by BajaCharlie Sat Feb 11, 2012 1:30 am
So the dreaded "VANNER" as opposed to "VAN OWNER" debate again!OH NO!I notice noone touched that part of his question so heres my take(some people will disagree).A van owner is a person who 1 has a van but only uses it for work.2Has a van that they are restoring to original spec or even hotrodding but will never sleep in it or take it to a vanrun to hang with vanners for fun as opposed to a show to get trophies.Essentially u could switch their van for just about any hotrod and they would prolly be fine as long as it was their brand..ie.Chevy guys would trade for a 55 Bel Air in a heartbeat..ha heartbeat..and that too would sit in the garage except on Sunday mornigs for shows/parades as long as its not raining.Typically these vans would never see a heart shaped porthole or shag carpet.Now that kinda sounds deragatory but what you will find if you get out to a VAN event said person will be welcomed with open arms offered food & drink and receive many compliments on their van.Even if its your work van and you took the time to put some wheels on it and would hassle cleanin it out to camp in.Pretty much only on the internet by posers will you get greif for bein a van owner the people who would do that are mostly all talk and you rarely find them out at van events.On the other hand a "VANNER" is a person whos in it for the love of vans and the community that entails,which is very diffrent than the regular "hotrod" community that will often shun your van even if your a hotrodder who owns a van.A perfect example of this is "the hamb" on there you post something even slightly unrelated and they call you names and tell ya to f off.If ya do that here they actually still help you out and then give you 3 websites that are even more helpful.Just FYI most van sites seem to be made up of equalish parts van owners and vanners(cept maybe vannin.com).A"VANNER" will also be surprisingly more loyal to vans than any certain brand name.You can spot a vanner because they'll be googly eyed over any awsome van even if its not their brand of van.Dont get me wrong though you will get ribbed by someone no matter what kinda van you drive but that same guy will offer you a beer in the same sentence as opposed to turn their nose up and not even be willing to check out your van if its not a Chevorge.VANNERS are the guys who own more than 1 van and the are not using the second one to chop up for the first one and often times they own several and often even the same vanner will own a Chevy,Ford and a Dodge as long as its a VAN.Vanners are the ones who you'll see drivin it down a dirt road to get to a run eating in it and cuttin up straight original vans to build radicals but almost never takin um apart to part out or scrap,it'll end up back on the road at some point.The vanner crowd is also the ones who welcome you in even when your vans not nice they are the ones who see your vision in that crappy primer bucket and wanna help,not tell ya to come back when its shiney.Thats actually a common misunderstanding by regular people that they need a nice van to hang out when actually vanners are the best source for helpin you get your van goin or even welcoming a person with no van and helping them find the right thing for them.Often times being called a van owner..which we arent to politically correct about..is more of sign that we wish that person would get more involved and disappointment that we dont get to enjoy their van out at stuff,than it is a real hack at a person.I think one of the simplest ways to put it is summed up by one of the old clubs names"W.H.A.A.T." which stands fo "WE'RE HERE AT ALL TIMES".Vanners are the guys and GALS who eat,sleep,bone in and breathe VANS!!There the people who know that VAN is a verb not a noun.I could go on even more about how cool bein a vanner is and how cool these people are but you will only ever really grasp it when you get out there experience the comrodarie(I dont know how to spell that)HELL you dont even need to bring your van(although u will get ribbed if ya dont when we know u coulda)JUST GET OUT THERE AND VAN!!
