The 1970s van craze is considered the successor to the muscle car craze begun in the ‘60s, as muscle cars were choked for power and new emissions and insurance rules played an increasingly big role. The kids still wanted cars that expressed their personalities (and coolness), though, and while first adopted by California surfers, vans soon became a nationwide phenomenon. Here on craigslist from British Columbia for $30,000CN, we have a restored 1978 Dodge Street Van that the seller claims is a genuine factory example. A warm thank you to Rocco B for the tip.
In 1976, Dodge introduced the Street Van package as part of its fantastically named Adult Toys marketing campaign. The campaign also included the Dodge Warlock pickup and, eventually, the Lil’ Red Express. What makes the Street Van interesting is that Dodge chose to openly sell the van as a starting point, not the final product. Dodge even supplied buyers with patterns and instructions to customize their van’s rear interior themselves and make it their own. Dodge leaned into the moment, and with the Street Van serving as just the beginning of a project, the vans more often than not evolved into rolling bachelor pads, with porthole windows and murals inside and out, plus ever more custom interiors.
Our featured car is the much-desired “shorty” van, a short-wheelbase model with the 318 V8 and a three-speed automatic. The interior has been fully redone but stays true to the period, and the ad includes some fair photos of its overall grooviness. The seller also includes several photos of automobilia for the van life; I assume those come with the van, but he doesn’t specifically say so, so it’s worth confirming. He’s got extra parts available, and says he’s only selling because it’s parked in his garage and doesn’t get the attention it deserves. It is attention-getting for sure; it’s a sharp-looking van.
The final year for the Street Van option was 1981, and just two short years later, in 1983 (for the ’84 model year), Dodge would roll out its new (and game-changing) Dodge Caravan, which decidedly did not offer a Street Van package. They’d fully flipped the van from a counterculture symbol to the quintessential family vehicle designed specifically to fit in your suburban garage. Here’s your chance to grab some of that counterculture for yourself for the price of a trip to British Columbia. Did anybody participate in the van culture in the ‘70s?
The whole point of these was what you could do in the back. Which was what led to a need for a family minivan a few years later…
I knew a guy with an orange van in 1975. He had a cb radio in it too. Said he didn’t know how the cb worked.
“If the vans a rockin’ don’t come knockin’ was the tag line for these vans.