'50's panel/early '60's van as a service vehicle ?

Any of you folks currently using a 1950's panel/sedan delivery or early 1960's van as a service vehicle ? I know there are some of you using old pickups as shop trucks, but I was wondering if anyone uses (or knows of anyone who uses) something like a Corvair Greenbrier or a Dodge Panel as a road van. If so, how's the response ? And, if you are using it for your trade (electrician, plumber, drywaller, autoglass, carpenter, etc.) do you find you are catering to a certain clientel only or are you getting business from all walks of life, not just the "old car crowd" ? Reason I am asking is I have been giving thought lately to going out on my own in my trade provided Mr. Banker can help me and was thinking up ways to be recognized. If I do pursue something I'd be looking for something that would hopefully have rear door access of 54" in height. So, anyone ?

 

My dodge panel gets awesome reviews...rare body style...fun to drive...functional and cool...use it for delivering custom tee shirt orders and for selling tees and hats out of it at car shows, etc. (by the way it's for sale)

 

Oddrod ... nice panel. Good to hear it's worked out for you. I can see how it would be an eyecatcher. I was wondering however if certain tradespeople use anything of your vintage (or maybe a bit newer) to service their customers. After all, that's why these things were built 4 or 5 decades ago.

 

We drive ours anywhere we want. Services the family!

Our '50 is smaller than our '86 Burb was, measure accordingly! I can go out and measure mine if you'd like, PM me so I don't forget.

 

I think it's a neat idea, but if you go that way you need to make sure the van you choose is dead nuts reliable...it'll be a vital part of your income, so you don't want to be losing money because your van is broke down and you can't get to the jobsite. Also, assuming you need some sort of company insurance I suppose it's possible the insurance company may have problems with coverage on an old vehicle for liability reasons.

There's an electrical contractor around here who uses old hearses instead of vans for all their electricians - they aren't antiques (mostly 1980s Buicks and Cadillacs) but they're nice looking and are probably a lot more comfortable to drive around in.

 

Stuart ... thanx for the input. I've given a lot of thought to the whole "going into business" idea but have only recently considered an old van as a service truck. The insurance coverage aspect is a good point. I must ask my broker. Keep the ideas coming, folks. Shed some light onto what I may not have thought of.

 

Mine measures 43 1/2 inches inside height. Even with the rear A/C, it's same as standard.

 

There is a Chimney Sweep company in and around Parkersburg, WV that use old hearses as service vehicles (long roofs to carry latters and such!). However I don't think that just everybody would like the idea of a hearse showing up to their house or business!

 

The luring customers angle only works if it's a fun or quirky business.

If you're going into people's houses for tradesman work, you'll do far better with a new vehicle with professional looking lettering. Once you have the new vehicle, then the old one becomes more acceptable to idiot yuppies who can now realize it's a "hook" and not that you're so broke you rehabbed an ancient truck. Like it or not, idiot yuppies will represent a lot of your customer base.

Bout 8 years ago there was a glass company in milford NH that was using flat front vans, cherry red with cragars. Totally awesome looking. Guy did really good work but the company execs where I worked always cringed when he rolled up to the plant to replace a pane, they thought the old vans were dirtball. (their words, not mine)

good luck

 

Our shop truck is a 65 Econoline 5 window. It gets LOTS of attention and comments, but since we are never really looking for business I just can't say if it helps or not.

 

This is the sad,sad,sad damn truth. Not everyone "gets it"...I'm keeping my old stuff...DIE YUPPIE SCUM!!!

 

I put my first wife in a really nice '56 Buick for her real estate gig. Signs said "Classic Service" with her realty stuff on it.

Got lots of compliments.

 

I like old panels but there is a problem if you are going to use them at swap meets etc,

that is there is no side door , so you need to load everything from the back doors, and pull it out that way ,

With a van you can load half from the side doors and half from the back and its easier to get one box out if you need to.....

but a sign painted panel is so much cooler than a Van from the 60s or 70s,

Beaulieu

 

Reliability doesn't have to be an issue...put all new running gear, rewire it, modern brakes and you are good to go...doing something with a catchy logo and saying like 1950ChevySuburban's wife did is all part of marketing...depends on what you want and don't forget the enjoyment you will get driving it around...I pass a couple thousand service vehicles and trucks on Socal roads everyday but they all just blend in but the minute I see something unique it's etched in my brain.

 

not currently, but i used to to appliance repairs, and electrician work out of the 53' sedan delivery. put 40-80 miles a day on it doing that. i was fixing shit for all types of people. we didnt use it as an advertisement though, as it was my car, and not my company, and im not about to paint an advertisment for someone else on MY car. cool company though, bossman had a chopped bagged 50 shoebox, boats, 7-s racetruck for the baja 1000, a fountain boat, a vacant house on the shop property that he allowed us all to use any time as a clubhouse, ora place to take chicks when there was no where else to take them. gave us all keys and shit. i miss that job!

