Gregg's post about his t-shirt transfer got me thinking about this one. We've all got hard to find van parts, toys, misc items, what are your favorites or most impressive?
I geuss my dash plaque collection.I put mine in a photo album instead of sticking then on the dash of my van...... Then my quite extensive collection of pictures from 79 to 93. Although they are packed away in boxes in the garage. I still have all the trophies I won with my first three vans...... Still have my club "colors" hanging in the closet.The event patches on that jacket bring back fond memories every time I look at it......Wookee
I think my most amazing an stuff would have to be a set of vintage original very good condition 71-77 Dodge 127" wheel base interior patterns from T&H Customizers. In the original box and everything. I think my van is pretty cool too.
For me, my stuff from when I was a kid. My Spring Back and Van Slam shirts from when I was 5 yrs old, and my trophies from the kids games at Spring Back 83.
On the collectables side, I'm very proud of my Street Van pattern kit box, and my set of Dodge floor mat and door sill mats (the rubber ones w/ the yellow van).
MY LATEST COOL STUFF WAS FINDING IN JUNK YARD 12/20/04. THE SAME DODGE FLOOR MATS AND CHROME LITE TRIM AND GRILL FOR 72 FOR $7. SOLD & SHIPPED TO A FOLLOW VANNER IN NORWAY HELPING A VANNER LIVE 70s.
Mine would be the event window stickers, they are what I always saw in the triangle windows of Vans in my neighborhood and could distinguish between Vanners and just Van owners. My event stickers are what I would feel worst about if I were to lose. Most of the stuff from my early years (when I was 19-25 1986-1993) went up in flames when the house I was renting burned to the ground. I lost alot but the stickers on my window still helped me remember the early years. Now events rarely have window stickers anymore and it is getting increasingly difficult to ID Vanners from regular folk./
Dash plaques,patches,toy vans,all my trophys and pictures.The memories are the very best.I used to have van magzines till i sold them at Butler,guess who got most of them,Hurricane Wayne!!!! Jim TRV
One thing I have that just floored me when I got it, is an old fire engine siren. A friend of mine, Dave from Trux Ltd. gave it to me a couple years ago...said it was time to pass it on....he used to crank that thing up at runs at midnight....it would growl for a good 15 minutes after a 30 second blast. Now I get to ring the midnight siren...
my old van mags,old dash plaques,die cast vans, pictures,a few items from my first van (75 dodge), being able to go on vanning.com. these are a few of my "coolest" favorite things.
Hard nipple photos From the late nite wet T show Grille lights and strobe lights and that cool neon blue glow Loudguy's custom Astro That makes my ears ring These are a few of my favorite things
My old van magazines, patches, buttons, and even some hat pins. The bar I built using a smooth closet door for the top, laminated all my dash plaques onto the surface by pouring polyurethane about a half inch thick, took forever to dry. It's well worn now and serves as a work bench in my garage. Wish I could get the dash plaques back out. Memories and pictures of events are best, especially the ones that have my vans in them and some of the women I've known over the years! Wish I would have gotten a picture of every girl I've ever known inside of my van! Got a few. To me they are priceless.
My most unusual van items would have to be the van shaped cake pan I have. I also have a lamp that is shaped like a van and has custom vans on the shade. It is pretty cool.
Don't have either of them yet. Been looking tho. Tried 2 times to get a lamp off e-bay, but didn't get them.
I remember building the Tricky Truckers bar. It was 16 feet long, made out of three shhets of plywood painted black with neon color clowns on it. We made it for the last Scooby Boo truckin in Virginia. What a great truckin. The top was covered with Formica and we let everyone write on it. IT WAS COOL! I use part of the top for my bike trailer ramp now, and Debbie usese the base for a platform at her shop to keep stuff off the floor of the basement.
Fallout was a great time Bill, I miss Meltown even more. I've been hoping someone will try and put the New Jersey council back together, but the way things ended up, I think a lot of feelings were hurt.
As far as Meltdown goes, it would be hard for Debbie and I to put on a truckin by ourselves.
A lot of my cool stuff has been sold at the vanning.com auctions. I am such a packrat, when we started planning our move over two years ago that is when I got the idea for the auctions. I believe if you are going to collect stuff you have to display it. I had all these van magazines, models and books going back to 1975 in boxes ! I did manage to keep quite a few items, but I still need to part with more. Some of the coolest stuff I have had was the 70's era van pipe ... that went to Poorman at the Nats Auction, original Denimmachine contest ballot (still have that) Fu Manchu King of the Road poster (still have that) Journey 1980 ceramic ashtray (still have that) and well over a 1000 pictures from van ins from 1976 to 2004 (still have all of them) ... and many great vanning memories (starting to lose them with old age lol).
Sorry Vandude, I have parted with all the van magazines I will not be keeping
But you are in a prime area for all kinds van collectibles. There has be a lot of van stuff out in the Northwest at the swap meets. That is one heck of a place to get this kind of stuff at non whacked out Ebay prices ... We are seeing a lot of custom vans coming out of garages from the Northwest so they must be clearing out the rest of their van stuff too.
vandude there use to be 2 big used books stores not far from ivers fish house on waterfront and in fish market there was 1. last time i was there in 1990.
