Met a guy from the GM design team that worked on the 64 Van

Man, that is someone you should try to contact again and record his stories!
The people involved with our old stuff are a wealth of info, and the stuff they know is being lost to time. Best to document as much as we can while it's still available.

As far as the hinges, I have a feeling it wasn't a lack of ability as much as 1. cost and 2. complexity.
1.
All the manufacturers had hidden the hinges on cars by the 50s. They didn't open a full 180, but it can be done. Also, mass produced commercial vehicles have to be cheap and simple to design, tool and produce to compete with others. This was probably the main factor.
To provide an example, here is a link to a 1964 side loader hearse. Same era, from a coachbuilder who was able to design, tool and make a side door swing back almost 180 with pocket hinges and a HUGE amount of weight.
http://www.autabuy.com/Photos/492209_246618312_Original.jpg
2.
Complexity isn't just the designer sitting for 2 weeks to design the hinge. It's also the tooling and the guys at the factory who have to slap it together. I'd imagine that our simple exterior hinges would take a fraction of time to install and adjust compared to the hearse hinges shown.

GM sure as rain knew how to do it- all 1961-1965 Corvair vans and trucks had hidden hinges on the front doors. Side and rear door hinges were exposed, but front door hinges were internal.

This is another situation where cost overwhelms design. The Corvair vans were way ahead of their time, overengineered, and costly to the giant auto maker. The '64 Chevy/GMC vans were built on a Chevy II platform with known parts and were more rudimentary in order to cut costs.

I would love to chat with that gentleman as well! In the Corvair cirles we have much of the history from a supervisor at the plants.

Talked to a old GM engineer once and asked about the two vans. On there side door they have better mech to hold the door open where we just have straps. He said corvair was design by car people and the G van was designed by truck people. We have to remember we are doing things that GM never thought of for these bread boxes. Made for the most part as work trucks and to keep up with Fords Econoline

Cool story and info. I love that stuff !

G-Man wrote:He said corvair was design by car people and the G van was designed by truck people. We have to remember we are doing things that GM never thought of for these bread boxes. Made for the most part as work trucks and to keep up with Fords Econoline

This makes a ton of sense. The vans do have a lot of car qualities to them. They ride like Cadillacs. From the start, the Greenbriers were called "Sportwagons."

Mine is also registered as a "station wagon." Are the other '60s window vans also registered as such?

My 69 Gmc & Chevrolet vans are registered as a van here in Georgia.

Every state is different there in MI my 2005 work van is reg as a station Wagon

Good Ol Texas =I bought an pld school Bus & removed the seats . registered as a truck too!! was much cheaper registering that way over an school bus or an RV!! Made it into an RV anyways!! Good old Texas -saved me a bundle on lisence fees!!=

I think it goes by GVW because when I lived in New Jersey my 68 was a station wagon and my 78 was a van but who knows the DMV has their own rules that seem to change all the time