showvans.com custom vans

 The George Barris Supervan

 
A fraction of the hundreds of photos that I've taken over 50 years of Supervan.

The first custom van that I ever saw way back in 1971 was the George Barris built Supervan a.k.a Love Machine.
Somehow finding the history of this van is quite an ordeal. It was built "in the late 60's" out of a 1969 A108 (according to a 1971 magazine but it shows a 1966 A108 everywhere else. It was sold at Barrett Jackson in 2016, but no one has ever admitted to buying it. It currently resides in a great collection of custom vehicles in California. I'm going to be trying to get a full timeline together on Supervan this year as part of the history of vanning. I have reached out to the right people, just waiting for a reply. If you want to contribute anything. Please contact : virtual@vanning.com


George and I with Suprvan in 2013. Me in the driver seat in 2004 at Vanfest.

Two big moments in my history with the Supervan. In 2004 we were very fortunate to have the Supervan at Vanfest 2004. This was shortly after the extensive restoration done by the Guild of Automotive Restorers. Then in 2013 the stars aligned at the Fleetwood Country Cruize-In. George was one of the frequent celebrity guests at the event, but the Supervan had never been there. We stopped in there after a busy weekend at Vanfest and were rewarded with this very rare happening. What a great moment in time to have George pose in front of the van with me. I had him sign this image which appeared on the back of the 2014 calendar.