Wahooo...it's finally here!!!

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cosgig

cosgig

MoBro Inc.
FABO Gold Member
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Pinckney, Michigan
Hey all, I just wanted to share our excitement over the arrival of our new project...Nellas new (to us) Mopar transport van!!! I took the day off on New Years eve and went to the Chicago area and brought it home. I left about 3 a.m. to get there early...a little too early in fact as I didn't remember about the time difference, but Chuck met me and we had breakfast whil we waited for the yard to open. It rained all the way through Indiana and continued right up to the minute we got to the yard, then the good Lord gave us a window to get it loaded up!!! It was a slow ride all the way home as one of my trailer tires developed a leak and I had to stop every 45 minutes to air it up, but I made it home and it's safe and sound out at the shop. We're going to unload it tomorrow and get it safely inside, and empty it out!!! I would like to publically thank Chuck aka "Sedanman" for providing us the opprotunity to make this dream a reality, and for including just about every van part left from the 70's!!! It's going to be a fun build, and of course we will share it with you all. Look for Nella to chime in with a contest to name it, and for help suggesting direction. She's very excited about this and so am I!!! We just wanted to share our excitement with you all, our FABO family!!! Here's the only pictures we have so far, I was in a hurry to get it loaded and home before it started raining again!!! Happy New Year all from cosgig and cudagirl!!!

Nella..." I thought it'd be bigger, but at least it's purple"!!!!
Dad... "You'll just have to DUCK"!!!
 

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Looks like a good start. Glad you made it back safe. Last time I trailered through Ill. this spring I blew a left rear tire 1 mile up the freeway after picking the car up. I didnt have a spare and had to limp for 50 miles to find a place to mount a used tire to get home. Nella will be happy when its done. Maybe when its done you can bring her down for a Monroe Hot Dog. lol
 
I guess I was not first :toothy10: That is going to be a fun build :cheers: Next time you get a chance Geof get a side shot so I can play with it in paint
Wow, Happy new year cosgig and cudagirl :cheers:
Congratulations on a safe trip to get Nella's new van home.
What a happy day :happy10::rock::hello2::hello2:
 
lol. thats awesome, so even has a model ready to point you guys in the right direction. i do not think we need a contest for the color choise, as i think she already has her mind made up.:)
 
Such a clean starting point! Good luck and all best to you on this build.
 
Nella,that sure is a big happy smile.Your dad will have it fixed up for you in no time.Good luck with the project Geof.8)
 
Awesome!!! Good for you Geoff and Nella!!!! The look on her face is priceless!!!! What an awesome father/daughter project!!!
 
Awesome job! Looks like it will be a great start! I can't wait to see what you do with it, looks like you already made her happy. I am also wondering about the bubble window, those are cool8)
 
Well that smile kind of says it all, doesn't it?! Good luck with your project!! Looks like it will be an awesome ride.
 
Good luck with it, its going to be cool. I was following the other thread and I have to say you seem like a great father.
 
Well all, I don't know about the bubble windows, but our friend E38valiant is parting out another 70's van and he has 3 picture windows he is providing, and the Street Van air dam and wheel flares. Thats a great start as to where we are going with this van. Our current van also has 3 picture windows, and the design works for us. Nella has hers and the 2 in the back, 1 on each side provide full vision for the rear seat passengers. My first project besides getting the van cleaned out and ready to work on is to fab in the lift and the windows, and check the feasibility of dropping the floor. The headroom going through the door on all vans is close, and Nella isn't getting any smaller so I'd really like to drop the floor.

I need to pick a motor to send off for a rebuild (318 or 340), and Chuck provided a 727 SB trans and 8 3/4 rear end, so those will be used for sure. I'm also thinking about lowering the van for some ground effect, and securing an interior. There is a big handicap van conversion center near us that has semi trailers full of interiors removed from vans sent to them by Ford that I can pick through to come up with some nice new seats, and then build the rest of the interior around those. Yep, I got some work to do, but as you can see by the look on Nellas face, it's gonna be worth it!!! Thanks all for the words of encouragement, you guys are the best inspiration a guy could ask for!!! Geof and Nella
 
Back in the 80s, our fire dept. used a 77 long wheel base extended 1 ton van as a resue unit. It was an old ambulance.
We had a choice of 3. After looking them over, we took the 2nd best one............it had a 440 !!!
A few modifications later, we had the fastest rescue unit in the county!
There are a few of those old ones that show up at the local junk yard.
If I can be of any help, drop me a PM.

David
 
I'd built the 318 because it has all that low down torque to move that beast. But that's me personally, but I would be serious tempted to drop a 340 in it just cuz too.:-D Let us know what you are looking for for this van and maybe me and David can give a hand. I know where 20 or 30 vintage vans are sitting, piled one on another and the owner sells parts off to whoever comes by and asks for whatever. The rear ends are all gone pretty much but post it up here and I will give him a call and see what he has.
 
