Vans, wild paint, and magazines filled with fuel economy tech.

Maybe the mid 80s weren’t so bad?

 

Think of the raw material though, that was out there then. Cheap.

 

Saw lots and lots of those vans back then, didn't much care for them then, or now. Oldsmobile really wasn't into them so...

 

Hey, I have a van. It needs restoration. I could paint it custom.

 

Apparently there is a criminal precedent for painting naked chicks on cars here in Indiana. You drive by a school, and it is "distributing illicit content to minors," so I can't paint a naked babe all flang dang in the throes of passion on the side of my van.

 

While 70s cars were crippled by smog equipment I think it's the pinnacle of Detroit auto styling. Why aren't sedans still 19 or 20 ft. long?

 

You could paint it like Krieger’s van from the show Archer.

 

I have always liked custom vans and the old wild paint jobs. Cars vans etc.

 

X2
Young, Dumb, and Full Of, Ideas making one of those stabin cabins. Too be honest I wanted to trick out my 70 Vista with some Cragers, Gold Tinted windows and inside custom wood trim and carpet. Yup young and dumb. Like the 70's Show round table stuff

 

Hey, there were foreign jobs too.

 

I have spent a fair amount of time around lowriders as well. Some of the paint/artwork in those and many other cars is fine with me. Good painters are gifted. Fine line between tacky and done right sometimes.

 

My 65 microbus was the most fun rig I have ever had. Many stories banked in the smileachrives... the stuff we did and got away with.... never anything malicious just mischievous and fun as $hit. Back when fun was allowed.

 

Yes I agree.
A different time and place. Hopefully the young'ns of the day, payed attention to the mentors, and so on it goes...much respect for the paint talent artwork.

 

My family owned two 65 Busses as family vehicles. Seven kids. Two parents. Then later in life I also had a 65 Bus. Gutless like no tomorrow. Still a fun car. It was better in deep snow than I had ever expected. No heater pretty much but it sat high enough to be good in the snow.

 

I heard from someone once that if you had the roof vent opened to blow out the back and not the sides... And have the rear windows hinged out you could hold a lighter in your face as the driver and it wouldn't even flicker. Smoke would vent quickly and perfectly. That's what I heard anyway...🤔

 

Yeah, I miss that.

 

But the way things are going now, if you painted a naked dude that trans-missioned to a woman on the side of your van, I'm sure they'd say nothing.

 

The really nice muscle cars were in the high school lot in the early to mid 70's

I got my driver's license in 79 and graduated from high school in 1981. The parking lot was littered with Dodge Apens, Ford Pintos, and if you were really rich, a Chevy Monza. There were also a few guys who's dad's were into cars that had the occasional Mustang II with a 302 or the one kid had a Kelmark GT with a Super Beetle drivetrain. The rest of us drove rusty old shitboxes from the late 60's and early 70's. A 68 GTO with no floors left, my best friend drove a rusty 65 Galaxie Convertible, another had a 72 Duster that had the 318 swapped to a 340. One had a 72 Cougar (2nd year of the "big" cougars). Nothing was super fast. The nicest cars in the school lot were probably my 68 Supreme, because it had low miles and had been garaged before I got it, and another guy who had a mint 72 Supreme.