 

I'm looking for a station wagon to use when I go to old car swap meets and/or car shows to sell my junk. I'm thinking a 4 door station wagon might work best because of the the side door thing. I can also use it to go to cruise nights and shows just to show with all the neat ice chest and coolers and things I have been collecting. An early 60's van would be cool too!!!
Now if I can get past this housing crises!

 

Man, I admire your sentiment, but I fear Shifty has the right of it with holier-than-thou, know it all yuppies who would probably represent the greater amount of your business.
Who cares that your panel or van would cost more and be worth more than any cookie cutter box van out there, it's all about appearances and psychological trickery. If you charge more, your services are obviously worth more. SO if you drive an "old jalopy" you must be unable to afford a new van, might not be able to afford good insurance, blah-blah-blah.
It's all about appearances, at least in my experience. But, I say, "Fuck it." DO what makes YOU happy. You might not get a lot of kush gigs, but you'll be happy and look bitchin' doin' it.

 

As a guy who grew up with a lot of corvairs, I wouldn't expect any reliability at all out of a greenbriar. Not for what you're proposing.

One other thing, what works in one climate may not work in another. If I were in your shoes one of my larger concerns would be how I was gonna upgrade the wipers and defroster system to modern standards. Then you'll have a host of other details to address, like freezing locks preventing you from locking a truck full of tools without adding keyless, and all the other joys that come with operating a 50 year old vehicle in snowy, sub freezing temps.

The other thing is that reliability isn't your biggest concern with a working vehicle. It's parts availability.

good luck

 

............Just out of curiousity, what do you mean by "flat front vans" ? Are you talking early 1960's Econolines and Dodge A-100's or old milk/bread delivery vans ? By the way, you've raised a point about the yuppie-crowd.

 

Appreciate the heads-up on the 'Vair's unreliability. Love the looks of them, though. As for the point about climate, that makes a ton of sense. I'm in Ontario (Canada, not California) and had thought about winter tires and the poor heater motors, but completely overlooked the frozen lock factor. Having said that I've driven a couple of later model Astro/Safari vans that had me reaching for my lighter to heat my key on sub-zero days.

 

This is what I had in mind, except as a van. Right colour, too. Nice, by the way.

 

I think they were 60s econolines, and supposedly one of the pair was fitted with a 350 chevy. They really were cool. Honestly coulda been dodges or chevys, I never really checked em out close. But no, not a bread van, just a passenger van.

 

............... and if you do end up fitting in a '48-54 Burb, buy a Safari / Astro van and for $900 you can swap the body over. Now you get 4.3 with AC, automatic, etc....

HAHAHA Now your thinking again, I can smell it!

Shifty's brought up some very good points, but I go with the drive-what-I-want theory. You can overcome the idiot yuppies with a very sanitary, straightforward classic. Make sure the chrome's nice!

 

^^^^^Thanks man

FWIW I think there are businesses where the old vehicle would be great, the realtor story is a perfect example.

in high school I was talking over this very same idea with an old timer tradesman. He asked me what I wanted to do, did I want to be a mechanic, or be a plumber, or an electrician, etc........

His logic was once you settle on something other than mechanic, you don't have time to be a mechanic (with cost effectiveness) because your skills earn too much as a plumber/electrician/etc. From a thousand foot overview those mechanic hours don't make sense if you're in business to make money. There's only so many hours in a week, and dedicating 5 of em to keeping the van running doesn't make sense if you're busy enough those 5 hours could be charged to customers instead.

Good luck!

 

I have a 48 Dodge Panel that I'm getting ready to put on the road. I'm going to use it for my pool tile cleaning business. I'm going to put my air compressor and all my equipment in it. Also going to have an old school logo of sorts painted on the side...My thinking is that it will grab peoples attention then they will see my business name and wala more business

 

I use my '54 f100 as my wheelchair accessible daily.I dropped the floor 6" between the rails and it gives 54" clearance thru the back to the bench.Disability vehicle ain't the same as work truck I know,but people seem to love the 'Kripple Kart' & I'm sure a well turned out & well presented shop truck would really stand out from the competition.Just my opinion.Good Luck

 

Kripfink that is an awesome rig

 

if you put lots of miles on a rig as much as i love old panels,wagons,sedan deliveries... they will eventually beat you into "new service vehicle submission!" pretty hard to get that " riding on air feel" with a vintage rig. local driving in my 52' chevy panel was cool but fuck it took a couple days to stop feeling beaten up after a long road trip. guess the way to do it is to marry old with newer running gear. now where's that heating pad?

 

There you go. Go with a Wagon !!!

 

Guys/gals ..... still not giving up on my original idea yet (see my initial entry in this post). Been doing some thinking; what is the overall height measurement in an early '60's Econoline van ? By that I mean what is the floor to roof clearance inside the rear doors ? If anyone on here has one could I ask a favour and have you give it a quick measure ? Thanks.