I saw that smile and thought that girl gets prettier everyday. Good luck with the build. It would look really cool with a paint job like the 38 special album cover with horses running thru the fire.
 
daredevil said:
I saw that smile and thought that girl gets prettier everyday. Good luck with the build. It would look really cool with a paint job like the 38 special album cover with horses running thru the fire.
Click to expand...

That there Daredevil is just the kind of input we will be looking for when we really get going on the project. I have a bunch of old PHR magazines from the 70's, when the big van craze was happening, and I noticed that everyone of them has some kind of theme along with a catchy name to tie it all together. Smart readers like you surely know of Nellas love for horses, and this is just the kind of leads and input we need to make this van Nellas own!!! She wanted to post up a contest right away to name it, but I told her to hold off a little until we can give you all something to work with, but you have already hit on a biggie here. I'd like to see that cover, as my album collection was given away way back when cassettes first came out!!! You do remember cassettes don't you???LOL!!! Maybe between you and Memike, you can come up with the cover, and Mike can photoshop the van side with it, and give us an idea here!!! That would be awesome!!!

One thing I would like to do for sure is have our good friend "Hotlines" Joey Madden pinstripe it. He lives in my grandmothers hometown out in Oregon, and I would just love to drive out to see her and have Joey pinstripe it while we're there. Thats just another dream I have for this van, that and going down to Memikes with Nella so she can meet her valentine, her #1 girl Leanna and her hero Bill (Smallblock). Of course, we're gonna let Buddy in the van and he can even sleep on the seat if he wants!!! OK, the whole gang can come along, we'll just make that a party, just like in the 70's...I think I remember that part of the 70's anyway!!!

Thanks Daredevil for the great idea, it's ideas like this that are gonna put a little bit of all her friends here into making this one great project!!! Geof
 
cosgig said:
That there Daredevil is just the kind of input we will be looking for when we really get going on the project. I have a bunch of old PHR magazines from the 70's, when the big van craze was happening, and I noticed that everyone of them has some kind of theme along with a catchy name to tie it all together. Smart readers like you surely know of Nellas love for horses, and this is just the kind of leads and input we need to make this van Nellas own!!! She wanted to post up a contest right away to name it, but I told her to hold off a little until we can give you all something to work with, but you have already hit on a biggie here. I'd like to see that cover, as my album collection was given away way back when cassettes first came out!!! You do remember cassettes don't you???LOL!!! Maybe between you and Memike, you can come up with the cover, and Mike can photoshop the van side with it, and give us an idea here!!! That would be awesome!!!

One thing I would like to do for sure is have our good friend "Hotlines" Joey Madden pinstripe it. He lives in my grandmothers hometown out in Oregon, and I would just love to drive out to see her and have Joey pinstripe it while we're there. Thats just another dream I have for this van, that and going down to Memikes with Nella so she can meet her valentine, her #1 girl Leanna and her hero Bill (Smallblock). Of course, we're gonna let Buddy in the van and he can even sleep on the seat if he wants!!! OK, the whole gang can come along, we'll just make that a party, just like in the 70's...I think I remember that part of the 70's anyway!!!

Thanks Daredevil for the great idea, it's ideas like this that are gonna put a little bit of all her friends here into making this one great project!!! Geof
Click to expand...
If you want, an older gentleman I know used to do all the vans here in this area when it was big. He took his own van and put doors on both sides, shortened the wheelbase and probably redid the interior atleast 7 times.:toothy10: It even featured a water bed at one point of course. LOL. He might have a few pics of the vans that were done back then to give you some ideas too. That or some really really old school van customizing magazines, instruction books and all sorts of neat stuff. He holds onto alot of stuff so who knows.I'll ask him next time I am down at his shop:-D
 
Yes Dartt, by all means see if he has anything. I'd really like to talk to somebody who knows if the floor can be dropped and how to go about doing it. This van has a full frame right behind the side door stepup!! I know one thing I need for sure is the rear wheel flares from a Street Van. The items I'm getting from e38valiant are for the front only. The back of his van is rusted out around the wheel wells and the flares are long gone. I'd also like to have a couple of "Street Van" emblems, but I hear they are rare and hard to find, especially the metal ones!!! Thanks for looking out for us bro, it's gonna be great to have a little piece of everybody here to include in the project. We want to make you all proud, so you can brag about being a part of the coolest van project going!!! (maybe the only one too!!!LOL!!!) Geof
 
Make it like the Mistery Machine van. You remember Fred, Velma, Shaggy and of course Scobby DOOO.
Geof, Glad you made it home with that leaking tire. Keep us posted because we all want to help in whatever way we can. The other Jeff.
 
This is just so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in a toss-up though ... I can't tell if it's the van, the plans coming together, the support from the crew, or that TREMENDOUS SMILE on Nella's face that makes me so happy to read this thread.

I'm so "in" on this there's no way you can keep me out Geof. :-D Don't hesitate to let me know what I can help with.

Congrats to the whole family!!! This is gonna be fabulous.
 
Hi Geof and Nella, man what an awesome feeling being able to bring such a beautiful smile to her face!! With all these words of encouragement, you know the pressure is on you right??LOL This is going to be an awesome build to watch and be involved in!
 
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