My new tow vehicle.

[Laine73GT160]

OK it is not a boat but it will have a wild paint job with a matching Glastron and trailer.
These freaky little vans were made the year I was born and long gone by the time I started driving.
The motor is mounted behind the driver and passenger seat.  Short, light, and mid-engine, and they came from the factory with a metal box over the back axle filed with 165# of cement to hold the rubber on the road.  I have a 327 corvette motor that has been on a stand ready to run for years, waiting for the perfect little Hotrod.  Backed by modern 4- speed automatic and it will be fun, fun, fun, and drivable.  I have 2 both from AZ one low mileage excellent condition barn stored for forty years and one that sat outside for parts.  The second one has a complete nose and I may lean it back, and shorten the van for a matching trailer/camper.  But we have to think Glastron!
What color for the van?
What color for the boat trailer?
What color for the boat?
Wild, bright, 70?s, and metal flake are a must!  Sorry no shag carpet on the interior.  The van I had in high school had bright orange shag carpet that turned a sticky brown.  Someone was smoking.  This van is UN-touched and clean.  I have seen one done with the wood and chrome strips from a classic pickup truck and it was awesome dud.

[Jerry]

Ahhh the 63? Econoline. Don't let Jason see that he may want to derby it!!

Where's Harriet?

[Laine73GT160]

Jerry you?re kind of shaggy.  Do you remember how to draw flowers and please signs?

[Hyperacme]

Yep ...
Had one in high school, got her up to 60 mph once (not gps) going down a big hill but steering was so bad I had to shut her down ...
Mine had windows down the side and hauled my Honda CR125 to and from the dirt.

[Jerry]

Jerry you?re kind of shaggy.  Do you remember how to draw flowers and please signs?

Get me some Boons Farm and some good weed I can draw anything. I may have some lace though.

[Laine73GT160]

Jerry
Boons farm and weed and every cool kid in school had keys to my van there was always a party between every class. Did we go to the same school?   And rum for a coke in a windshield washer pump on tap in the dash.

I love that shade of blue.
Add silver metal flake.  For a little more of a 70?s look.
The white flower lace would make a cool wide stripe down the side of the van.
Is that a factory Glastron blue color and ascent lace flower?
White trailer with the blue metallic pin stripe.
White bottom boat, metallic blue top, white flower lace stripes,  White motor blue cover and the same wide white flower lace on the sides of the cover.

There is a new glow in the dark paint technique that would work with the flower lace.  It works best with a dark base (the blue) than the white lace stencil than ? white ? clear wet and the glow in the dark is sprayed as a powder using a powdercoat gun into the wet thinned/cut white than several coats of clear coat to cover the metal flake and glow powder than a day or two of cut and buff.  There is a blue glow in the dark powder and this stuff lasts for 6 to 10 hours.

Hyperacme
Yah I know of the questionable steering/ handling.  Ford claimed they were nose heavy.  ?A 165# weight was fitted over the rear wheels to balance the front heavy vehicle?.  Hard to believe a mid ?engine vehicle could be nose heavy.  I think it was more the short wheel base and the cab forward.  Downhill at speed the heaver back would try to pass the front.  I think I will be putting add on trailer breakers on even my small boat trailer. My first van hade the motor in the front and a longer wheel base as they all are now.  But that short cab forward looks so cool I will find a way to make it handle and tow.  60 downhill note bad a lot of them had 144 cubic inch displacement motors later 170 and 240 cid.

[Jerry]

Well, for starters the Blue is really purple. The boat is a true 50's flashback with a tach, and gauges on the dash and dual Appelton spotlights.



Take it from a guy that put a 340 MOPAR in a 40 Studebaker, and a 348 Chev in a VW Bug, They don't all fit. That little space the 6 cyl fit in isn't big enough for the wider V8. You're going to have to move the motor back behind the seats, and build a wider doghouse. The paint job is the easy part.

[Jason]

I love those old Ford vans. Been wanting one for a while. Aren?t they based on the Falcon body? I thought some of them were even called Falcon Vans. VERY COOL!

[Shorty_GT-150]

Get me some Boons Farm and some good weed I can draw anything. I may have some lace though.
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LOL! OH MY GOSH! I JUST SPEWED COFFEE OUT MY NOSE!

