Restoration Dreams!
Like I said before, we have very high hopes for this van. The
whole idea is to get the van back to original "show-room" condition on the
outside, the inside, well, that is a different story! The color of the van right now
is sort of a burgundy metallic, we plan on restoring the original color, red.
The interior of the van is really hard to tell what it was originally, there may have not
been anything! But we plan on upholstering the inside with a dark gray or black
velour, a heck of an improvement from the wood paneling that is in there right now!
The floor of the van is covered with plywood and shag carpeting, something that has to
go! The idea that we have is to lay a hardwood floor (like the bed of a pick-up
truck) up to the rear of the front seats. Very custom! The floor from the back
of the front seats to the firewall is still up in the air... We would like to get the
original seats in there too, rather than the blue high back seats that are there now!
And of course all the rubber around the windows and doors needs to be replaced,
hello Mac's Auto Parts!! We would like to update the brake system to four wheel disk, but
I am having a heck of a time finding anyone that makes brake updates for that vehicle, but
I'll keep looking. The suspension needs to be updated, possibly coil overs in the
front and updated leaf springs in the back....that's still up in the air too, and again I
cant find the parts! The engine already has some mods: a four barrel
Holley carb, updated headers and cam. That can stay like that, since the original
carb was a single barrel! The exhaust system may need some slight mods from the
headers back, glass-packs might have a nice sound to them, or maybe even side pipes....hmm.
The rims are circa 1972, and they look cool on the van, so they can stay...unless we want
to take the thing to car shows, then the original wheels will go on, we have the hub caps,
so there is not too much of a problem there...
Are we dreaming or what?
Personal Background
Trials and Tribulations
