Brent's Van (uante)

Took a day off from work today to do some projects on the van. It's getting car show season here in Arizona and I had a couple of things I've been meaning to do.

First of all there was the door panels. I cut panels out a couple of weeks ago and ordered some rare earth magnets to glue on the back and hopefully get them to hold the panels in. They do ok, but unfortunately they just aren't as strong as I'd like.




I might just get some double sided sticky foam to run around the hole edge.



Here's some pictures of the panels painted and installed.











Then it was on to small projects. I hung an old hot-line phone behind the Driver's Seat and Also a super cool old speaker cover on the wall behind the passenger seat. The phone is somewhat accurate as they did show them talking on a phone in the show from the driver's seat, but the speaker looked a lot different in the show. Couldn't find one like it but like this one better anyway.





Lastly just changed the dial center on the phone in the rear of the van from a modern phone number to a Honey West graphic. Small but fun detail.

I love all the detail work that your doing to the van. That Honey West detail really looks cool on the phone and I really like that speaker cover too! Looks similar to speaker covers from that period. Thanks for posting!

Thanks Vanny...The cover is actually out of an old school bus. It's cast aluminum I believe. I found it on eBay and got 2 in case I wanted to use them for real speakers somewhere down the line.

Good idea on ordering an extra, they look sharp and they also match the door knobs in there perfectly!

Those door panels give the doors and nice clean finish too! Looks like your side doors might have had pop-out windows at one time?

No the sides never did...don't know why the holes are like that. I did get a set of pop out windows for the rear though. A project for another time lol

There are some nice van interiors on here but that has to be the cleanest neatest work I have ever saw on an interior. Very impressive work on the detail

Thanks Ghost...I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Certainly a learning experience if there's a next time! lol

Home on furlough for the week...nothing to do. Car shows have all canceled so I drove the van up to the Store for snacks. Was running low on Chips!

Virus doesn't affect how fun it is to drive the van around!

Kinda makes you appreciate all those things that we all take for granted sometimes...Your van is one of my favorite theme vans! You’ve done a Fantastic job at adding all kinds of details that bring you back to a simpler time when vehicles had style and were built to last. Enjoy the heck out of it and be proud of all the effort you put in to make it look so cool !!!

Had our second Corona Cars & Coffee at my girlfriend's Sister's house. Kept our distances and had a good time chatting before driving around the hood in a little convoy. First meeting I drove a Green 65 Bug, but this time took the Van.

People going to hike the mountain were walking by on the street. Everyone was quite friendly. Opened the Van up to show a Mom and her two little girls the inside, they loved it! Everyone stayed their "proper distances" and things were disinfected...can't wait til this pandemic passes.


68 VW Convertible, 75 Firebird 400, 63 Econoline

I've been letting our cat Levi out into the garage lately, he really likes the extra exploring and loves getting into the van. Today he was up front and noticed the hanging ball marker and wanted to check it out...Stepping on the horn, he was reaching for it when the horn sounded scaring not only himself but us! lol



I love the way his claws all came out! He's like, "What the Hell!"

Cool Pic! I guess your van is the cat's meow!!!

I guess it's been a while since I posted...Hope everyone is doing well. Everything is good here. Still driving the Spy Van around to shows and the store and doing little things to it. Here's some of the changes.
1. Motorized the reel to reel tape player so it spins while at a show.
2. Finished the air conditioning facade...doesn't help in the heat what-so-ever, but the van in the show had something similar. lol
3. Bought one of those nut riveting tools and put nuts in the floor for the rear seats. The tool worked great and as some of you might know, the rear part of the floor under the back two inside legs of these seats is over the gas tank. This tool allows for getting rid of all the nuts and the pain of having to be on both sides to take the seats out. And of course "fixes the over the tank" issue nicely.  

Here's a few picture of the nut rivet job I did this morning.

Nice work Brent. I love rivnuts.

Thanks Seth,
Yeah they are sweet and no more crawling under the van to take the back seats out!

Hey Everyone! Been away from the forum a while, but still alive and well. I try to drive my van every weekend and still enjoying it quite a bit. Haven't done much with it lately, except put gas in it, but plan on some Spring/Summer projects this year.

outstanding job on that van !!!!

Yep, agreed, nice work Brent. I think the theme idea is pretty cool.
Bruce

Thanks Guys. That show was one of the reasons I choose a Ford. It was a tough choice as all our different vans are cool. After I got it my now wife said so what are you going to do with it? I was like, "I dunno..." then I said in jest, "Maybe make a Honey West Spy Van Replica" and she responsed, "You should! That'll be great fun at car shows". And it has! Lol

Anyway, I'd like to put Pop Out windows in the back (van in the show had them), I have a set, but need to figure it all out and also do some engine work as well.

Last Saturday my van was chosen as Best Truck at the Spring 2023 Ahwatukee Car Show at the Mountain Park Church. It was a signature win for the van with over 500 vehicles showing! The trophy is little, but it really meant a lot to me at such a large event.  

congrats on your win!!!!

Vantastic!!!
Nice to get acknowledged regardless how small the trophy.

Thanks guys. Yeah it was, and it seemed people really enjoyed the seeing a themed vehicle like this. Looking forward to retiring one day and making the gadgets and screens work.

post 376 reminds me of my 1st phone
a "bag phone'. I got it to do livery (had
such plates) from the vehicle when no 1
was back @ base to dispatch.
Remember them? Still analogue~

Yep old phones...I remember dialing on a rotatory calling about cars I saw in Auto Trader Magazine and in the newspaper when I was 16. lol