Thanks for the lead crazie bob. I actually broke-down today and went to the library to look for van customizing books. They listed two, but of course, they were missing.
My coolest Van stuff?? Well, first would have to be the friends, memories, etc. of the last 26+ years! Hell, I met my wife, Melinda, at a Truck-In and I still keep her around!! The T-Shirt quilts Melinda made for me (24 shirts on the 1st one, 30 on the 2nd, another 2 quilts in planning stage)The hundreds of Dash Plaques in albums, photos, Club(s) Jackets with gazillion patches, hat pins, a bottle of wine (refilled with colored water)with MoonLite Vans' logo (a present from Yux & Tooty), a box filled with Pre Regs from Truck-Ins, Game Plaques & Trophies.
Ok im only 22 and cant say i have the old 70's pics, or the van shaped cake pans, hell i dont even own a van. But I can tell you I have many cherished memories. Like the first time i got wasted it was 1994, Summer Madness. Moma Jewles gave me my first mararita, If I know Jewles, she still has the cup it was mixed in, you know the white cup with the green handle and the vans sticker. I was taught the fundimentals of partying from the wildest vanner know in history. I took "Drinking with Jewles 101" at age 11. Van run after van run moma Jewles protected me from all you dirty old men, and created many memories I will cary with me for my entire life.
I also have a 1st place rootbeer chug trophy from Summer Madness im still proud of. I beat a boy that was 2 times my size and had won like 4 years in a row. He was pissed!
<small>[ January 24, 2005, 12:01 AM: Message edited by: JULIA ]</small>
Don't feel bad JULIA. I'm a 44-year-old-fart and don't have the old 70's pics or cake pans. And my younger years were wasted at car shows listening to a constant line of people pointing out all the things that weren't correct on my Road Runner.
I had to learn the fundamentals of partying with a bunch of other pimply-faced punks whose parents were out of town for the weekend.
I also have the van cake pan. My wife surprised me and baked a cake for me for my b-day many years ago. Okay, I just aged myself. Also have numerous belt buckles with vans on them. Even have a belt I bought back in the late 70's early 80's with Dodge vans on it. Still using it today. Couple hundred van toys of all shapes and sizes. A tote full of all the t-shirts I have gotten from runs over the years. Numerous pictures. And the best thing I have is my vanning family which is totally priceless.
I'd have to say that the coolest van stuff I have so far (and Im still young) would have to be the pictures I found on my camera of the night before...at my second van run, Truckin for Tots...I had a bit to drink and dont exactly remember the that night, but when I woke up the next day and looked through my digital camera at the pictures, I found out that someone grabed my camera and took some rather interesting pictures of my drunk ass rolling around on the floor...
Jewles make sure that cake isnt made till I can get to a vanrun out there,and dont forget the MUG because kahlua and milk sounds perfect with a van shaped multi-layer mega cake.
Yep, I have a cake pan tooo and know of another two that aren't mentioned here. We have two van lamps with shades and many assorted toys, plaques and trophies. The most memorable one from last year was the long distance one I got at Numb after driving from NY to be with Sandy when she lsot her Mom--a very special trophy indeed--it was more than just a haul award--it was a love award.
But, I do agree with Buddy and he knew I would. My coolest Van souveniers are all of you! If it weren't for the Vanners, we wouldn't be what we are--family! We are there for each other as no other group I have seen and that is the most precious possession in life. Cherish your friends!
I just watched a video last night taken at Rollie's place last summer when Yux and Guppyboy were there ... I had seen pictures of his place before but I'd have to say that he must be way up there having some of the coolest van stuff around. Between the Econobar, the van toys, the custom made van signs and so many other collectibles he has an amazing collection. I hope to be able to see it myself maybe in 2006.
One of my prize van items is a video of I believe the 1st Mill's Van Club St. Patrick's Day Party. This was somewhere back somewhere around '93. I think it was my second or third hall party so I was not totally familiar with most of the vanners. What I found cool was someone had my video cam and in the backround I hear my self being introduced to Quinn Jones. It's funny now because he is Pres. and I am V.P. of Moon Lite. I definately treasure that. Gup PS> Jewels. If you have a copy of that video from our trip to your place, can you bring it to the Nats? Thanks
When you look back over more than 33 years of doing this vannin thing there are lots of things to consider.
I have 2 kids (26 and 30) that are a direct result of vanning
I have boxes of pictures that could well fund my retirement if I ever choose to use them for blackmail.
I have trophies and plaques from some of the greatest runs and shows ever.
I have collectables that do more to collect dust now than anything else.
But most of all I have memories! They may get clouded at times since I am getting older, but they may never have been firmly set in the first place. I wasn't always clear headed in the way back. What ever their condition I'll take them and wrap them all together and rank them as the coolest thing I have.
I witnessed the cone wedding at Journey in New Hampshire.
I know the significance of "Joe Kelly Sucks".
I knew Roger - French Connection.
