(first posted 11/17/2013) Needless to say, the seventies were the vannin’ golden years. Why? Well, like much of the seventies, all of a sudden everybody wanted a slice of the free-wheeling ’60s hippie lifestyle. Having seen how much fun they seemed to be having in their VW buses and psychedelic school buses, everyone grew their hair long and bought a van, or motorcycle, or preferably both. Even if it did involve a car loan, and a proper job to pay for it. So much for the hippie lifestyle…but there’s always the weekends.
Detroit responded to the fad with gusto, marketing their vans with lots of lifestyle ads and packages geared towards DIY customization or through customizers. Not many of these are left on the streets here, but I’ve found a few. We’ll add in plenty of free-wheelin’ ads, including one from a Playboy magazine.
This early seventies Chevy swb van is a bit plain, with just that crescent moon side window added. But it’s an oldie, and pretty representative of what were once seen everywhere. As far as I’m concerned, that original Chevy van grille was by far the best looking one ever.
Ford and Dodge seemed to be much more aggressive in their van culture marketing efforts, while Chevy kept a lower profile. It’s pure speculation, but perhaps Chevrolet was more capacity restrained? I know that Dodge went gangbusters in the late seventies with vans and van-based motorhome chassis, as it was one of their few bright spots during a very dismal time for them. And Ford pushed the Econoline pretty hard too.
This particular ad was actually shot by well-known surf photographer LeRoy Grannis.
Ford even offered a factory direct “Cruising Van”, with a companion Pinto Cruising wagon.
Here’s another survivor I found, at the Time Warp Motel.
Let the good times roll…with a Dodge.
“Where’s the guy selling coke? He’s usually right here on this corner”
Another somewhat dull survivor. Where did all the colorful ones go?
Tasty Large Ribeye Steak for $2.95.
And for the grand finale, here’s what its poster claimed is a Dodge van ad from a Playboy magazine. Looks plausible enough. And it kind of sums up what vans and the seventies were really all about. eh? The Shagadelic Decade.
As one who is reasonably fit, it’s interesting to look at ads from 30 or 40 years ago that show people in swimwear.
Looking at ads of today, you’d almost be forgiven for believing that a majority of people in the US are now thinner and in much better shape, when in reality the opposite is the case. Today’s models – both men and women – tend to appear either perfectly sculpted or emaciated, with digital image manipulation providing the finishing touches.
VanillaDude’s Guide to the Evils of Vans
Great old ads and I’ll admit the Playboy – Dodge ad is my favorite.
Who says Chrysler was too conservative? 😉
Sadly that fetching young lady would likely be considered too fat or not athletic enough for the Victoria’s Secret runway show that will be on CBS again this year.
I’ll agree with BuzzDog, the people look more “real” in these ads overall, although there are still a few very thin ladies like would fit in to today’s ads.
Not only is it the women…today all of the men in ads seem to have “guns” and “six-packs,” and if I didn’t know any better I’d swear that the growth hormones being fed to livestock are causing chest hair to fall out. 🙂
When I said “people look more real” I was trying to include everybody.
Although I recently saw an article about the Venezuelans designing female mannequins with freakishly large bottoms and chests. So I guess you can say every culture has its unrealistic expectations.
Oh, I knew that Dan…just making light of how men in ads are now groomed to the point of prettiness. 🙂
@ Principal Dan ;
Those mannequins are in use all over Southern California in the Barrios & Ghettos ~ I guess some women are supposed to think they’ll look like that if they buy those clothes…
Back then I drove VW Typ II vans, they were dirt cheap when dead and easy to make go again .
I had one 1968 Chevy 108 van until someone offered me a Chevelle for it, *gone* just like that .
The Velour always made me pause , it gets filthy very quickly and I expect any truck to earn it’s living .
Grampa’s old ‘Sin Bin’ still shows up at the local LKQ, sometimes in very good nick, others after a local low end Tradseman has used it to work out of until it needed a $500 repair .
-Nate
All those beach babes were my babysitters in ‘70s SoCal. Messed me up for life!
Most men I meet, for my work, have huge hands and no necks. Also square:
they’re as wide as they’re tall, from all angles. Hair everywhere, often not on their heads though.
No “sixpacks” either, but crates with 24 30 cl bottles.
Chrysler (especially the Dodge truck division) wasn’t afraid to get suggestive in advertising in the late 70s.Offhand, they advertised the Power Wagon, Warlock, and L’il Red Express as “Adult Toys From Dodge.”
Cool, I don’t own any of these. These “CC ad” posts always have me hitting up eBay.
