"Creeper" Vans? WTF?!

Was watching "Fast and Loud" yesterday and caught a teaser clip of their new episode, featuring their new project chevy van......The shop guys were calling it a "classic creeper van", which sounded kind of insulting in the way they were saying it, and defining it as a van without windows......
Funny how times have changed.....In the seventies, everybody I knew in the van scene preferred "no windows" behind the driver and passenger doors and if the rear doors had windows, they were covered to keep the interior private.....Yes, Everybody knew what those private spaces were for and were generally cool with it.....
So I googled "Creeper Van" and am shocked by what 40 years has done to the mystique of vans without windows.....It seems owning one of these makes us burglars, gangsters, pedophiles and/or rapists!.....And if furnished for camping? Confirmed!
I wasnt sure what I wanted to do for an interior theme, but now am considering a "bondage" theme and naming the van "Don's Dungeon" and getting a personalized plate "Creeper"
Thoughts?

Go with it!! Be sure on the side put a sign that says = " Can you help me find my Puppy -Little Girl??"

I get the same reactions with my Van's especially with the older crowds..I notice lately every other syfy movie the "Bad Guy" is driving a Van.!!!.. Between the Scooby remarks and funny looks I am not going to let it bother me any-more..!!!..I had a sticker on my 3rd gen for years saying "Don't Laugh Your Daughter May Be In Here" you know most of negative people use to drive vans back in the 70's now there running there mouth as they are driving a Scion...(Hipocrat's) ..PS that 1976 Blue Chevy 4x4 van was "Bad A$$"..!!!

It kind of defeats the idea of promoting us/vans as something fun and creative to be involved in to the non van types. But that as it may, we each make the van what we want it to be for ourselves. I have had an urge to do up an Alice Cooper "Quiet Room" type of thing. So I guess I'm a fence sitter on the good or bad of it. However I do find some of the descriptions floating around pretty offensive. My 2 Cents.

My wife wouldn't let me hand out candy from our van parked in front of the house for Halloween. I thought it would have been hilarious, especially with "Free Candy" written with duct tape on the side

Funny stuff, you guys!

But seriously, I've often said the same thing: Back in the 70s a panel van was a great thing. And now they call them abduction vans. I'm sure they have been used for that here and there but I blame TV and movies. I am always saying, "There they go again--giving vans a bad name!!"

We should start a thread in the Early's On the Small Screen section where we list every time we see a van is used by bad guys on TV...

My brother made the sticker I think its funny and like it being on my van. Although I will admit that it gets both bad and good responses. My wife is a photographer and was going to use it as a prop and a young lady informed us that its not a hippy van its a rapist van, what a &()*)^%. We certainly are the US of the offended. Have fun with your van and do it the way you want. Theres still a lot of people that "get it" and enjoy seeing them on the road. (Just one creeper to another lol)

Logo needs to read (Don't laugh, you may have be convinced in this van! )

Joe Van wrote:I get the same reactions with my Van's especially with the older crowds..I notice lately every other syfy movie the "Bad Guy" is driving a Van.!!!.. Between the Scooby remarks and funny looks I am not going to let it bother me any-more..!!!..I had a sticker on my 3rd gen for years saying "Don't Laugh Your Daughter May Be In Here" you know most of negative people use to drive vans back in the 70's now there running there mouth as they are driving a Scion...(Hipocrat's) ..PS that 1976 Blue Chevy 4x4 van was "Bad A$$"..!!!

I have one of those Don't Laugh stickers, unpeeled, a guy at a swap meet had a bunch of them, but I only put on the dash, I wouldn't dare put it on the rear bumper these days!

Id venture to say ??=all the negative comments on our vans come from people that have ="NEVER OWNED ONE"! & i mean = any type van =old or new!! I believe today all the negative comments come from actually how the van looks & what the driver looks like -at least here in my 3 state area!! Usually a trashy van = trashy people!! Im not talking one in primer coat either! Here we get those individuals that are trying to get "LOST" from main stream society. Sadly =that reflects on us builders & collectors here. When someone with some type negative opinion - sees a family or man / woman climb out of a van with the kid or kids- clean cut & dresses cleanly - I know that opinion changes immediately!

may not be the mayflower but your daughter came across in it
this was on a club members early for a long time

"Creepers" might be a good name for a van club....

Remember the DC Sniper. Right away the authorities were saying it was a white van. In reality it was a Chevy Impala

I'm old enough now that I don't care what people think, in fact, I like to piss them off from time to time.