I remember my van as green - then redwood (brown) and then green again.
I attended runs in New Hampshire that topped 3000 vans.
There is a reason I try to attend at least one run in Quebec every year.
I've attended a van run with 4 generations - twice. 82 years seperate my youngest granddaughter and my mom. Hope to do it many more times.........
I've seen vans burnup at runs twice and once a panel rolled down a hill through a crowd. Proud to say vanners came to the rescue quickly and no loss of life or major injuries.
I put on 7 'Fog Runs' during late 70's and early 80's along with my club - Mini State truckers.
I partied with the fat broad.
Our club beat the tractor in a tug of war.
I sucked jello.
an so on.....and so on......and so on......
[ January 19, 2005, 10:38 AM: Message edited by: BoneHead ]
No, I don't have the video but I would like to know, is there a drunken Jewels in said video cuz I don't remember anyone taking a video but I do remember being quite buzzed when the Guppie-Boy got there and it only got worse from there. Speaking of video, a friend of mine once said he'd like to have on video all the things his eyes have seen at truckins and then these VCR tapes started showing up at his house. Be careful what you wish for.
Jewels I will go back through the video and see what state you were in. From what I have seen it does not look like you drinking the red stuff I just got back into video a couple of years ago and I am collecting what I can from others and shooting my own. If you have some neat video make me a copy and bring it to the Nats. I do have most of the van movies now I am just interested in actual van-in videos.
My old buddy Jamie from Northeast Custom Vans had many videos, probably hundreds of hours worth. I will have to get in touch with him again.
i have 98% of VANNER FEUD on video ..gotta have it transfered from 8mm camcorder tape to VHS -right now i don't have a converter tape to accept the camcorder tape or a VCR to watch it lol..everthing i got is DVD..thats what i really would like to see it transfered to so it can be passed along easier
This is probably the coolest thing i have for my van. It is for vehicles with a chopped top, or in my case a visor, and it is for viewing the streetlights. I don't know where it came from originally, but I have seen other ones that are only made of chrome or stainless. Not mirrored like mine. It's hard to describe, but it refracts the light coming from forward and above, and allows you to see it. (ever been first at a light and have to lean waaaaaay forward to see the signal change? This eliminates that) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/cookiemonster24/Van%20Photos/viewer2.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/cookiemonster24/Van%20Photos/viewer1.jpg
You mount it on the dash. I am holding it by the post in the pic. Takes two seconds, drill a hole, washer, nut, done. I don't know why they are so scarce, they are awesome. It also pivots so you can get just the right angle on it.
I need one of these for my chop top van,usually if Im in front waiting for the lite to change,which I cant see & dont move when it does the person behind me always lays on their horn.
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by hurricane2: <strong> My friend has one of those on his street rod, they work great. </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Is the one your friend has a glass one like mine, or is it one of the chrome ones?
I had (sorry Wayne) a 1990 Turbo Gran Prix one time that had it. It was the coolest thing I ever saw. Made a 12 and a half hour trip in 8 hour and 15 minutes once without ever taking my eves off the road. You never have to look at the guages, cause all the important info was projected into the windshield.
A freind of mine told me the windshield had a special film in it to make it work. He said the windshield for the car cost him $2,500.00.
SUNSHINE VANS-VAN DIEGO ADRENALIN BY THE GALLON & CHASIN RACIN ONE FOR THE DIRT & ONE FOR THE STREETS '93 CHEVY G30 454 4X4 SPORTVAN EXT 146" WB '92 CHEVY G30 454 BEAUVILLE EXT 146" WB
Everyday above ground is a Good Day!!! Never Stop Vannin'
Member of Break Away Vanners Host of Spring Break At Shenandoah Acres Family Campground
Owner & Creator of Wizard's Van-In Videos Member of Riding High Truckers from 1982 to 1996 2nd Member of The Toopa Sinner Tribe Member of Free Bird Vanners 1996 to Present Member of Cape Atlantic Truckers South Jersey Host Club of Freeze Out Certified Nats Judge Member of Shenandoah Valley Vans
Jim & Lucy Newkirk 1965 Chevy Bad Influence 1981 Chevy-the Love Shack 2012 Chevy Van , 2020 chevy van 2020 Chevy van Sapphire Sweet. Club Vannerz. vanninvanner@comcast.net
I have a bunch of van toys and collectibles, but my 76 came with a bunch of cool stuff. Thrush side pipes, the floor mats with the little cartoon van doing a burnout, an octagon steering wheel and a Street Van kit.
I inherited most of my cool van stuff. I have all of my dad's t-shirts from the 70's all the way through the 90's, they won't fit me but they look real good on my girl. I also have, because my dad did so I grew up with one, an octagon steering wheel which I absolutely love.
SUNSHINE VANS-VAN DIEGO ADRENALIN BY THE GALLON & CHASIN RACIN ONE FOR THE DIRT & ONE FOR THE STREETS '93 CHEVY G30 454 4X4 SPORTVAN EXT 146" WB '92 CHEVY G30 454 BEAUVILLE EXT 146" WB