Blaino's '67 A100 Custom Sportsman

Lookin good! I love your vans vibe. Original paint looks awesome!

So, I sort of let this thread "go" in a sense. I haven't regularly updated on the build at all, and I apologize. Here is a big go through of the build. Sorry if there are re-occuring pictures but its all here in this one post briefly. If you have questions, ask away! or PM me! You can also reach me on Facebook under "Blaine Goitia" or Instagram under 'blaino_g'. Here's how I got my van and what started all of this...


In 2010 I turned 16. My parents had generously purchased me a car, a 2006 Honda Civic. I guess you can say purchase, but it pretty much fell into their lap. My Dad owns a mechanical/body repair shop down here in Kenner, Louisiana. My civic came in as a total that a local high schooler drove, and he totaled it on the interstate on his way into town for school one morning. The traffic in front of him stopped and he did not. Lol!

Fast forward another six to nine months. I became obsessed with wanting an older vehicle, for two reasons. Mainly, I wanted something me and my Dad could fix together and bond with and also I wanted “that guy with the old car.” I have loved and always will love mid 60s to early 70s muscle cars, but I wanted something a little more claiming than that as my first project. We already owned a 1962 Chevrolet Bel-Air station wagon that we drove on the 2003 Hot Rod Power Tour, and I loved the vibe that wagon gave off. So, perfect! I wanted a wagon! I thought..

A link to my family's ’62 wagon is here.

http://www.superchevy.com/features/sucp-0810-1962-bel-air-family-wagon/

Here is a wagon I found at one point. It was AWESOME. '57 Plymouth Suburban.




Back to my story and how my van came to be. I scoured craigslist ads from coast to coast, eBay listings, even Kijiji in Canada looking for the perfect wagon! My dream was a ’59 Chevy wagon, any trim level. There was one for sale locally, but I couldn’t swing that being so young and after looking for some time I decided if I ever got a ’59 I would like to be older with the money and assets for it to be absolutely perfect.
I still looked for wagons, but different kinds. Corvair wagons, Chevelle wagons, Pontiac Safari’s and Vista Cruisers. Also, any Chevrolet Suburban I found from the beginning (1934-35) up until 72. Those are just cool.

Somewhere in that mix, my Parran (Godfather) bought an early Chevy. It was a 1968 Chevy G10 short wheelbase V8 window van. I loved it! He lowered it 2”, put a set of 17” Foose wheels on it and drove the piss out of it! Eventually this van got an interior done and paint work. Sadly, this van sold at the first cruise night he brought it to.

Shortly before it sold, I found an ad for a 1967 Dodge A100 Custom Sportsman through eBay. I quickly found that the link was also posted here on vintAGE-vans.com, and it had a lot of interest. A friend that I sadly never had the chance of meeting in person, known as G-Man on the forum, persuaded me that this was my van. I brought the ad to my mom and dad, they approved and we waited for the auction to end. This van had the most complete early van interior I’d ever seen. It was an original 318 v8, automatic on the dash and had recently reupholstered seats. It had 60s molar police wheels and all the trim on the outside. It was listed for some $$$ so nobody bid, but we were on the phone with the owner asap. We agreed on a price, and the next weekend set sail for Tennessee!

R.I.P. Chris, aka G-Man.

This is what I have of the van from the eBay ad, and bringing it home.








I don’t have many pictures of the next 2 years, other than random car show pictures or parking lot shots. Nothing happened though, other than me driving my van to high school almost everyday. This is very comical, as the van very poorly. It would backfire so bad it would blow the PCV off of the valve cover. I’d wrangle that sucker to the side of the road, open the dog house , re-connect, and most of the time have to jump the battery with a jump box and continue on my 5 minute commute to school. We later found out the alternator did not work barely at all until 2500-3k rpm.





I stole my dads old 90s Budnik wheels he had for an outdated project for a few months. I think this is the only vehicle those wheels will EVER look good one. One hideous but amazingly awesome rim..

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Sidenote: The vans license plate and new name came from the van almost never running, but being daily driven. 'Van Down’ is a story that can only be told in person. But just know for now it has a dual meaning of my van never running, and it now being pretty much slammed on the ground.

The stock carb needed to be replaced, new intake and the 318 probably would have woken up. But that was not enough. It fell on its face on every take off, even easing onto the pedal. It got the point that when I knew we were doing an engine swap I just automatically raised the rams up and neutral dropped it into gear. –it still would not do a burnout. What kind of van can’t do a burnout?

I graduated high school May of 2013. After graduation my van broke down 3 times. I pushed it twice, jumped the battery every time and even worse – had to have my girlfriend at the time steer while I pushed. She didn’t understand manual brakes, I thought the van was going to run into a ditch. I finally got to my graduation dinner to meet my parents and brothers as sweaty as can be and it was one of the few times I was pissed at the van. The only time I had to push that much and I was in $400 wood bottomed shoes and full dress clothes.

Over the next 2 years, we fully restored the drivetrain and suspension. Trying to stay on a budget, we decided the most power for the money would be going with a late model engine. We wanted to LS swap my van, like our the cars, but we would’ve had to modify the doghouse and were looking for a quick bolt-in replacement. We bought a 1997 Dodge Magnum 360 and a 1995 46RH (A518) tranny from the local Pull-a-Part and started getting to it. Here’s a montage of photos throughout the 2 years. This stemmed from a 3-4 weekend project to a full 2 years of hell. GM guys do not belong under a Mopar. It has been extremely rewarding though. It mostly took two years because I was in college at LSU, an hour away from my parents house where the van stayed.

