CC Van Sunday Finale: Sleazy Old Camper Vans

Paul Niedermeyer
by Paul Niedermeyer

I’ll wrap up Van Sunday with this collection of vans that fit the stereotype of the kind of vehicle you warn children about. Why? because I have a compulsion (no, not that kind) to document all the old vehicles in Eugene, no matter what they are. Maybe these are of limited interest today, but who knows; fifty or a hundred years from now they’ll be a time capsule. Right! Actually, these snub-nose Econolines are getting pretty rare. More unhealthy vans:

This Chevy looks like a short-wheelbase model that was once in the employ of the phone company, given the faded paint scheme.

And finally, the other extreme of the Big Three’s van size offering, the Dodge Maxi Van. Wasn’t that van-tastic?

Paul Niedermeyer
Paul Niedermeyer

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  • Krazykarguy Krazykarguy on Jan 11, 2010

    Why are these vans always a rotten shade of seafoam green, harvest gold, or beige???

  • Celebrity208 Celebrity208 on Jan 11, 2010

    I use a 1988 G30 Sport van (bought from the DC METRO for $1250 in 2000) to tow my boat. It looks sad, but runs great. When there is a problem it's always easy to fix or cheap to have fixed. With X78,000 mi (X being 0, 1, 2, 3, etc.) I've definitely gotten my money's worth. I'm actually in the market for a replacement (wife is getting embarrassed with it in the driveway) and I'm looking at regular wheelbase (135") '96-'02 GM 3500 passenger vans. You can't beat the towing capacity, storage/carrying capacity, and value of these beasts.

  • FreedMike Comparison: RAV4 versus CR-V. Who wins? Mazda CX-5 Turbo.(Sorry, the Toyota and Honda are both deadly dull to drive.)
  • Ajla 1. RAV4 Hybrid2. CRV Hybrid 3. RAV4 2.54. RAV4 Prime5. CRV 1.5T
  • MaintenanceCosts If only it had a hatch. The Model S is so much more practical, has similar performance in non-Plaid form, and is $20k more - and the $20k premium seems almost worth it just for the hatch.
  • Lorenzo I'm not surprised. They needed to drop the "four-door coupe", or as I call it, the Dove soap bar shape, and put a formal flat roof over the rear seats, to call it a sedan. The Legacy hasn't had decent back seat headroom since the 1990s, except for the wagons. Nobody wants to drive with granny in the front passenger seat!
  • Analoggrotto GM is probably reinventing it as their next electric.
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