How Did You Wind Up With Your Van?

Anyone got a cool story about how they wound up with their van? A barn find? Won it in a poker game?

Mine was listed on Craigslist as a 1963 Chevy Van. At first, I didn't click on the ad, thinking it was a 63 Corvair Van; not what I was looking for.
Then, after a couple of weeks, revisited the ad just to refresh my memory of what a Corvair looked like and found the 1964 Chevy Van; almost like my first 64 I had 35 years ago! Apparently a registration error by Washington DMV.

63

First saw may van when I was 15 and finally got the chance to buy the "same" van over 20 years later. Well worth the wait...glad it was stored in a pole barn.

That's cool mo1040. Was it the actual same van, or another one of the same details?

Foung my van on Craigs List july3 2010.Was under cover- engine & all inside removed & stored inside the van. Was in primar-no rust areas & 98% straight. Van was an origional "Travel Equipment Camper conversion" complete with stove & sink & rear seat. Origional factory 283 engine , Powerglide trans & 3.73-1 Posi rear end. Made an offer as seller I fely wanted too much for it & seller called later same afternoon & said come get it.

First spotted my van in 1985,Company I went to work for had the 66 as a parts runner since 1967 it was semi retired by the time I got here.I tried to buy it from day one then in 2001 the trans( auto) went bad and they still wouldn't sell so it sat for 5 years in our storage lot ,then I got to buy it in 2006 ! so I waited 21 years for it. Bill

standing inside the house at an estate sale about 4 blocks from home when my son runs in and says there's an econoline pickup in the back yard. I said no if there was, I would know about it. sure enough it had been sitting where it could not be seen from the street for over 15 years.

it had old carpet and wood stacked in the bed when it was parked... pretty much turned to mulch including the floor of the bed. the junk man had already offered $325 for it for scrap. I knew that was too much so I got the owner's number and went home.

I was contacted by the owner a few days later asking if I was interested in it. I replied that I was but the most I would pay is $100 but that I would restore the truck and bring it back by when I was done

got a call the next day to come pick it up, the rest is history

I traded a 1973 John Deere 110 for my 68 no door, But I had to take the riding lawn mower to Oshkosh WI from the middle of MI. Ended up being a even trade.
Dennis AKA Eagle1
Before

After

drc wrote:That's cool mo1040. Was it the actual same van, or another one of the same details?

Yea it was the very same van... When the owners father passed away they sold the house and he had no place to store it... sat in a field for a few years, ran into him at a garage sale and asked if he still had the van, he didn't want it to sit out there and rot and him not having a place to work on it decided it was time to give it up and sell it to me... paid $500.

I think it's pretty damn cool that this is the very van I fell in love with when I was a kid.

FRIEND OF MINE IS A TRUCK DRIVER AND CALLED ME ONE DAY SAID THERE WAS A 64 FORD UP IN TIPTON CA. AND HE ONLY WANTS 100 BUCKS FOR IT. I ASKED HOW BAD WAS IT , HE SAID HAD SOME RUST HOLES IN THE FLOOR BUT NOT TO BAD SO I drove 400 miles round trip to go get it and it was swiss cheese, I got it running cleaned it up and made some money on it to buy my next one. I searched the high desert cruising around and found a 63 I think ford and got it 4 months later after having to negotiate a price and got it for what i wanted. I also was at a fast food the other day and seen a nice primer orange ford van truck drive buy, so I went to go see where it went and found a 62 ford truck 3 window with no motor for sale clean body and negotiated a price on that, so now I have that also.
I would like to find a heavy duty ford cargo van 65 or up clean body to maybe trade for if anyone in so cal is interested. Don't mind the mechanical stuff but not wanting to do a lot of body work. Both my vehicles are almost rust free.

I got my first van the summer after I graduated from High School in 1971. It was a '67 Chevy 90 inch wheelbase, I put aluminum wheels on it, pin-stripes, and fixed up the interior with paneling, a couch and a cabinet. I drove it to college and put a lot of miles on that van before I sold it in 1979. After I got a little older and started looking for one to re-build, I bought a moth-eaten '69 with no engine I found in Missouri, it had a few good parts. In 2007, I heard about a '67 for sale in El Dorado, Arkansas. It had a 250 six, standard tranny, a 90" wheelbase and a decent body. When I went to look at it, I bought it and drove it home. Turns out it had been a communications van for a small rural fire department somewhere in New York, it only had about 37,000+ actual miles on it, and still had the original owners manual and registration card in the glove box. I've bought a lot of parts for it off e-Bay, and I'm finally starting to work on it, it is indoors now, just don't have much room to work around it and my time is limited.

Never really been a van guy. To my generation vans were for moms and creepy folk. That was until I bought a 62 vw bus and It got me hooked on old cool vans that I could carry around my buds in and customize to my liking.

