Event Coverage Mazi Metal's Excellent Econoline

You just flashed me to a trip in 1974,,,
My friend and I were headed to the RC Canning car show in Santa Barbara, driving the 101 with the ocean on the left and hills on the right. The vehicle? His 1965 Chevy Van, I has the truck guy. Almost every weekend was at his garage apt to work on my 65 chevy long bed and his van.
At a cross road in my life, I loaded up my truck and headed to Carson City. He continued to work on the van adding a Vista Cruiser roof, but by that time the Van scene was fading and it wasn't, according to him later, as much fun working on the old van without a friend to encourage him along.
He sold it after adding a V-8, keeping the three speed (upgraded)
But I remember the sounds and the smells of that time in my life.

 

I love the simplicity of a good road trip like this. Great old van, too!

(My fiancé happened to be in the Sacramento area last weekend, as well. She was visiting her family in Woodland. We'll have to stop at Jim-Denny's next time we're out there - Thanks!)

 

@J.Ukrop so you didn't make the big move back East with the rest of the RJ crew?

 

Great write up & video feature

 

Nice shot of Lombard St. I got a standing ovation for coming down the hill with a '74 Lincoln Town Car back in the 80's. Lock to lock on every corner.
If you in want an easy v8 swap for your Econoline you can bolt a 289 in with no mods. With the 6 out remove the saddle mount and bolt it back in by using the front hole in the saddle and the back holes in the chassis. This moves the saddle back 3 inches. Bolt in your 289 and the only thing that will not clear is the alternator. Cut a notch in the doghouse under the seat to clear. I used a 1 gal Quaker State oil can riveted to the doghouse to enclose the alt. The clutch linkage works. The throttle cable, radiator, wiring all works. For exhaust I used head pipes and mufflers from '66 mustang dual exhaust set up. Easiest swap I ever did and a great sleeper. I had a donor Mustang which made it easy but it will still work with 302 or 351. But above all, have fun with it.

 

Thanks. A real feel good post.

 

Cool van.
If Yama is hot and bothered to hot rod that six, @gimpyshotrods seems to know a thing or three as illustrated in this (pretty cool) thread:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/61-sentimental-econoline.1151567/

 

As soon as the Canned Heat music started at the beginning, I knew it was gonna be a good video! But how on earth did you get Yama to tap his foot in time with the music while eating a pop-tart? That was impressive!
Great video and it looks like the two of you had a great time!

 

Thanks for taking us along . Great video , Cool Van , Good Friends , swap meet and a great place to eat . Life is good .

 

Some Dingo boots, some cheap sunglasses and Bad Co. on the 8-track, and we are ready to go!

 

Joey,

The video was great! Excellent choice of music! The trip looked like a good time.

Steve

 

Sounds like a fun trip. Reminds me a bit of filling the back of my 57 Chevy panel full of parts and heading to the Pate Museum swap meet in the mid 70s when I lived in Texas.

 

Great illustration of how good even a simple trip can be.

 

Great van-trip-write-up! In the 90s I drove an '85 shorty chevy windowless astro van with a 350 crate motor....was a blast until the Midwest salty streets ate it...called it the Rocky Goodtime Van [TM]

 

Your buddy's van ain't a Chevy, but you get the idea.



'Cause like a princess she was laying there
Moonlight dancing off her hair
She woke up and took me by the hand
She's gonna love me in my Chevy van and that's all right with me

 

Ak Miller comes to mind for ford six mods. 250 six fit?

 

I have owned several Econoline vans back in the day and one Dodge A-100 w/t a V8, I loved them all and have a soft spot for the old Vans, if the right one came along I would like to add one to the stable, looks like you guys had a ball. HRP

 

Distorted picture of a picture my 1964 Econoline. I called it Van Gogh like the artist. And go it did, rebuilt 200cid with the 170 head built per instructions from Hot Rod Magazine. Crane cam. Holly 500 Clifford Research headers. There was a Cartoonish drawing that acompanied that magazine article so I used a overhead projector to transfer that image to both sides of the van. It got plenty of looks and thumbs up. Aah the 70's

 

Hello,
Being 20 somethings during the most hectic time in our USA history timeline from 1966-71, we were becoming influenced by those events that shook the world. We found traveling all over and rock music to soothe those awful events into the back of our minds. Our friends had vans and station wagons for traveling hotel alternatives. Our 1965 El Camino was also a traveling hotel, but it was “out in the open” style of camping.

When the big event was starting its roots in upstate New York, we read everything we could on the event and location. In a whim, my wife said that we are going across the country to the “3 days of music” event in New York. We had taken plenty of trips in the back of vans locally and this was a big one coming up. Several of our friends had similar ideas of a cross-country road trip to the festival.

As we geared up for the cross country jaunt, the news of the location, weather, masses of people already jamming the highways leading to the event seemed rather ominous. We hate traffic and huge crowds of all kinds, although we like the outdoor concerts in So Cal. But, those are usually no more than a thousand at the most. The one incident during these times was a 10000+ people event in Century City that got out of control and dissuaded us from further participation.

So, the conditions were not ripe for a cross country trip with all things considered. But, that feeling was there, (just not the gathering of so many people in such a remote area,) despite the rock music event.

Jnaki

One of our favorite songs of the era was the one on the short video you provided. It is a classic song of such a road trip.

By the way, the 50th anniversary event that was on the planning stage for this year, just got cancelled, just last week …boo hoo… It will just have to be floating in our minds and LP album, music collections. "You can't go home, again..."

Going up the Country Artist: Canned Heat
Released October 1968
"Living the Blues is the third album by Canned Heat, a double album released in late 1968. It was one of the first double albums to place well on album charts. It features Canned Heat's signature song, Going Up the Country."

"...also Goin' Up the Country is a song adapted and recorded by American blues rock band Canned Heat. Called a "rural hippie anthem", it became one of the band's biggest hits and best-known songs. As with their previous single, "On the Road Again", the song was adapted from a 1920s blues song and sung in a countertenor-style by Alan Wilson."

By August 1969, The song has been described as the "unofficial anthem" of the festival for Woodstock.

Although we would miss the concert in New York, We were well accustomed to the group, Canned Heat with their front man, Bob Hite. We saw him in an intimate concert, indoors at the Aquarius Theater in Los Angeles a year earlier.
Canned Heat - On The Road Again

"On the Road Again is a song recorded by the American blues-rock group Canned Heat in 1967. A driving blues-rock boogie, it was adapted from earlier blues songs and includes mid-1960s, psychedelic rock elements. Unlike most of Canned Heat's songs from the period, second guitarist and harmonica player Alan Wilson provides the distinctive falsetto vocal. The song first appeared on their second album, Boogie with Canned Heat, in January 1968; when an edited version was released as a single in April 1968, "On the Road Again" became Canned Heat's first record chart hit and one of their best-known songs."

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/toilet-paper-oil-filters-literally.16699/page-5#post-12511374

Econoline

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/surfer-style-wagons.312373/page-19#post-11641603 surfer style

 

Thanks { J.UKROP } that's a cool story and video. It was fun to ride along with you guys! A few years ago, my friend Timmy had a van like that. But he cut the roof off, and chopped the windshield. One night he took his wife for ice cream in it. As she got in she cut her head on the windshield post. The next day Timmy called, and gave it to me. lol We had a lot of fun with the old Vanvertible. {Just a note}, the cut wasn't all that bad, and he got it back too. Ron...