Vanner Tapestries
Description: WTF is up with the 2% decals on everyone’s vans? The 2% movement came about after the March ’76 issue of the National Street Van Association’s (NSVA) newsletter hit the streets. The NSVA claimed that 98% of vanners felt that there was an undesirable element in vanning and that same 98% appreciated the NSVA’s list of event no-no’s which included no all-night parties, no wet t-shirt events, heavy drinking. drugs, etc. This was to ensure truck-ins would feel like suburban camping, so just like that, the 2% was born and those who wanted nothing to do with NSVA’s rules or events wore their 2% badge proudly.
Description: Back in the '60s and ’70s, Sam Radoff was one of the best custom car and bike builders in the Midwest, if not the country. Raised in Detroit, Radoff got his start at a young age by pin striping plastic model cars and after a stint in the Army, got himself a motorcycle and of course, did custom paint on it. Fellow bikers loved his style, so he started painting bikes for a living, which blew up in a good way. The next thing he knew, he was welding frames, building tanks, and doing full on custom choppers. Before too long, he was building and customizing hot rods and vans that ranged from mild to wild, but the one common denominator were his wild signature custom paint jobs.
Description: A 19-year-old named Nick bought this cherry red 1975 G-10 from its original owner right off Van Nuys Boulevard in 1977. It was already mildly customized with gold pinstripe work and a set of mags, but Nick wanted to make it his own. Since naming vans was what people did back then, he dubbed it Wild Cherry, and added a set of flares, but didn't have the dough to get them painted. Somewhat ironically, the bright white flares are what really made Wild Cherry pop, and caught the attention of the film crew from the 1979 B-movie, Van Nuys Blvd. They asked if he wanted his van to make an appearance in the movie, and of course, he said yes, so Wild Cherry can be seen in all its glory for about 3 seconds in the movie and in the trailer.
Description: The social remnants of the '60s were still vibrant in the early '70s, although they had taken on a more materialistic expression. Vans became the transport of choice for many 'counterculture' types. Their trucks, made up of equal parts of rolling interior design display and airbrushed billboard, were personalized automotive expressions and as varied as their owners/builders. It didn't take long before vanners started getting together to hang out, so truck-ins or truckin' events became increasingly common, including some hosted by VANS Ltd. that happened at the most magical place on earth... at least three times, apparently.
Description: Hollywood's Van World Customs rolled up their bay doors in 1974, so they were a little late to the party as far as the custom van craze goes, but they made up for it by creating some of the most outrageous vans to ever cruise Van Nuys Blvd. From mild to wild, if a customer could dream it, they could build it and it was guaranteed to be an absolute showstopper.
Description: Custom vans were all the rage in the ’70s, and there were shops catering to boogie van lovers from coast-to-coast helping vanners build their dream ride, and one such shop was Calivania Customs. This west coast custom van shop was based in Los Angeles and made sure their signature California style was reflected in every van they built, no matter how wild or mild the project may have been.
Description: In 1976 a line of trucks and vans dubbed ‘Adult Toys’ came out. Don't be gross, these 'Adult Toys' were a series of factory vehicles that included the Street Van, which rolled off the assembly line outlandishly customized in what would become a staple of late 70’s automotive culture - custom mag wheels, wild paint schemes, and plenty of shag carpeting among others. Despite the rich host of custom options the Street Van rolled off the line with the true intention of it to serve as an enticing platform for even more customization. To get buyers headed in the right direction, every Street Van came with a customization kit that included detailed instructions and plans to further style their van to their individual tastes.
Description: Based on an original iron-on transfer, this Heavy Chevy design is about as period-correct as you can get. From the exaggerated look of the tricked out street van to the funky airbrush style lettering, this one knocks that '70s look out of the park and is perfect for any vanner of the bowtie persuasion.
Description: SuperVan is a 1977 American vansploitation film that features a very heavily modified van central to the storyline. It is an action adventure comedy road movie and is rated PG. The story follows Clint Morgan as he goes to The Invitational Freak-Out for custom van enthusiasts intending to enter his van, The Sea Witch, in a contest. In saving a runaway, Karen, from a bike gang, Clint loses his van. He goes to his friend Bosley, a rebel designer, who lets Clint and Karen enter his solar-powered laser-firing custom van, Vandora, in place of The Sea Witch. Based on a stock Sportsman van, some of SuperVan's most unusual features are solar panels, the ability to emit laser beams, and a complete custom body.
