This trip involves my wife ,me, our '70 Chevy g10 van and my '69 triumph. We had been talking about a cross country trip for a few years and finally decided to set a date and do it.
First some background on the van. I found it on Craigslist cheap. Drove up to North GA drug it out of the woods. It was a little rough but a '70s survivor with tear drop Windows and shag interior. Perfect!
Got it home and had it on the road within a couple weeks.I do pinstriping and handpainted signs, so I wanted something for car shows and swap meets, but also use it as a daily. Drove it for a couple years, blew up an engine, swapped transmissions, and a bunch of other stuff.
After a while we decided to make it a little nicer and more comfortable, so we tore it down and started addressing the rust issues. The lower half of the cargo doors was replaced with new metal, replaced the rockers, fixed a bunch of rust around the windshield and some other small spots. Luckily my dad owns a body shop, so I was able to do all the work there with his help.
We initially tore it down around Thanksgiving with plans to head west in April, but I'm slow and this stuff always takes longer than expected for me.
Keeping it period '70s style.
April came and went, and the van still wasn't ready. We started considering other,more modern vehicles but by the time we spent the time and money to outfit something for a trip we could have just finished the van. So we pushed on.
After a few weeks of driving the van to work the bugs out we figured we were ready enough. June 17 2016 we loaded up the Triumph and some bicycles and headed west.......finally
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/chastinzkustomart/media/IMG_20160618_182315870.jpg.html]
First some background on the van. I found it on Craigslist cheap. Drove up to North GA drug it out of the woods. It was a little rough but a '70s survivor with tear drop Windows and shag interior. Perfect!
Got it home and had it on the road within a couple weeks.I do pinstriping and handpainted signs, so I wanted something for car shows and swap meets, but also use it as a daily. Drove it for a couple years, blew up an engine, swapped transmissions, and a bunch of other stuff.
After a while we decided to make it a little nicer and more comfortable, so we tore it down and started addressing the rust issues. The lower half of the cargo doors was replaced with new metal, replaced the rockers, fixed a bunch of rust around the windshield and some other small spots. Luckily my dad owns a body shop, so I was able to do all the work there with his help.
We initially tore it down around Thanksgiving with plans to head west in April, but I'm slow and this stuff always takes longer than expected for me.
Keeping it period '70s style.
April came and went, and the van still wasn't ready. We started considering other,more modern vehicles but by the time we spent the time and money to outfit something for a trip we could have just finished the van. So we pushed on.
After a few weeks of driving the van to work the bugs out we figured we were ready enough. June 17 2016 we loaded up the Triumph and some bicycles and headed west.......finally
[URL=http://s54.photobucket.com/user/chastinzkustomart/media/IMG_20160618_182315870.jpg.html]