rather give it a good two tone paint job and see where it goes from there.

G-Man wrote:splitting projects makes getting them done harder, my 69 is really not finished then I bought the 64 and that is eating all my extra cash

Chris, that's exactly why I kept telling that dude from Mississippi that I couldn't buy his '69 Display van even though I really liked it the price was right (I could have low balled him even further) and he could have dropped it off at my house! I was disappointed, but I knew i had get going again on the Sportsman.

Just seeing that lettering on that glass van, I feel as though it's sad, it's got my name on it and it's calling me.