Description: During the custom van boom of the 1970s, Los Angeles stood at the center of the West Coast scene, but talented builders were making their mark throughout Southern California. One of the lesser-known outfits was Nighthawk Custom Shop, which operated from an unassuming warehouse just north of San Diego International Airport along Pacific Highway. While many competing shops aggressively promoted themselves through magazine ads and national van shows, Nighthawk kept a remarkably low profile, letting its craftsmanship speak for itself. The shop built a number of award-winning street vans during its roughly decade-long run, yet little remains of its legacy today beyond some faded spare tire covers and a few well-worn T-shirts.
Description: In 1976 a line of trucks and vans dubbed ‘Adult Toys’ was launched. Don’t be gross, these ‘Adult Toys’ were a series of factory vehicles that included the Street Van, which rolled off the assembly line outlandishly customized in what would become a staple of late '70s automotive culture – custom mag wheels, wild paint schemes, and plenty of shag carpeting among others. Despite the rich host of custom options the Street Van rolled off the line with, the true intention was for it to serve as an enticing platform for even more customization. To get buyers headed in the right direction, every Street Van came with a customization kit that included detailed instructions and plans to further style their van to their individual tastes.
Description: The A100 is a range of compact vans and cab over trucks were made from 1964 to 1970 in the United States and Canada. These vans are without question a vanner favorite and this retro gasser inspired design shows the 'Kalifornia Wagon' A100 with a 426 Hemi mounted midship gettin' some on the way to the beach to catch some tasty waves.
Description: A boogie van is 50% muscle car, 50% rolling room, and 100% party. Whether it's cruising the local strip, or hitting the highway for an extended road trip to nowhere, the classic boogie van aims to please. So be sure to batten down the hatches and secure your load, and let's boogie!
Description: Van meets, often called “truck-ins,” became a defining part of America’s custom-van craze during the 1970s. Inspired partly by hot-rod gatherings but infused with the decade’s counterculture, thousands of vanners would descend on campgrounds, fairgrounds, and open fields to show off wildly customized machines covered in murals, metalflake paint, spoilers, side pipes, mag wheels, shag carpeting, wood paneling, and elaborate interiors. Events ranged from local weekend gatherings to enormous national truck-ins featuring van shows, live music, games, cruising, camping, and plenty of late-night partying. Van power forever... boogie on, baby!
Description: "Hey baby, you going my way?" Beginning back in the Depression, it used to be very normal to see someone sticking their thumb out in an effort to signal that they needed a ride and get a passing motorist to pick them up. Whether people were just looking for conversation on a long drive, hoping to get lucky, or just being nice, hitchhikers were a ubiquitous sight across America. Nowadays, hitchhiking is perceived as dangerous, and few drivers are willing to pick someone up. Police discourage it, and many states ban it. Since the '60s, the percentage of households that own cars has steadily increased, and the proportion of those with multiple cars has grown even faster. As cars have lasted longer and gotten cheaper, fewer people need a lift.
Description: Hop Cap was located in Bremen, Indiana, just 25 miles away from the epicenter of van conversions in the 1970s - Elkhart, Indiana. And yeah, no idea how Elkhart became the place where custom van dreams became reality, but that's another story... These rigs were known as Vantastic by Hop Cap and they specialized in customizing vans as mild or as wild as customers wanted. Some just have a little shag carpeting, custom paint, and a bubble window, while others were totally over the top.
Description: The Olympia Brewing Company was a brewery in Tumwater, Washington, near the state capital of Olympia. Leopold Schmidt, a German immigrant from Montana, founded The Capital Brewing Company at Tumwater Falls on the Deschutes River near the south end of Puget Sound. He built a four-story wooden brewhouse, a five-story cellar building, a one-story ice factory powered by the lower falls, and a bottling and keg plant and in 1896, began brewing and selling Olympia Beer. The brew became synonymous with its slogan "It's the Water," though after changing hands multiple times after the mid-eighties and the Tumwater brewery closing in 2003, "It's the Water" became just that - a slogan - as being brewed out of state never quite cut it.
Description: Unlike most van shops of the day that focused on selling and installing custom parts and accessories, The Van Doctor was a comprehensive auto body and mechanical repair shop. Sure, they also sold the goodies to make your ride stand out, but that was secondary to this Van Nuys garage.
Description: The Iron Cross became an integral part of the biker lifestyle in the '60s and '70s and still remains popular in many subcultures today. Bikers have always enjoyed shocking the citizenry and the Iron Cross still does this today due to its unfortunate association with the National Socialist German Workers' Party, but let's not forget that it has always stood for honor and service beginning with Frederick William III, King of Prussia, issuing the Iron Cross as a medal for service during the Napoleonic Wars as early as 1813. In both biker and van culture, these crosses can often be found as embellishments forged in metal on custom rides appearing as everything from side mirrors and valve stem caps to sissy bar decorations and fuel tank caps.
