One of the reasons I got back into vanning was the stories I told my son (who is 11). He's got 71-77 hot wheels vans all with the round headlights/grill. I looked for months for a mid 70's panel that was untouched with a/c. No Luck. In the end I bought a $500 Craiglist project.
I had no idea at the time, you could retro fit these grills up to '96. I saw the videos Hot Rod did and went in search of the '77 grill/bumper.
In the search, I found an NOS '78 grill for $40. I had it shipped and installed it with a pair of salvage yard headlight bezels. Not perfect, but ok until I found the '77 grill and bumper.
Looking at the van, the '78 seems to have the most tinsel egg crate of them all. I'm just not diggin' it.
Persistence paid off and I got the '77 grill and bumper together for $300 plus shipping through Grayhound Freight. Not fast, but half of fed-ex/ups.
I just saw pat's ride and noticed the white lenses. I'm hoping mine will match up until I score an amber pair. There's one on ebay right now (NOS) for $60 bucks. Na.
I'll post some photos during my conversion. The two videos I saw seem to skip over some of the fab work involved.
Sorry last photo is upside down.
IMG_4420 by
Mike Duncan, on Flickr
IMG_4792 by
Mike Duncan, on Flickr
IMG_4736 by
Mike Duncan, on Flickr
IMG_4809 by
Mike Duncan, on Flickr