I think it would be tough for me to hang that last one up in my house though.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (Australia), radio stations would have an annual competition for a lucky listener to win a customised van. It was usually built around a Ford Transit or Bedford with modified face, krazy graphics and a velour-drenched interior. Looking at this page suddenly made me wonder what actually happened to the 3XY Freedom Machine.
The people with those vans have all the fun!
That’s what they want you to think!
Those beach babes were my babysitters in ‘70s SoCal. Messed me up for life!
I like the way Ford recycled the shot of the girls ‘prancing’ out of the side of the E100 in images 3 and 4. Just ‘repainted’ the color stripe to match the main ad image. Interesting they didn’t color-coordinate the bikinis, too.
And all that skin without a tat in sight! On the beach, no less! How refreshing!
I laughed at the black Dodge with the giant gold symbol of masculinity on the side. Clearly on the prowl for an Opel or a Mustang with its counterpart on the hood.
Wow, these ads really bring back some memories. In 1978, I was in my mid 20s. I was driving a 1969 Chevelle SS396, and shopping for a Trans Am. The vanning lifestyle, as depicted in these ads, really got my attention though. I bought a slightly used 1977 Dodge van, with the “Street Van” package. It was baby blue, and came with slotted chrome wheels, white letter Goodyears, “captain’s chairs”, and chrome bumpers. It was a 3/4 ton short wheelbase with a 360, automatic, and had no windows; not even in the back doors.
I installed a sunroof, dual exhausts, and button tufted vinyl interior panels. I kept it for 20 years. I sold it, and immediately missed it. So, I bought a nice 1989 GMC Safari. I liked it so much, that I bought a new one in 2002. I still have it. I don’t think I can go through life without a van.
Interesting vans aside, the social facets to these advertisements is interesting. Granted these are ads, and everyone is beautiful, but I can’t help but guess that more people did more stuff OUTSIDE back then. Nobody does that anymore, which is why most people are fat now.
Oh man! When I see some of these vans, I absolutely LUST for them! I grew up in the 80s when the minivan was on the rise, but always had a fascination for automotive trends of the mid 60s thru the early 80s. That blue shorty Dodge with the slot mags and side pipes is TOTALLY my bag, and you have no idea how eager Id be to rock that! Granted, Im a Mopar man but most all the Dodges shown here really strike a chord with me. Im just enough of a cheeseball to rock the one with the male symbol on it!
But the last one AND the nekkid chick…yes please!
I’ll buy that Dodge van! I guess I will have to add some racy ads to the mix. 1956 Pontiac.
I know Pontiac was trying hard to shake off their dowdy image around this time, but wow…
And let us not forget this ad for the 1939 Cadillac limousine. The verbiage has changed in its meaning.
Ha! Your 2 posts made my day!
My money says the 1956 Pontiac is a recent digital fake, not to be found in any magazine (that typeface not seen in 1950s advertising), but I’ll welcome anyone proving me wrong .
CC effect: I saw an original unrestored Street Van on Valencia St in SF last night but it was too dark to take a photo set.
A friend’s dad bought a new Dodge Tradesman van in 1976 (318/auto) and did all the customizing work himself. He was very good at building and designing things, and he did a great job on the van. Oval side windows – check. Fully carpeted interior – check. Wraparound seat in the back that converted to a bed – check. Shelves and cupboards – check. Great stereo with a fine selection of tapes including Led Zeppelin – check. He kept it for about 10 years before selling it to someone down the street, and it was around for a long time after that. I remember the van ads from the ‘70’s, and I always thought they were cool; unfortunately my dad did not feel the same way about vans. Oh well. And thumbs up for the classic Playboy ad. 👍👍
I’ll leave the past/present social criticism to others; I went looking for period photos on eBay, and it was far easier to find images of customized interiors (the age of shag carpet) than anything streetside:
all of the best vans had portholes 😉
I loved these vans when I was a kid. The Ford vans in the silver, purple, black and orange are absolutely iconic for me as these ads were everywhere back in the day. These along with the Crusing Wagon Pintos just scream 1976. However, the Dodge “Streetvans” had it all over the Cruising Wagon vans. I just loved the styling of these vans back then and the packages they offered were rather nice. I was too young to buy one back then and few survived intact, at least in this part of the country.
They may have been inspired by 1960s hippie vans, but as I recall they were generally referred to as Surfer Vans in the 1970s. At least in Southern California.
My brother had a black stripo ’77 Chevy van in the 80’s. He spray painted the roof and hood white before driving it from DC to CA and back. He got to help all his friends move, plus his rock band gigs.
Very inclusive of Dodge to feature an amputee.