Here is what I do in College. I am a member of the Golden Band from Tigerland! Yep, thats me in the picture!



I am also an art student. Here is an old school print I made with my van.



This had to be the HOTTEST day I've ever experienced in my life.






My brother, Dustin, painted my valve covers and helped me paint my engine block as well as assemble the entire engine.






Next, the 318 came out and the 360 went in.










Here are my 2 front wheels fresh from the junk yard. They sat outside here for about a month and grew mold. They were rough...



Most people are on this new Detroit Vintage Wheels kick if they are getting new old rims. I respect and love what Scott does at DVW, but I wanted the rock chipped not perfect old rims. I love that they are not perfect. Also, I won't cry when they do get dinged and scratched. It happens. And I think they look badass on my van.

Fast forward to now. My dad, two brothers, and some of my dad’s employees helped to get my van done enough to tackle the 2015 Hot Rod Power Tour! 2800 miles total for me. New Oreans to Baton Rouge LA, the to Madison, WI and followed the route all the way back to Baton Rouge! I couldn’t be happier with how my van performed and all those hours of no A/C, cruise control or power steering/brakes made up for the two years of dreaming about driving her again!





Hot Rod Magazine took these pictures of my van.




The Blue '49 pickup belongs to my brother Dustin. Above the white '67 C10 belongs to my oldest brother Ryan.


Here are some specs on my van as far as engine/tranny and suspension as I know some of you guys may have questions.



Engine

1997 Dodge Magnum 360
Mopar M1 Intake
Holley 670 Street Avenger Carburetor
Comp Cams Camshaft – .506 int/ext lift.
Dodge Dakota R/T valve springs
Had the heads done
Custom PRC aluminum radiator made to fit A100 doghouse
Short tube headers – wrapped

Tranny

Had it rebuilt
2400 stall
PATC vacuum switches for the overdrive. This will change soon.
PRC tranny cooler

Suspension

Stock! Mostly..
Stock solid front axle, flipped on top of springs
Ford 8.8 rear end, flipped on top of stock springs.
Rear leafs re-arched 1” to add rake and clearance.
8” driveshaft – it sucks, but its all we can do.
Ridetech Q series adjustable shocks

Wheels/Tires

Rims are unmarked as far as I can tell, but do have dates.

Fronts: 1981 15x7 Slots wrapped in 205/60r15 BF Goodrich T/A Radials

Rears: 1976 15x8.5 Slots wrapped in 255/60r15 BF Goodrich T/A Radials

Goals: Mickey Thompson Indy Profiles front and rear

Van looks great. I hear you on Detroit Vintage Wheels. He does amazing work but I'm concerned that the first corner I catch in the van I will start crying when my wheel gets scuffed..

You got your van not long after mine and I recall how clean it was. Much further along than me. Congrats!

Thanks Lazarus! I wouldnt be as far along without help from my dad and brothers. But when you don't have something that you love you'll do anything to get it back asap, and thats what happened here! I do have a little regret for not rebuilding the stock engine and tranny and just keeping it all numbers matching and what not, but oh well. But I missed my baby and we did our best to get her back going. I'm assuming your van runs pretty solid since you've gotten it?

VanninBlaino wrote:Thanks Lazarus! I wouldnt be as far along without help from my dad and brothers. But when you don't have something that you love you'll do anything to get it back asap, and thats what happened here! I do have a little regret for not rebuilding the stock engine and tranny and just keeping it all numbers matching and what not, but oh well. But I missed my baby and we did our best to get her back going. I'm assuming your van runs pretty solid since you've gotten it?

Not yet. Being completely rebuilt. I wouldn't worry about stock engine, etc. It looks nice and probably improved the motor. Curious if flipping the leaf spring and de-arching affects ride quality.

My ride quality is 1000x better than stock. "Ride quality" really differs from person to person. Some person says a vehicle rides great and another person can drive that same car and it can be to stiff. Just preferance. But my van seeiously rides nice. Like a brand new car, not wandering like stock. I have some money in shocks though, they are fully adjustable. It rides like a cadillac, seriously. I re-arched my springs to add height, dearching them and flipping would be a lot! But it rides awesome. As of now, I do rub my tires on the body when I hit bumps and I can not carry a passenger in the front passenger seat or the front end sits on that right front tire. We're getting that figured out now, but its great!

Your van is looking mighty fine...and I love your slots!...Nothing says 70's like slots, et's, ansens, cragars, us mags, American racing, lots of manufacturers and variations of those things.

Thanks! I was going for a modern take on 70s things, best I could with a window van! 70s slots, lowered to the ground. Wait until the interior comes around. I'm an apprentice upholsterer, so I'm hoping to go pretty wild on all of that. Hopefully outfit it with some 70s electronics also.

Looks Great Blaino! I can't wait to see what you do with the interior. Let us know how you fix that tire rubbing issue...I'm sure there are others with the same problem. Your family is doing some nice work on your van. It's encouraging when someone young takes an interest in these old classics! Some of us older guys can relate to your enthusiasm for these vans and some of us refuse to grow up and can't let go of our love for them!!!