#222634
V8 Staff
Keymaster

Extruded aluminum running boards ran between the front and rear 15” American Racing JET aluminum 40-spoke turbine wheels shod with General Steel Radial outlined white letter tires.   Oversized side mirrors were mounted to the doors, while a roof rack surrounded the Wintenna boomerang-shaped TV antenna.   A ladder was mounted to the rear passenger door in case you wanted to put luggage on the roof, or just needed to mess with the antenna.  The spare tire was mounted on the driver rear door housed in a steel shell.    The obligatory CB antenna mast pointed skyward above the cockpit.

This is a screen-grab VHS video of the van from 1990, after it had been well worn-in…

 

Inside, the van presented an alternate reality of comfort and style!   The three captains chairs and the couch were upholstered in a mesmerizing pattern of brown and nearly-white geometric craziness.  Carpet was sculpted shag, with double-thick padding underneath.   A rear-mounted A/C unit pushed cool air up through overhead fiberglass ductwork that ran back-to-front, with ball vents and aircraft inspired reading lights along the way.

A run of carpet was affixed to the overhead duct, with a disco-fabulous orange accent light mounted midship.   The rest of the ceiling was upholstered in padded, buttoned brown naugahyde.  Windows were dressed with brown velour curtains, and the walls were finished in a tan / brown / almond pattern contact paper of sorts.

A wooden overhead console hung above the windshield, with the Tram D62 40 channel CB over the driver, its speaker above the rearview mirror, and a lighted 3 switch panel over the passenger seat.

Entertainment came from a “Fuzz Fighting” Craig R3 “Road Rated Receiver” and cassette deck.  I think it was a model Craig T692 with 12 watts per channel and a pre-amp out.  Dolby noise reduction, too.  Four 6” speakers with “Whizzer cones” provided the noise, one in each front door, and a pair mounted all the way in the back of the van in the walls by the couch.  Whizzer cones are small, supplemental speaker cones affixed to the front of a speaker, and they are supposed to help with off-axis sound dispersion.   This was actually good in the van, as the door speakers were mounted pretty low.

This Canadian band in the commercial was really not that far off of what I was listening to on ours!

Another wooden cabinet was installed behind the driver seat, with a high storage cabinet, a small sink and counter, and fridge-like cooler below.   Behind the cooler was a water supply tank for the pump faucet.   Hidden below it all was a Palomar TX-75 linear CB signal amplifier.

 

This was an illegal signal booster kicking up the juice from 3 watts to 75.   CBs are only good for 6-7 miles if everything is tuned properly, less range than that in the city.    The linear probably added another 10-15 miles, so not a huge thing, but not cool with the FCC.  4 watts is the legal max for Citizens Band radios.    We never really used the CB or the amp, probably because my Dad spent all day squawking on a police radio and didn’t want to deal with any more of that nonsense when he was commanding his personal craft.

Here’s a video of a guy firing up a Palomar and measuring the output… turns out these cranked out more than 75 watts!

These vans have the engine mounted basically between the two front seats, concealed under a removable cover commonly known as the “doghouse”.   The doghouse in this one was adorned with the same padded brown buttoned naugahyde found on the door panels.   On top was a very 1970s looking wooden 2-hole cup holder, featuring orange lucite columns for support.  It was rad.    Just above was a green LED clock mounted in a hole cut in the dash.  The numbers looked just like a clock radio or alarm clock, but it was pretty high tech for 1979.

There was nothing really special under the hood, just your basic 360 / 2 barrel, but it did have a pretty cool air horn system.   The horn button fired a compressor that blew three high-pitched trumpet horns that certainly got attention.    Not like the train horn craze of today, but more like the horns popular on sports cars of the time.

For the rear passengers, there was a wooden bar on the passenger side, complete with a hanging wine glass rack, mirrored back, lower wooden cabinet, two orange “mood lights” overhead, and a 13” black and white TV!

 

Kevin Oeste