Amazing how much fun the Seventies were when you didn’t have to worry about sex killing you. Sure was for me. I feel sorry for anyone born too late for that decade.
@Syke ;
_SO_ true ! .
I had so much fun and only discovered in the 1990’s there had been a recession in 1972….
My Harley Pan Head burned regular gasoline and it was .32 cents the gallon .
Back then a sexual disease meant “the drip” .
-Nate
The “Playboy” ad is a fake. First, I’d have remembered it. Second, even in Playboy, American corporations kept their advertising tailored to general audiences. Third, Playboy was obsessive enough about its image and standards that the only nudity in the magazine was their 12-16 pages of pictorials.
After that, there’s the lack of fine print, the Chrysler Corporation logo and (on a large enough monitor) the telltale signs that the girl, the van and the slogan came from three different sources.
I like boobs!
Yeah! Piss off Mike!
Back in the day, a guy owning and driving one of these vans was making a statement. Coke and sex available on-site. Neither more nor less.
A buddy bought a used but tidy van in high school (mid/late ‘70s). Not particularly customized, but it had the deep shag carpeting on all vertical and horizontal interior surfaces, and closed curtains on the back windows. A basic medium blue SWB late model Ford, with fancy wheels and tires. A little jacked up in back/lowered in the front, to give it a bit of a rake. Instant reputation, which quickly turned into reality. Some girls’ moms absolutely freaked out when he showed up out front to pick up or to drop off their daughters. Everyone knew how it all worked…
The first book that comes to mind is Tom Couch’s U-R What You Drive—a 1980s exercise (some of which has aged very badly) in pointing and laffing at crude stereotypes. It can be viewed and read in its entirety here on the photo-illustrator’s website (click any page for larger, then navigate forward and backward with the arrows at the left and right edges of the page). Or if you don’t want to, here are the relevant three pages:
Funny, though dated and overly stereotypical, as you said.
But not as badly dated as this, and it’s still up on the website:
http://www.joesherlock.com/Eight-Americas.html
The quote “Without chemicals life itself would be impossible” is from our good friends at Monsanto not our good friends at Dupont.
Your comment reminded me of the ‘Zinc Oxide ‘ school science documentary satire from ‘Kentucky Fried Movie’
Or brown 25 from The groove Tube :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=008BPUdQ1XA
Jesus I’m old .
-Nate
It’s an underappreciated form. I’d like to get all my information from short documentaries.
The second book that comes to mind is more singularly focused; it’s Douglas Kent’s “Van People: The Great American Rainbow Boogie”. Published right on time in 1977. It’s a hell of a trip. Out of print, of course; lookit here for if-you-rilly-rilly-want-it pricing, or here (then click “View this lot”) to see some of its pages. Front and back cover attached here.
“Where’s the guy selling coke? He’s usually right here on this corner”…Maybe we can get him on the CB
I ate that $2.95 Rib-Eye Steal in Reno and I want you to know that was gristley and chewy with some steak flavor.
When I was in the Junkyard business we took in lots of vans including many personalized and modified ones. The saddest one was tastefully customized Ford that had once been a show winner and had been featured in Rod and Custom magazine. It had a wild orange paint scheme and Dayton wire wheels. It wasn’t completely horrible. It looked as though the owner had lost interest in it or died and it went from being pampered to neglected and stored outside long enough to knock the gloss off of it until someone decided that it had to go. It had lots of neat van goodies installed but no one seemed interested and I don’t think we sold a single part off it. We packed it full of scrap steel and loaded it onto the flatbed trailer with a bunch of stripped Crown Victoria taxi cabs and sent it to the shredder over at Schnitzer Steel.
One of the more indelible van images is from Fast Times at Ridgemont High when Spicoli (a young Sean Penn) and his stoned buddies tumble out of the back of a van in a cloud of weed smoke.
I was a smart-assed kid in the late 70s and I called these things ‘Disco Sex Boxes’. Even my folks got into the van braze and bought a ’78 B200 Dodge with all the trimmings and a 318. Whomever customized it somehow punctured the gas tank so it couldn’t be driven with more than half a tank or the gas fumes made you have to roll the windows down. No, dad never got that fixed, he was that kind of guy.
A friend of mine pulled up to a neighbour’s yard to pick up his daughter in one of these shaggin’ wagons. His name (the neighbour) was Big Al and for good reason. And he looked after his daughter. Big Al came out to the van, folded his arms, placed them into the open window, looked my buddy square in the eye and simply said “Don’t ever show your face on my yard again”. And he didn’t! But have we laughed over that!
All those beach babes and hunks are in their seventies now. Our younger readers should realize: those people are your grandparents.