[dorelse]

Am I wrong or are these the vans that if you had to panic stop, the rear wheels tended to lift off the ground?  Or was that the pickup version?

When I had my Corvair, I remember the corvair club had an old ad showing how either the Ford pickup or the van would do that; where as the rear-engined Corvair pickup or Greenbriar Chevy van wouldn't with the engine weight behind the rear axle.

Supposedly that was a safety feature of the time.

[Laine73GT160]

Jerry

I love purple even better.  That is one cool, and has to be rare original (sucking up for the next question).  Is that flower lace a vinyl decal?  I still think the color and accent would work for the planed look of a tow vehicle with matching trailer and boat.  That could be seen at the local car show or Glastron club event.  Next time that beauty is out I would love to get some high quality digital photos of the color and lace.
You know this dream will be a five year project and a reasone to buy a secound Glastron but over the winter I would like to practice some of the painting.  Maybe start with the trailer I have.

Of course metallic red and a GT150 is an option.  But that purple is on the top of the list for cool classic Glastron colors.


74GlasCarlSS
Thanks yes they were the Falcon.  I was actually looking at the one outside, thinking of what it would take to fix up when the owner walked me to the barn and showed me the good one.  The original price was free to get the van out of his barn; it was taking up room for his car collection.  I spent 8 hours yesterday freeing up frozen brakes on some cool cars.  The van was in the back of the barn of course.  It?s on my patio now, no Boonsfarm or weed but I can sit in it tonight, doors open listen to the eight track and enjoy an fire on my patio, hope to have the parts one next week.  I had to pay him something.  The pair was less than my GT160 and as that barn find story go's boat, motor, and trailer $700.

Dorelse
Yes there are a lot of stories of them being poor handling creatures, but they sold allot of them from 1961 to 1967.  And they look so cool I had to have one.  Did look at the front suspension last night OH MY GOSH! I beam, kingpins, and leaf springs.  Poorly balanced, under powered, ill handling, but cute.

[dorelse]

They're definitely cool, no doubt about that.

[Jerry]

I bought some lace at the fabric store, sprayed some 3M Super 88 glue on the smooth side and rolled it on the boat. Then painted over it using the lace as a stencil, cleaned it up and clear coated.

[Rosscoe]

Those are cool and rare. Who make the one with the back chopped off and a swing down side gate? Think that was a ford. I had one as a toy. What were they thinking...going to load goats in the back?
Great tow vehicle. Are there any windows in the rear so you can back it up?
Orange shag...yuck. That is what I ripped out of the 79RV. Orange and black I thing or some other barf color mixed in. Looked like too much boonsfarm and weed in there. Full of mouse pee too. Still some inside the cabinets as that is the way they built these things. Walls and roof, then carpet, then cabinets and furniture on top of everything. NO GOOD to have around a toilet!

[dorelse]

Those are cool and rare. Who make the one with the back chopped off and a swing down side gate? Think that was a ford. I had one as a toy. What were they thinking...going to load goats in the back?
Great tow vehicle. Are there any windows in the rear so you can back it up?
Orange shag...yuck. That is what I ripped out of the 79RV. Orange and black I thing or some other barf color mixed in. Looked like too much boonsfarm and weed in there. Full of mouse pee too. Still some inside the cabinets as that is the way they built these things. Walls and roof, then carpet, then cabinets and furniture on top of everything. NO GOOD to have around a toilet!

The pickup with the side ramp, was the Corvair Rampside pickup.

[Rosscoe]

YES! i'll take one. Is the motor between the seats? Could bring a pet Llama along as a date.

[dorelse]

YES! i'll take one. Is the motor between the seats?

On the Rampside?  Nope, the motor is in the rear...you can see the vents on the side.

Its the air cooled 110 found in the corvair car of the era.

[Rosscoe]

Laine
Maybe some round yellow tinted port hole windows in the side! Snappy!

[Rosscoe]

Right
It is a corvair after all. I kinda like covairs. Especially around 65

[dorelse]

Right
It is a corvair after all. I kinda like covairs. Especially around 65

Yes, the 2nd Gen body style was a cool car.  I had a '65, and took my then girlfriend, now wife, to prom in it.  Loved it.

But...getting off the thread topic.