Asking Price: $25,000
Location: Westerville, Ohio
Mileage: 113,455
VIN: E14HH68425
Seller’s Description: 1976 Ford Denim Machine Hot Rod Magazine Give-Away (1 of 10). True barn find! Super rare van from the ’70s. I’m the 3rd Owner.
In the early ’70s, with oil prices rising, the muscle car era was ending as emissions standards were put into place.
Hot Rod magazine began to pick up on the growing customized van trend (much to the eyre of some of its readers who were still focused on muscle cars and hot rods).
To celebrate the U.S. bicentennial In 1976, Hot Rod magazine teamed up with Ford, Coca-Cola, and Levi’s to give away 35 Denim Machine vans (U.S.: 10, Canada: 25).
Hot Rod magazine received 2,000,000 entries in the giveaway.
An additional 87 vans were created and used by Coca-Cola bottlers for promotion. None were ever sold to the public.
It is estimated that only 14 of these Denim Machines are still in existence.
Due to the interior being Levis’ a lot of these vans interior succumbed to mold and rot. Levi’s are holding up very well.
This van was one of the original 10 given away in the U.S.
It was won by an 11-year-old kid by the name of Paul Frownfelter from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
Since he was 11 and could not drive it the vehicle it was sold in 1977 to Charles Dalton, at a Baltimore car show.
Mr. Dalton owned the vehicle for the next 41 years and now lives in Virginia. The vehicle was discovered in some type of barn/storage in 2018 and had been sitting for several years (see attached photos).
As documented in a letter from a Denim Machine owner and “historian”, this may be the rarest of them all. The historian in the early ’90s sent a letter to the original owner, who then sent it to the 2nd owner which states, “yours may be the rarest of them all”. The letter also included the list of all 10 U.S. winners including the list of the 750 people who won Levi’s leisure suits.
There are some areas where the vehicle is missing some of the original equipment. Mr. Dalton’s wife burned her legs on the side pipes, so those were removed and running boards added. The Hooker header which was side-exit still also needed to be removed since the connection to the side pipes. The roof scoop was removed due to leakage. The Snooper Scooper radar detector was confiscated by the police. Remember radar detectors were illegal in Virginia.
It has a 351 Windsor with automatic transmission and Hurst Floor Shifter and a shift kit.
There has been one repaint done to it but it was done consistently to match the original color and graphics. There is some fading and patina. The vehicle was Ziebarted and spent much of it’s time in the temperate states of Maryland and Virginia.
The body and suspension are very solid.
As the 3rd owner, the vehicle was made operational again with a heavy focus on restoring the interior. I never cared for the original wheels, so I ended up putting on period-correct Cragar SS wheels. The vehicle shows 13,455 miles on it so I am assuming it turned over one time. It drives and handles very well. Typical with a vehicle this old, it has engine and transmission leaks, the A/C does not blow cold air. The rear driver fender flare was recently damaged when I hit the side of my garage. it has been removed and the body area repaired. The fender flare would still need to be repaired and reattached. The basic electrical does work to operate the vehicle but some of the aftermarket electrical features are not functioning including the refrigerator compressor and some of the lighting. The exterior lighted Coke sign still works on one side.
Ironically, in June of 2019 when I got the vehicle running, I took it to it’s a first car show in Columbus Ohio (won best of the show for its class).
A woman approached me and told me she was one of the other 9 winners of a Denim Machine and still has the small TV that came with it. All the documentation and information of this encounter and the above-described history is well preserved and comes with the vehicle.
The vehicle is also listed locally, so I reserve the right to end the listing at any time.
Thank you for your interest.
$25,000 or Best Offer through Sept 1
Auction Listing: Here on eBay
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