Most of the conversion vans we feature have been converted early in life to the righteous rides they now are. Loaded with shag carpeting and louvers, these vans would never be mistaken with a working truck – but this 1972 Dodge B100 here on eBay was formerly a staid, simple workhorse for the Stella Fire Department in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Because of its fire department past, the seller claims it has a tick over 12,000 original miles.
The low mileage claim is not surprising considering how many mothballed ex-fire department trucks we’ve featured over the years. The seller is able to document what mileage it was showing at different points in its ownership history, which helps connect the dots. Despite its low miles, it’s no longer original, with the custom “Bonnet Yellow” paint along the bottoms of the body and the side windows and roof vent cut into the body.
These alterations don’t bother me in the least, as they’re perfect for a van of this vintage. The rear window louvers are period-correct as well, and the underside looks incredibly clean. The seller has addressed a few standard maintenance needs, including flushing all of the fluids, replacing the brakes and master cylinder, and added new wheels and tires. Personally, I’m struggling a bit here to forget how cool it would have looked in fire department regalia with steel wheels and hubcaps.
The seller notes the van is powered by the venerable 225 slant-six, paired to a three-speed column shift manual. No mechanical issues are reported, and I’m not surprised – this is one of the more long-lived motors in Mopar’s history. This low-spec trim makes sense for a vehicle in the service of a municipality, and I’m tempted to see if someone returns it back to stock condition, complete with fire department emblems on the doors. Would you restore it or leave it mildly custom?
Love the van. To bad they painted the bottom doodoo brown.
Cool van, and the engine/tranny combo is perfect. I’d personally fill in the bubble side windows, ditch the louvers, and repaint it a solid color (the orange is fine, but the baby-poo yellow is terrible).
Living in the rust belt it would make sense the go over that bottom color with some bedliner, might buy you a few more years of service.
Agreed, it’s clean but that bubble is a wart. Hit the rockers with flat black and it’d be perfect
I have a friend that put over a million miles on one of these vans. You just can’t kill em . They will rot away if you let them. With that said I would cover baby crap brown areas with a coat of black Rhino Liner. Rust is like racing, get ahead stay ahead, win.
Everyone gives the slant six a hard time, but they aren’t that bad, and you CANNOT kill them. Honestly, I think a 225 with a hotter cam, some head work, new intake and carb, and headers would be more interesting than just dropping in a Mopar V8.
I have to say, that you can kill a slant 6. I’ve done it twice, in my misspent youth. First one, 1960 dart wagon, ran it out of oil. But, I did drive it at highway speeds, twice, for about 10 miles before it succumbed. Hole in the block the size of a silver dollar. And it still ran, just no power. I was trying to place that knocking noise… Second one, 1970 Dart, had a hole in the exhaust manifold (oddly enough, again the size of a silver dollar.) Ran it about an hour at 85mph. Still ran, but not well at all. Think I fried the valves. Ah, the idiocy of youth!
That’s exactly what I’d do Jeff! I think hot rodded in-line sixes are very cool and it’s easy to bolt on a 2v or 4v intake and headers. The cam would be that much better but even just bolting on better breathing, you’d have a fun set up and one that’s easy to work on.
Garry, I also killed one but not by trying.
I bought a 1975 Dart and on the way home some of the pushrods bent.
I will stick to V8s. I have good luck with them, not so much with 6 cylinders, any 6 cylinders.
I would like to see underside rocker and rear corner pics if I were bidding.Also the interior shots would be good too.
This would be a great Van to cruise in with the side door windows making lane changes easier than if it were a panel. $7,000 starting price seems just right.
NAPA also sells classic wiper blades in aluminum to finish it off.
Cool van that made it unmolested soooo long til the current owner had to screw it up with a mismatched two tone paint job, cut holes in the side and top and screwed big ugly side mirrors on it. What a shame. The only thing he did that isn’t too bad is the wheels. At least the can be changed easily if they don’t suit the new owner’s tastes…
Get ready for the roof to leak. The vent looks like it was poorly installed..
This would make a great wheelchair van
for my MIL. Just fab up a 2-piece fold
out ramp, some tie downs for the chair,
and you’re good to go. The 225 CID
slant 6 is cheap to keep and will run
pretty much forever. My uncle owned
one identical to this one, only his was
an early factory conversion. It had all
the bells and whistles for ’72 and since
he was a professional bowler, his van
served him well for many years. He
finally sold it with over 200K miles
showing. A great buy that would never
run out of uses.
I’d have to make a few changes. On the top of the list would be the addition of P/S and P/B, which the van currently lacks. I’d also convert to a 2bbl intake/Carter BBD. There’s a couple of small blemishes that need to be jumped on – other than that, I’d leave it alone.
Oddly, I’m a fan of manual steering. I much prefer manual brakes, though!
I would also prefer a 318. They just don’t have to work as hard getting down the road. As long as you are not towing a heavy trailer, they are adaquate for any road use. I had a later model 3/4 ton with a fuel injected 360 that we used to move my boat crews around, wonderful economical vehicle……………..the power steering thing, In 1972, my grandparents bought a new Dodge that they custom ordered………without power steering but with a 440 engine. (My Dad thought they were crazy) one morning my school teacher grandmother was surely driving Mach 2 (as usual) on her way to the rural school she worked at. She hit a large dog in the road, the wheel tore out of her hands, she launched over a raised irrigation ditch and 200 yards across a lawn hitting the corner of a house. She was pretty beat up but survived…….if she had power steering, she would have had a chance of controlling the car at least better………..the other story I have is my buddy and high school teacher bought a new 1968 crew cab Power Wagon (before power steering was available in Powerwagons) . One night returning from hunting, the front end dropped into a large rut or pot hole sending him careening 1/2 mile down a steep mountainside after breaking his thumb. Someone noticed his lab near the road the next morning and discovered the wreck after he spent the night in the truck. Power steering is a safety item absolutely nessisary particularly with large tires and heavy vehicles.
Ha ha. The bubble side windows look an awful lot like a certain burned desert van from the movie Van Nyes Boulevard but turned on their sides.