Junkyard Find: 1986 Dodge B250 Leopard Van
I see two types of distinctively Coloradan sticker-covered vehicles in Denver-area self-service wrecking yards. One type is the stony-ass wastoidmobile Subaru plastered with decals from cannabis dispensaries, vape-juice shops, and microbreweries. The other is the battered outdoorsy Detroit truck, plastered with decals from mountain-bike shops, ski resorts, rafting outfitters, and environmental causes. These types tend to overlap to some extent, so it often happens that I’ll find stickers advertising shatter-hash on an Outdoorsy Truck and stickers proclaiming allegiance to rock climbing on a Stoner Subaru, but there are cultural differences between them.
Here’s an ornately leopardified 1986 Dodge B250 Ram Wagon that appears to have hauled many a sinewy adventurer to a trailhead or ski slope.
If you’re going to turn a vehicle shaped like a box into a convincing sleek jungle cat, you’ll need to add a tail. This tail was made by someone with great highway-safe tail-making chops; note the sturdy mounting and anti-unraveling ribbons.
Thanks to several yards of leopard-print velour cloth and the extensive leopard-print accessory selection offered by Manny, Moe, and Jack, the interior of this van resembles Tarzan’s tree house.
I see a lot of Obama and Trump stickers on junkyard cars these days, with the occasional Bush II sticker here and there, but this is the first Kerry/Edwards decal I’ve spotted in many years. The “Frankly, my dear, I don’t want a dam” sticker refers to the efforts to spare the Cache la Poudre River from a fishing/rafting-destroying dam.
This sign may have been “borrowed” from an outdoor music festival, or it may be that this van was operated by a business that hauled hikers, rafters, bicyclists, campers, fishermen, mountain-climbers, and/or skiers to their destinations.
Buick hubcaps look good on a Dodge.
A couple of great American regional accents can be heard in this ad for the first year of the second-generation (1979-1993) Ram Van.
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I had a 1974 Tradesman 3/4 ton that I ran the wheels off of. When I sold it I had nearly 150k miles. I took it to the Truck-Ins back when the custom van craze hit. I never had any major work done to it as far as the 318 engine & 727 torqueflight was bullet proof.
Good times.