This is what I want. Now and then I'll browse through the listings on Hemmings or Ebay amd dream of buying a Ford Econoline from the early sixties.
They're ugly by any modern standard, but beautiful by the "hilariously pudgy" standard. You can get one for about ten thousand, but bringing it back up to "like new" would probably cost twice that. There aren't any fancy parts inside, and the moving parts are all very ordinary, so I think most mechanics can work on them easily enough. However, finding parts may be kind of tricky. Ah well.
Possibly best of all, Early Ford Econolines look wall-eyed, like someone who's been hit on the head really hard. It gives the truck that difficult-to-achieve "derrrrr" look that creates the impression you're driving around in a semi-concussed version of the Catbus from Totoro. This is an excellent way to demonstrate to the world that you're secure with your masculinity.
RUDE FINGER GRAPHIC GIFT TIME! The trucks featured in today's post have been lovingly extracted from their backgrounds and presented to you as PNGs on transparency. You can insert them in your email sig, use them as avatars, or grab them with your mouse and go "BRRRRRRMMMMMMM!" across your computer screen. Choose the pointlessly huge 2000-pixel-wide versions or the reasonably 400-pixel-wide ones... or grab both sizes if you want to be greedy about it. Just save a few for the rest of the class.
Bonus points for the Totoro reference!
ReplyDeletecheers, non mouse (your local opera source *and* Miyazaki-san fan)
Thanks non mouse! Studio Ghibli seems to delight in animating terrifying scenes by hand (as opposed to CG), like the river spirit's bath scene in Spirited Away. The results are gorgeous, but the animators are gluttons for punishment!
ReplyDeleteWe have a neighbor who has that truck. I got to move it once. So fantastic! Pretty craptastic on gas. But SO fantastic!!
ReplyDeleteHell. And I suppose I'm not your neighbor. Didn't think so. Thanks for posting anyway, Sue!
ReplyDeleteBody parts can be difficult to find, but mechanical parts are all carried over from anything Ford related. Simple as a claw hammer.
ReplyDeleteI love those trucks. Dodge had one similar, and the Corvair line of vans and trucks is just incredible, with a flat six mounted under the cargo bed.
It made me happy when we built compact trucks.
If one of these somehow were to become my very own, I'd be torn between leaving it bone stock and painting it white with an orange stripe and putting on a set of Cragar five slot wheels. Ideally, I'd need two of these. One to leave original and one to groovify.
ReplyDeleteThanks Craig!
my dad has this van :D we've had it for about five years now and have rebuilt it. the thing runs great but sucks on gas and overheats easily but i would let my dad trade it for anything in the world!
ReplyDelete