lostwire's '68 A100

Hey gang. As of the 31st I'll be a proud owner of my first early, a '68 A100. If the current owner wasn't heading out of town this week I would have it that much sooner. Argh! I've loved these things ever since I was a kid and now the time has finally arrived where I'll have one of my very own. The short story is that my wife wanted to open a flower shop, and if I went along with the idea I'd get to pick the vehicle we'd purchase for local deliveries. Boy was she surprised when I told her what I had in mind!

After a few months of checking the local papers, scouring the internet, and keeping my eye on the "For Sale" section here, we saw this '68 Dodge come and go on eBay that would make a good candidate. It never reached the reserve so I dropped the owner a PM after the auction, we arranged to meet (he's just over an hour from us), and by the end of this past weekend a deal was made for $3,750. Just around where we were hoping to spend.

There's some rust ready to pop through the paint in a few places near the rear wheel wells but other then that she's in real nice shape and runs strong. The rear doors seem to be sealed shut but we're hoping we can have them functioning again without too much of a hassle. I'm not really digging the vertical stripes, bumpers, or hubcaps so those will be the first things to go.

Here's some pics from the eBay auction. I'm looking forward to posting a few more once she's home!

Vanish wrote:Great Lookin Van ..... I think G-Man went and Looked at this one a few Months ago !!!!! Congrats on a GREAT FIND.......

Thanks man!

You know, I was wondering if G-Man might have seen it since he finds so many earlies for sale. Hopefully he'll see this thread and let me know if he found any problems with her that myself and my wife's uncle might have missed. I'd be curious if he remembered looking at those rear doors.

Ahh, I saw that one on ebay I think. Very cool! I'm new to this A100 business too, so I'm anxious to learn along with you.

enbro wrote:Ahh, I saw that one on ebay I think. Very cool! I'm new to this A100 business too, so I'm anxious to learn along with you.

This site has been extremely helpful so far. Very informative. Hopefully the old-timers here won't mind us wracking their brains for info!

Congratulations! I kind of dig the Super Bee style stripes.

So you pulled the old "lets talk some sense into the guy after the auction" trick. Cool. If you plan on keeping it a long long time be aware that flower delivering is going to accelerate the rusting process.

One of the other cool things about this site is you also get to see the Ford and Chevy guys stuff and get their advice as well.

Good Luck...

Yea Great looking van! In need some wheels and a front bumper tho

My Site may help you alittle also
www.dodgevanman.com

I'll certainly be looking forward to hearing about everyone's ride, not just those built by Dodge. There's stuff I love about all of them, and if we found a Chevy or Ford that fit the bill we probably would have ended up with one of them instead.

As far as more rust developing I guess that's just the nature of the beast. We'll be taking care of what's there now in the next couple of months and we're hoping nothing signifigant appears within the next year or so until some proper paint can be applied. She's already given me the ok without much fuss!

I doubt we'll be able to pick up anything else like this for quite sometime since we're planning on starting a family next year, so I'm going to try and do whatever I can to keep this baby around.

Yeah , that is a sharp lookin' van, congrats

G-Man wrote:I remember looking at your van and let me put it this way if I had the money then it would have been my 68 A100. LOL From what I seen it was very solid for a Michigan van. Very little rust from what I remember. I did see the back doors and didn't care for them seal up like that, but sounds like your on that. The stripe is a Mopar thing and I think it cool, but this is your van and you should do what you wish. Please tell you not going to make deliveries in the snow with it. I also remember the thing ran like a top and that 6 should get great gas mileage. I sent you a PM about your van.

Glad to hear you thought it was pretty solid when you had a chance to check it out. We seemed to think so as well, but hearing it from a guy like you who's been around earlies makes a big difference. By any chance do you remember which six was in there? I don't mind the stripe but we're planning on putting the flower shop's logo back there so it's going to have to go. Hopefully we won't have to use her in the snow for deliveries since we still have my Jeep Wrangler to use.

It will have a 225 slant six unless they changed it out...

Hey, Just put a SuperBee sniffin' some posies back there.

Digz wrote:Hey, Just put a SuperBee sniffin' some posies back there.

I ran it past my wife and she acted like I was crazy. Sounded like a good idea to me.

G-Man wrote:Where is Reading again???

Reading is in Hillsdale county and about 20 minutes west of Hillsdale itself.

G-Man wrote:OK now where is Hillsdale??? By Lansing or Detriot???

I suppose we're about an hour and a half south of Battle Creek.

Hmmm... I ran the VIN and it indicates there should be a V8 in there. Does anyone know how accurate they were? Four days and counting (Thursday at 10 a.m. can't come soon enough).

I finally brought the A100 home yesterday morning and it's been a blast so far! Before the sun went down we probably drove close to 4 hours between getting her home and just riding around on some nice open country roads. If anyone has a lead on an original steering wheel please let me know; while this hot-rod style one looks cool, I could certainly use the extra leverage of a bigger wheel while turning at very slow speeds.

Once we were back at the house I attached the interior side-door handles I bought off eBay earlier this week and then removed those wooden bumpers I didn't care much for. Hopefully the cops won't mind them missing while I search out some originals or another suitable substitute.

The journey's just beginning...

Here's some pics of the van at her new home:

Congratulations. It looks sweet.

I don't know why, but the van looks better in you pictures than from e-bay. Maybe it was the bumpers.

I bet you have my same Autozone steering wheel. It does build up your upper body though. You'll feel it in the morning.

BTW - How do those Chevy Van mirrors fit?

itruns wrote:Congratulations. It looks sweet.

I don't know why, but the van looks better in you pictures than from e-bay. Maybe it was the bumpers.

I bet you have my same Autozone steering wheel. It does build up your upper body though. You'll feel it in the morning.

BTW - How do those Chevy Van mirrors fit?

Yea, those wood bumpers just didn't do it for me. I've seen them look pretty nice on old trucks but for whatever reason they just looked out of place on this van. The mirrors don't fit well at all. There's a gap towards the top of the base where the body tapers in and the arms of the mirrors block the corner windows from opening all the way. Wish the guy checked the clearance before installing them.

Vanish wrote:GREAT LOOKING VAN I MUST SAY !!!!!!

Thanks man! I really lucked out finding this one.

G-Man wrote:It does look much better without those bumpers. Your van and me have a little history. (mostly hunting it down ) My wife and myself first seen it in Williamston after dinner there. He passed us I turned around and try to catch him, but lost him. Next time I seen it on ebay and contacted the guy and got to see it up close. (that was about a 1 1/2 ago) I invided him to Baker's if it didn't sell. He didn't show up so I thought it sold. Seen it on ebay again and thought it sold again. Didn't see it for a while then it was listed again. Then you posted you bought it. Looks like the old "A" has found a good home. Look forward to seeing it again at Baker's (I hope anyway)

Wow, great story! You'll finally get to see it at Baker's next year because we're really looking forward to attending. It's going to be great to see all these cool vans up close that I've been admiring in the Baker's threads here on the board. One nice suprise since I picked it up is how much my wife likes it. She thinks it's pretty cool and a lot of fun too.