Junkyard Find: 1977 Ford Econoline 150 Campaign Van
Published: January 22nd, 2018
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During the 2016 American presidential election, those voters who loathed both Trump and Clinton had the option of voting for one of a couple of long-shot third-party candidates, or perhaps the far more rational fourth-party candidate. Those rebellious souls who opted for the fourteenth-party candidate in 2016 went for that Econoline-driving Californian: Jussy G.G. Prussly.Here is Jussy’s once-glorious van, now retired in a Central Valley self-service wrecking yard.
Sadly, Mx. Prussly (we cannot determine the gender, if any, deployed by this reclusive politician) lacked the corporate backing needed to reach an audience broader than, say, a few square blocks of West Sacramento, and this van had to serve as the Prusssly campaign’s media blitz.
The www.jussyforpresident2020.com URL on the van doesn’t exist, and the Wayback Machine indicates that it never did exist. There’s a “Jussy for President” reference on a Czech snowboarding blog, which seems about right, and the Urban Dictionary entry for “Jussy” doesn’t do much to clear up the Jussy G.G. Prussly mystery.
Since we don’t know much about the Prussly ’16 or ’20 campaigns, let’s talk about this Econoline itself, which ended its life as the chariot of a highly quixotic presidential hopeful somewhere between the Coast Range and the Sierras. It’s an early third-generation E-150 half-ton cargo van, and it worked hard during its 40 years on the road.
With a five-digit odometer, we can’t tell the difference between 14,062 miles and 714,062 miles. The engine is gone, but the VIN indicates that this Econoline was built in March, 1977, with a 351 Windsor V8, at the Lorain Assembly Plant in Ohio.
The interior is quite grotacious, featuring plenty of hanta-tastic rodent poop and chewed-up bits of seat foam.
No doubt due to dirty tricks by the black-bag operatives of the Vermin Supreme campaign, the Prussly van appears to have been abandoned from a time beginning even before the November 2016 balloting.
Rest in piece, veteran Econoline.
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Room for bags, and boats, and beauties.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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These things didn't die on their own, you had to kill them.
Love the aftermarket passenger seat!