Van Diesel

Vans are glamorous, a fantasy world of art and interior design, visually ranging from elegance to sheer kitsch. Crafted interiors reveal the taste and aspirations of people who take pride in doing their own thing. -- From Mark Gabor's foreword to Vans and the Truckin' Life

When I was in Maryland last week, I came across a copy of Vans and the Truckin' Life, an ultra 1970s lifestyle guide that caught my eye because of the flap on the front cover that mimics a van's back door: flip it open and reveal the scantily-clad woman lying in repose beneath a mirrored ceiling with her reflection cast in an amber glow above the disco ball.

Houseboats, of course, have a following today, but the idea that vans ever enjoyed trendy, mass popularity caught me completely by surprise.

"'King of Diamonds.' One of the vans on display at the Chevrolet exhibit during the Fourth Annual National Truck-in, Bowling Green, 1976. Van conversion by Gerring (Elkhart, Indiana). Outstanding design and color show the creative possibilities of exterior paint jobs."

"An interior view of 'Lost in a Dream'... Using diamond-quilted crushed velvet throughout, the owner/designer did every bit of work himself. Rear of van has a rotating circular 5-foot-diameter bed, mirrored ceiling, and a homemade light-reflecting ball."

What kind of van would I do my cruising in? Why, a "Miss Van" van, of course!

All images scanned from Vans and the Truckin' Life, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, 1977. Text by Terry Cook, Photographs by Jim Williams. Edited and with a foreword by Mark Gabor.

Comments

[Marco]

You were born to late to be into vans. I wasn't born too early. I just never got the appeal. Betwixt and between whatever. Do like the fabulosity factor of the pix though.

[Max]

Wow, you have no memory of the van era? I really am getting old.

Big boxy American vans, often with a dome window on the side near the back, and crazy airbrushed fantasy/sci-fi/cheesecake artwork, were all over south Florida in the late '70s.

Eventually these died out, and were replaced with minivans, which were blandly family-oriented and had none of the kitsch factor. Kind of like tacky glittery platform disco shoes vs. sensible vanilla Reeboks. Of course the minivans got way better gas mileage, and didn't have that skeezy child molester vibe.

[Editor]

Tragically my first memories of vans are probably a decade after the "Truck-in' Era," e.g. rusted out and none too chic.

[veronica]

es lo maximo...