Most of these were bought new by Bell Telephone, Sears and Roebuck, and the Army (stateside use for moving food and junk). Mine still smelled of “grass” after 3 years in a junkyard when I bought it for $50. It fired up to drive onto the dolly, as the standard 250-6 was bullet-proof. It still had Grateful Dead ticket stubs under the bed in back. Sammy Johns probably owned it before me. Considering I was a pastor at the time, I thought I should get rid of everything inside. Quickly.

My brother had the ‘61 Ford 8-door van. Extra cool. My dad ran his ‘71 Ford (second generation, still with the engine beside you) head-on into a ‘70 Road Runner. Dad walked away, the other guy got a ride in an ambulance.

Yeah, but you have to wonder why the modern mini-van concept took so long to hatch (lack of FWD?) They were almost there. They had passenger versions of these things.

One of my uncles had an Econoline passenger van. Seating for – I don’t know – 18 people?

One of my brothers had an A100. Drove it for years.

But the fact that he still remembers all of the quirks that his friend’s van had speaks volumes about the charm and awful quality it had! Yup…they don’t make them like they used to!!!

And if I’m looking at the interior photo correctly, is that a CD player in this thing? I’d be afraid to turn up the volume of that stereo – you don’t want to shake the rust loose!

The van was OK for my intended use (occasional cargo/moving runs). Got over 20mpg on the highway with the three-on-the-tree. I did once have to ask a heavy-set friend to climb out so I could back into my driveway – was losing traction due the weight up front, but not (quite) in danger of tipping forward.

I later owned a ‘69 Dodge van with the 318 V8 and auto with the shifter on the dash. Much easier to access the engine there. Drove somewhat better too. Hope to see a similar van on Curbside Classics someday.

Never had a contemporary Econoline. My next-door neighbor has an early-60’s pickup version, ex-US Air Force, quietly rusting in the driveway, awaiting restoration.

Just curious. Never saw one up close.

The Dodge A100 was still the goofiest looking of the Big Three’s vans.

Can I make one request? Please don’t expand your CCs into 70s vans. I think all of us who lived through that will thank you.

The two full-sized Fords I had in the ’70s through ’80s ate right-front tires like crazy unless you took the owners’ manual’s advice and rotated tires every other oil change.

I’m on only my 3rd set of tires in 140K miles and
rarely rotate, so it’s a shame that Ford got rid of something that they finally perfected.

The Ford E 150 used a 2 piece straight axle into the late 90s

Econoline still uses the twin-I-beam arrangement.

Same for the F-Series Super Duty trucks.

A friend of mine bought one in the early 90s. He entered it in a contest by an LA radio station to have it destroyed by Quadzilla or one of his brethren at a monster truck event in the Rose Bowl. I think they paid him a thousand bucks, now the van is pushing up daisies…or maybe roses.

On the other hand, I prefer engines to be well in front of me or behind me. I’ve driven too many full-size vans (of the era with the engine doghouse between driver and front-seat passenger) to believe it would ever be possible to make that setup handle well.

Oh and those Corvans seemed pretty modern and practical for the early 60s. Very much a super-sized VW van. I don’t ever remember seeing one though. Were they sold in Canada (as were Corvair cars, of course)?

It also has no muffler worth noting, and very little power. It’s a slow, rough, noisy ride. But it sure does look nice.

I absolutely and completely LOVE this website, to the point of looking forward to it when I haven’t had a chance to view it for a day or 2. And I will defend it tooth and nail, RF and EN!!

So this time I’m not flaming, just defending our territory. I feel like family when I’m here.
So if anyone has anything else like that to say about this beloved website, just don’t come here at all. Please.

Despite the crude box-on-wheels technology here, I like the style. The flat glass and round lamps make it look more real than the overwrought styling on today’s vans. I prefer this version to the Corvans before and the later SportVans with curved glass.

This is even the right-size box-on-wheels that nobody sells in the US anymore, except for maybe the Mazda5.

I thought it was some kind of cool vehicle – AAH!