by Poochie Sat Oct 01, 2016 1:19 pmHi everyone,
MY name is Cameron Day and I'm a van-aholic from back in the day. I owned a 64 Chevy van in High School (class of '78) and have been into cars my entire life, having dabbled in hot rods, customs, traditional hot rods and now I've come full circle.
I was once again bitten by the van bug a few years back when I was given a 1961 Ford Econoline panel van by the family of its original owners. When my son and I got the van home, we immediately tore out its original 141 six cylinder and started making big plans for doing a lowered custom. We got a set of Cragar SS rims and BFGoodrich tires and rolled them under the wheel wells and lowered the van onto said wheels and tires with no suspension.
We then posted our picture of "Poochie", named after its original owner (hence my user name) and created an online you-know-what-storm of interest from folks who mistakenly thought we had a running and driving fully slammed Econoline. Questions came from everyone.
"How did you do it?"
"I want to do the same thing!"
"Tell us your suspension and steering box secret"
It seems like everyone and their uncles went nut for out slightly roachy seafoam mock up of a fully slammed Econoline with its original seafoam green paint job and tattered hand lettering for the sixties.
My son and I became obsessed with getting the Econoline to ride at, or at least close to the desired ride height of the mock-up.
That's when reality kicked in. After talking to a few decent local fabricators, it became readily apparent that we had a lot of work on our hands. I had no idea.
Originally planned to be my son's first transportation, I ultimately bought him a slightly more scaleable project and became personally obsessed with figuring out how to pull off the plan.
In the process, I began a FB page called Vinvanco as I continued to research the most cost- effective way of achieving the original goal as I continued work on building previously acquired 1929 Ford roadster.
The more I learned about lowering the Econoline, the more I realized just what I was in for.
To make what's becoming a long story short, I vowed to do all the research I needed to, and to get my roadster on the road before I started spending money on "Poochie".
Them somewhere along the way, I realized that it would be cool to start a Facebook page and create a product line of merchandise geared towards the first-generation van lover.
Vinvanco was born. I started publishing a post on our Vinvanco website called "Twelve Questions" that allowed me a reason to interview talented builders and/or van owners and hear the stories of their vans and how they built them or came to own them.
And all along the way I increased my own knowledge base and learned how I could go about properly setting up a van to ride very low.
And then somewhere along the line after realizing just how much work leid ahead of me with "Poochie" I purchased yet another first-gen Econoline van from the "for sale" ads of this very site.
Unlike "Poochie" I rationalized that this particular EConoline "had all the hard work done".
After all, it had a really clean rust-free body a 289/C4/9-inch rear combo was already installed.
Then I started investing my money in merchandise for my Vinvanco product line and finisihing my roadster.
Which brings me to today. A man with two Econolines, a 1929 Ford model A roadster and an upstart company called Vinvanco, all competing for my disposable income.
Welcome to my world. Did I mention I have the world's most understanding wife?
So....
I thinks it's finally time I properly introduced myself to the members of this great page.
Hello. My name is Cameron and I'm a van-aholic. Do you want to buy a t-shirt or talk about how to properly lower a first-generation Econoline?
Ha.
MY name is Cameron Day and I'm a van-aholic from back in the day. I owned a 64 Chevy van in High School (class of '78) and have been into cars my entire life, having dabbled in hot rods, customs, traditional hot rods and now I've come full circle.
I was once again bitten by the van bug a few years back when I was given a 1961 Ford Econoline panel van by the family of its original owners. When my son and I got the van home, we immediately tore out its original 141 six cylinder and started making big plans for doing a lowered custom. We got a set of Cragar SS rims and BFGoodrich tires and rolled them under the wheel wells and lowered the van onto said wheels and tires with no suspension.
We then posted our picture of "Poochie", named after its original owner (hence my user name) and created an online you-know-what-storm of interest from folks who mistakenly thought we had a running and driving fully slammed Econoline. Questions came from everyone.
"How did you do it?"
"I want to do the same thing!"
"Tell us your suspension and steering box secret"
It seems like everyone and their uncles went nut for out slightly roachy seafoam mock up of a fully slammed Econoline with its original seafoam green paint job and tattered hand lettering for the sixties.
My son and I became obsessed with getting the Econoline to ride at, or at least close to the desired ride height of the mock-up.
That's when reality kicked in. After talking to a few decent local fabricators, it became readily apparent that we had a lot of work on our hands. I had no idea.
Originally planned to be my son's first transportation, I ultimately bought him a slightly more scaleable project and became personally obsessed with figuring out how to pull off the plan.
In the process, I began a FB page called Vinvanco as I continued to research the most cost- effective way of achieving the original goal as I continued work on building previously acquired 1929 Ford roadster.
The more I learned about lowering the Econoline, the more I realized just what I was in for.
To make what's becoming a long story short, I vowed to do all the research I needed to, and to get my roadster on the road before I started spending money on "Poochie".
Them somewhere along the way, I realized that it would be cool to start a Facebook page and create a product line of merchandise geared towards the first-generation van lover.
Vinvanco was born. I started publishing a post on our Vinvanco website called "Twelve Questions" that allowed me a reason to interview talented builders and/or van owners and hear the stories of their vans and how they built them or came to own them.
And all along the way I increased my own knowledge base and learned how I could go about properly setting up a van to ride very low.
And then somewhere along the line after realizing just how much work leid ahead of me with "Poochie" I purchased yet another first-gen Econoline van from the "for sale" ads of this very site.
Unlike "Poochie" I rationalized that this particular EConoline "had all the hard work done".
After all, it had a really clean rust-free body a 289/C4/9-inch rear combo was already installed.
Then I started investing my money in merchandise for my Vinvanco product line and finisihing my roadster.
Which brings me to today. A man with two Econolines, a 1929 Ford model A roadster and an upstart company called Vinvanco, all competing for my disposable income.
Welcome to my world. Did I mention I have the world's most understanding wife?
So....
I thinks it's finally time I properly introduced myself to the members of this great page.
Hello. My name is Cameron and I'm a van-aholic. Do you want to buy a t-shirt or talk about how to properly lower a first-generation Econoline?
Ha.
