Curbside Find: 1980s Chevrolet Triple-Axle Van

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– Posted on January 4, 2026

1980s Chevy Wagon with a triple axle, parked by the curbside.

This is one of my favorite street-side finds. I’ve seen pictures of these tag-axle vans, but never in person. And I bet that took a bit of doing, cutting up two vans and welding them together. Somewhat oddly, this obviously started out as a short-wheelbase (110″) van, before getting its extension. It’s probably not much longer than the 155″ extra-long wheelbase version that Chevy added to this line in 1990. But not nearly as cool.

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Of course, only the second (middle) axle is driven, which I can imagine could lead to some rather awkward moments, like if one happens to drive up (or back up) a very steep ramp, and the middle axle starts hanging in the air. Ok, that’s pretty hypothetical. And how about making tight turns; a bit of axle scrub, perhaps?

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I did catch up with it again in a parking lot, where it had pulled into a space. That gave me a chance to determine the affect of a tight-ish turn on the rear wheels. The rear-most wheel’s camber is clearly being affected some.

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And the opposite effect is on the opposite side, natch. Well, big buses and trucks scrub their tires all the time.

 

Note: a rerun of an older post.

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