Didn't know anything about 60s fords, chevy or dodge vans until I almost bought a 61 econoline truck. Decided not to buy the truck and searched for a van. I found my 64 ford in San francisco, Shipped to Texas and thats all she wrote.

always wanted an early chevy, but was always on the back burner. was laid up after surgery and had lots of time on computor. spotted my van on ebay and saved the ad with no intentions of buying it, just window shopping/dreaming. i have had many classics and hot rods, usually more than one and plenty of parts. was getting ready to buy my third jag, a 420 h.p. xjr, and at the last minute i decided to go in a different direction. older, simpler and cooler. i called the 3 month old ad and bought the van. only regret is waiting so long to get one.

my dad traded for my 63 econoline pickup. it came from atlanta ga i ask him how much he wanted for it. he told me if i fixed it up he would give it to me so i put a motor in it,put new brakes front to rear,and patched the floor. all in about six mounths. then my dad had a heart attack and past away.and i could not work it. but after three years my son and i went to a car show and saw lectricman's van.so we started on it again so far we fixed the tailgate put a falcon gas tank in it put a fual door in the bed floor and power windows and have all body work done and in primer.i hope we will have it finished by spring.

Mine was on ebay and didn't make the rev. so I called to find out what the fire dept. in IN was looking to get for it. They wanted 4000 for it, when down the next weekend to check it out. Left a deposit went back the next weekend to pick it up. Only 36,000 mile when I got it

Always loved VW's as a kid. We needed a van for our business and were starting to look for a modern cargo van when I saw an A100 window van drive by with a hand painted business number on the side. Love at first site and instant need and obsession. Very few things in my life have ever happened this way or with this much obsession.

Called the guy, asked him about the van. He told me to look out West. Got on Google. Found this site, realized a First Gen Chevy was my true calling, and hunted until finding one nearly 9 months later. Van is now less for my busineess needs and more for my personal obsession with owning one.

I have never really been into vans or trucks, more of a 60's muscle car guy. For most of my adult life I have been working in the computer field writing software and fixing hardware until about 5 years ago when I got hit with a left brain stroke that changed my career as it affected my memory.

Start getting back into my passion of art... it was how I retrained my dexterity and I found it calming... but I started to have people around me offer money for the pieces I was doing.

I figured at 40 it was time for a career change and started a airbrushing business painting motorcycles mostly. I wanted a cool vehicle that I could pick up customers bikes with or for running parts around so started looking at vans... old cargo vans to start off with.

One day coming back from a paint supply run I was doing highways speeds past a used car lot and spotted the G10 I now own. I was not able to get across the traffic so I rushed home to phone, but they had said the owner had just taken it back of the lot.

Shortly there after I was hit with cancer and ended up spending the next 6 months in hospitals and surgeries and then recovery... once giving the all clear by my doctor I starting looking for another old van... one that I could turn into something like the one I saw.

One day I saw a small ad... "Old Chevy Van for sale"...

I called the guy and he said it was one of the most original pieces of "art" he had ever seen... When I pulled up to his house and saw it sitting in the drive way it was calling my name. Here was the van I saw the year before... almost looked like it was smiling at me.

My wife turned to me and said.. "We are leaving with another van I see"... the rest is history.

Great Story!!!

My wife and I spotted mine at a used car lot in Ellsworth Maine . We had some time to kill since it was raining and were just driving by. When we stoped to look at it my wife said I should buy it because it was nicer than the peice of s**t we were driving, my 65 Econoline pickup.

I got mine from an old neighbor across the street from me who bought it brand new in 62. He passed away and his daughter couldn't stand the sight of it so she gave it to me for free haha score!

I needed a shed so the wife and I took a ride to get some ideas..While driving around I spotted a 65 chevy no-door we commented how cool it was etc..days went by and I could not get it out of my mind..I started looking at craigslist and called about one in CT..It was already sold but I got to talk to Leadfoot who turned me on to this site...A few weeks later that same no-door was for sale ond CL and I made the deal..It is still a shed for now and a future project..

The problem was that no one told me earlies can be contagious within days I was looking everywhere for another one...

Found the 64 Econoline on Ebay (via V.V.classified section, Thanks G-Man) It was 25 miles away with 34,000 original miles
stored in garage since 1970.. No rust just a dent in nose from accident..Put 13,000 on it last year and now I am getting it ready for some fresh paint..

Everyone here keep saying your van finds you, I am now a true believer...But I still keep my eyes out for the ones hiding

Not really exciting or anything, but dad had the van sitting in the driveway collecting sap and was going to sell it, so i offered up some cash and he said yea sure take it away fro a grand....well that was many years ago and he still hasnt seen a dime, and never will, LOL, he has a 33 Chevy to keep him busy nowadays!!!
So short of it was mine was a driveway family find!!!!Now it just need to get her rolling along daily again!!!

First saw mine walking to the mall with a friend when I was 15. Told him that I wold own that van some day. Then when I was 18 I traded a 1978 Z28 Camaro for it. On top of it the guy gave me money too! Sat from '98 until 2009 before I did anything with it, but now fairly road worthy. toad

My 66 dodge was sitting in a parking lot of a shopping center in Tulsa where I was doing some work for one of the tenants, years ago. I asked about it and was told it'd been there a long time and to ask the center manager. I tracked down the management office and finally found someone to ask. I was told it'd been abandoned there by a former tenant and they'd appreciate it if I'd haul it away, and by the way, the signed title is in the glove box. Needless to say, I returned the next day with my trailer and hauled it back to Stillwater.

mike

my first early was a 65 chevy panel, i was taking another car to get the inspection sticker when i saw it, 300 bills less and i was a happy vanner. it got stolen. then i found my econoline one day when i went to a flea market i barely could see the rear doors of it when the next day i was dealing with the owner. cool guy was cleaning his yard and told me if i helped him haul all the garbage and recyclables i could take the van, its now sitting in my back yard.