Now here’s a true gem, shot in the 1980′s on the island of Malta. It’s a custom bodied (duh!) bread van, built on an ex-Army Bedford truck chassis, using some vintage American car parts in the process. Bonus points to anyone who recognizes the front bumper. It’s from berresford’s motors limited’s Flickr page, and there’s quite an unraveling of its origins in the comments. Here’s the gist of it:
Commentator chairmanchad did the research:
I have now been able to find the file for this vehicle – and a very interesting story it is too ! 22056 (1958 to date) In April 1958 a 1-ton Bedford truck as purchased from the Army (lot 245). It had chassis number MW4193, and was fitted with Bedford engine number 112214. In October 1959 an application was made to scrap the existing body and to build a new body with side windows to sell bread. In September 1960 permission was granted to convert the vehicle from a truck to a closed van. The exam document at the same time gives the engine number as now being MW43828, and the authorised payload as being ¾ ton. The bodywork was probably built by a bus bodybuilder as it had the same stylish look as many buses being built at the time. In July 1968 a Perkins engine (number 3R253844) was fitted. In April 1980 local chassis number CHMP2655D80 was punched, and by November 1980 new registration K-2056 had been allocated. In December 1983 an application was made to convert the vehicle into a minibus, but it is not known if this ever happened (probably not). In October 1991 it was declared garaged. In 2011 it is believed to still exist tucked away in a garage.
There’s even a shot of it in its current resting place. Now that would make an awesome camper van!
And people dare to call the Aztex ugly…
I think this might come under the heading: There are just some things that you don’t want to know.
H. P. Lovecraft would probably agree with you.
This is pretty damn cool. 1958 Pontiac bumper?
I think it’s the back bumper of a Cadillac or something….or the top edge of one of those hideous late ’50s/early ’60s Chevy trucks.
58 Pontiac front bumper for sure.
Custom-built by these guys. Strong resemblance here.
I’m thinking maybe ’59 Dodge, but definitely late ’50s. The phrase “same stylish look as many buses”, I find a little suspect. There is nothing else with this look.
This is the Peter Dinklage of vans.
Looks like a cross between a CA Bedford van and a Dodge.
That front styling would be great on a car for a haunted house type ride.
Its so ugly even the Russians would have thrown it back —- this thing is grotesque! .
I came across that van last year somewhere on the interweb. I can’t find where now, but there was quite a write-up about it, and several others that were very similarly customised – from memory there was a photo of a yellow one too. Darn, now I’m going to have to spend hours searching for the site and the article, what a shame
yeah, i saw that to… it was on a bus site, i think…
Looks like Christine’s aborted fetus.
…if Christine spent a significant amount of time at Chernobyl.
Well she did crushed into a cube at the end of the movie, maybe this was the best she could do un-tangling herself.
And to think that we all wondered what Harley Earl did in his retirement years.
This van would have fit right in on at least one Twilight Zone episode.
Hell, seeing that van roll by slowly on the street in front of your home in a dark, quiet night would make you feel like you’re in a Twilight Zone episode. You’d half expect the jingle to start playing out of nowhere.
Hell with that, I’m in love with this thing. I want one.
“What we have heah is bastard offspring of a menage a trois between a ’58 Plymouth Fury, a ’57 Chevrolet Nomad, and a ’61 Ford Falcon van. The Big Three trifecta or trifuckta if you will.”
Now re-read that with the voice of the warden from Cool Hand Luke.
What to park next to your ’62 Monaco to make it look normal.
It looks like the body was done by one of the companies that made buses. Malta is famous for bus bodies with scaled up 1950s car styling like this one.
Here is the front of that bus
Criminy!!! this one has a major unibrow!
Its like a Christine and and Ice Cream truck had a baby.
+1!
I would drive the wheels off that thing.
I’m of Maltese heritage, and I’m tempted to claim my last name is, um, Basque, after seeing that abomination.
It’s bad enough when my fellow Americans say, “Like the dog?” when I tell them my grandfather and my surname are Maltese.
I would love to own that and rebuild it as is, I think it’s great
Certainly amazing to say the least. Has had a few changes in it’s day, motors and body wise, still garaged or they think it’s garaged tucked away somewere as late as 2011. This would be an excellent project for restoration or a Campervan.