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA= DAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See my id pix here ??!! Wife tellsme i embarass her !
True story= was in the grocery store -i was using one of those electric carts. People in isle behind me = was a woman parked in the middle isle bent over (rather Robust in the BUTT area!!) ans people waiting behind her to get buy!! Man just beyond her was looking really frustrated waiting for her to move so I said loudly!!- GO AHEAD & HIT IT!! That Basket is INSURED!! Man Broke out laughing & the woman gave us a really bad look!! So= Then I said maybe she will think of others trying to do their shopping =next time!!

There's a story about my 76 Chevy cargo van. It originated from New Mexico, was owned by a woman that practiced witchcraft (true story). She must have lived in the van because it had curtains, clothes, a blackbag full of witch paraphernalia, and covered in weird stickers all over in the inside. There was cat food under the front seats so she must have had a cat also. When i was cleaning the van out i found her dried up chicken foot. LOL!!! In the later 2000's she moved to Wisconsin and apparently had a boyfriend which she murdered. She is currently in prison some were in Wisconsin. Her van sat at the Prairie Du Chien police parking lot for months until it was auctioned off. A local auto repair shop that had a mechanics lein on it ended up with it. He dumped it off on a friend that owns a sign shop and he put it out in the front of his sign shop for sale for $500. I saw it sitting there and went back the next day and put $100 down and told the guy that i would have the rest of the money in two weeks. I payed him off and drove the van home and gave it a good old fashion exorcism. LOL!!!

So my 1976 Chevy G20 could be considered a legitimate "Creeper Van"

When I was growing up in Up State N.Y. (Rochester) you were what you drive if you had a camaro or a custom van you were "Cool" .. If you drove a pinto or gremlin you were a nerd. .!!!...What turned me on about vanning it its a way to express your self you would build your van to your taste or liking unlike the cars now a days about the only choice you have is what colour do you want...I guess some people just don't get it..!!!..That's why I "Live" by the vanners creed....I DON'T TRY TO EXPLAIN WHY I AM A VANNER FOR THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND NO EXPLANATION IS NECESSARY FOR THOSE WHO DON'T NO EXPLANATION IS POSSIBLE..!!!.. ..

GMman wrote:http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Creeper+Van

Thats the ignorance of the way people think now a days and the author is a "A$$ Hole" and I am going to go have a beer..!!!... .

I agree Joe!!! I left a sticker on the back of my 76 Blue Van that i VERY MUCH AGREE WITH!!!

I agree with you 100% GMman and Thanks for posting that link..!!!.. ..I would like to tell these people that vans have many uses... We use them for camping in or taking trips or  carrying friends and family to outings and some people deliver packages and cargo some carry business supply's we have ,,satellite vans ,,news vans ,,school bus vans,, taxi cab vans,,ambulance vans',,police vans,,so where do they come up with that "Creeper Van" Bull $hit..!!!..That just rubs me wrong I have dedicated over 33 years into my Van's.. Vanning is my way of life and I live it everyday..

That awkward moment when you get in the van and there's no candy ...

When I brought my van home, around six years ago, my daughter was sixteen. It was late night when I got home from picking it up, so my wife and daughter were already in for the night and didn't come out to greet me.

The next morning I was out unloading it from the trailer when they came out to look at my 'new project'. The first words my daughter said were, "Oh my God Dad, that's a creeper van!"

Hell, I had never heard the term before. When I was growing up I always thought they were cool.

She has never ridden in it...

Haha=my daughter is the same - refers to them as = "pedo vans" I keep telling her im going to buy one for her 1st car for school!!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Creeper

Okay now I'm pissed!
It seems the word "Creeper" is a term used predominantly by young women to describe anybody they feel is stalking or planning unwanted advances on them.... or somebody that awkwardly makes an unwanted advance. Dirty Old Men and Nerdy Smart Guys, and socially challenged guys fit this profile perfectly!
It's a form of snobbery by "too hot for you" beotches who (i guess) feel like it's okay to label people as pervs simply for wanting to interact......I hope their selectivity leaves them lonely!
As somebody that could easily be labeled a "Dirty Old Man", I'm toying with the Idea of starting a men's club for guys that wear the label "Creeper" as a badge of honor...... Since I'm into Hot Rods, Harleys, and Vans, and any of these pastimes could be serviced by a club called "Creepers" (and since there are almost no custom vans around here) I'm not sure how to cultivate a membership and a following.....I'm thinking there would need to be some social standards so that a "Creepers" logo would demand some respect from folks "in the know"..... Thoughts?