Well There‘s Your Problem
Hosted by Liam McAnderson
Original podcast
what is your vansona sound off in the comments full episode on PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/van-episode-vans-157809711
1,679 words · 2 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
Oh, yes.
This is like, I would say, I mean, like, so the word van is a shortening of the word caravan, which basically just meant any wagon that carried cargo. The first vans were basically just like early motor cars with a box on the back.
With a box on tops, right, sure.
This is from Mercedes-Benz. This is based on the Benz Victoria.
Yeah, yeah, it's a single cylinder, like, five horsepower, belt-driven, two, two-speed car that they just, like, plopped a box on.
That it's like, this was basically all vans up until more or less like...
Like the war?
Yeah, pretty much, because like, the, like, basically if you hauled around stuff, you either had a trailer or a truck, there wasn't really like the modern conception of van, because there was like the line between what a car was and what a truck was was kind of blurry anyway. Until we started to develop things like unibodies, or, you know, actual suspension that wasn't just leaf springs and stuff like that, so. Um, next slide, please.
Did I go too far?
I would argue...
Look at this beauty!
Yeah, this is, this is what I would say is like the first van. I should also note that like, from here on out, almost every picture in this presentation is one of mine that I've shot, that I've actually seen this vehicle. So this is from the storage garage behind the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee.
That's sick.
Yeah, they have an incredible collection. They have the largest collection of Tatra's of anybody in North America.
Nice.
Which is why I was there, because I was like, they've just got like 12 of them just sitting around.
Never knew you were gonna need them.
Huh?
Said never know when you're gonna need it.
Well, yeah, I mean, they technically speaking, they're kind of like sitting on their asses because they're supposed to be out there killing Nazis, but I think we're a little late if we're if we're trying to roll those back out. Uh, but anyway, this is kind of like the first van. This is a Citroen uh, H van. They've made a bunch of different variants of it. But like this came out in nineteen forty-seven, basically immediately after World War Two.
The war, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Um, it is a unibody. It is built as cheaply as possible. It's based on kind of the same.
It looks like it's made of siding.
Yeah, yeah, it's like, it's basically just like a box truck. Uh, made of like corrugated shed metal because that's what they had in France after uh, World War Two. Uh, are you familiar with the Dochevo?
Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It basically the same concept as that. We took an agricultural motor.
Cheaply as possible.
Yep.
Right.
It does forty miles an hour and you can drive it over like bombed out roads. Um, so kind of the perfect car for post-Trump America.
Yeah, once we get Fallout season three, yeah.
A Fallout game set in Philly would be cool, honestly.
I'd play that.
Yeah. Um, but so they didn't really solve any of these outside of mainland Europe because like the
Why would they have? Right?
Yeah, like this, this was not, I, the only time I've ever seen one of these in America outside of the Lane Motor Museum's collection, which obviously just have a bunch of like important stuff for historical sake. Um, I saw one of these. I believe it was a Smirnoff Ice sponsored vehicle at the first Pride Parade I ever went to in Houston, Texas.
That's fun. I like that.
It's suited for parade usage as a uh, drinks vehicle.
It's like Jay's Bart car thing with the face.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, they're kind of anthropomorphic. They got like a little, they, the, the dual, um.
The headlights.
Yeah, the headlights, it's kind of got, it's kind of like the mustache with the, um.
It looks French.
Badge. Yeah, it is, it's so French. Um, but yeah, this is kind of like, I would say is like the first successful van in that it was designed specifically to be a van. It wasn't just a box thrown on top of another car. Um. But, uh, next slide, please.
Oh, hi, Bert.
Oh, hey, Bert.
Oh, look at the hell of flush.
Yeah. Yeah, that's actually, this is, this is a, obviously a Volkswagen transporter, uh, which I think everybody knows is kind of like the bus, microbus, mini bus. You know, the van, the hippie van, whatever, like, whatever your cultural references for it, these are pretty, I think, well known. Um, it's debuted in, I want to say like 1950 in Europe and they made it their way over here and they immediately exploded. Uh, because they did have just enough power to be used in American roads. They got really good gas mileage because it's the same, it's basically like.
It's a car, isn't it?
Yeah, it's like, it's a Beetle. It's the same wheelbase as a Beetle. It's the same, for, for the early ones, it's the same, um, rear-engined, air-cooled four-cylinder. It's really easy to park. It's very easy to see out of. It's extremely roomy inside. Nobody was really making or selling anything like this in the US beforehand. And, uh, these, these blew up. They sold like a trillion of these. Um.
And now you can have the ID buzz if you so choose.
Yeah, well, we will now repackage the nostalgia and sell it back to you for $70,000.
For $70,000 and it's electric, ugh.
Um.
Uh, make a GTI, uh, then.
Yeah, we were talking about this on Trey Gurlisbo, uh, because Liam was also on my show like this past week. Um, but, uh.
Golf R van, yes.
You know, do you remember the old Euro vans?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, they should bring those back, like a Golf R drive, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They still sell the transporter in Europe, they just don't sell it here. Which is actually something that we can get into, because I've got a bunch of notes on it. But anyway, this picture is from the pretty legendary Cars and Coffee, uh, in, what's the park? The big park in Los Angeles. Uh, you know.
Like Century? No.
No, it's like, it's, it's, I don't know, it's the, it's the big park in Los Angeles they do the car meet at once a month.
No, but no, but he's dead, so.
Uh, it's too bad.
Everyone's dead, that's why we're the only ones left.
Socialism incident.
Yeah, but this is, it's, this one is actually specifically on, uh, Fuchs, which are the Porsche wheels.
It was hard to sell. Of course, these used to be like five dollars and now like.
It looks sick.
If you want a cool, like, you know, sixties Volkswagen van, it costs twelve trillion dollars.
Yeah, it's a billion dollars, yeah.
Yeah, um.
Or you can buy the electric one for seventy K.
With no cup holders for the rear seats either.
The what?
Uh huh.
Well, the thing is, right, is like, the new, the new ID Buzz was developed for Europe first, primarily as a cargo van, kind of like the original Volkswagen van. But, uh, they knew they couldn't import the US as a cargo van for reasons I will get into very shortly. So you're like, oh, we'll do it as a passenger van. The passenger van versions in Europe have these really cool, like, air, airline style folding tray tables. Uh, but they won't pass US crash standards. So they pulled those out and then they had no cup holders left, because all the cup holders and everything you're supposed to use is in those. And they, they brought it to market and they were like, oh shit, well. Uh, I hope, I hope Americans don't eat and drink in their cars.
Do it as a deal installed option, you idiots.
Well, they do, they do now, they've got like a little clip-on cup holder that you can, you know, buy and spend extra money on your seventy thousand dollar van.
That's embarrassing.
Yeah, it is. Uh, but next slide, please.
Yeah. This is a Corvair Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier pickup, actually, but it's the same as the van.
I love the sitter in the back, too.
Yeah, this is this is inside the Lane Motor Museum.
This is the lane, right? Yep.
Yeah, they have. It is one of those things where it's like, I absolutely loathe the state of Tennessee. Uh, Nashville is my least favorite city in America by like a wide margin. Um, but it is actually worth going there to see this museum because their collection is genuinely unbelievable. Um. But, uh, but this is, this is one of their, they've got a huge French car section. They've got all these Tatas, but they have this there. Uh, and this is a very good representation of like what American manufacturers did after Volkswagen, you know, brought the transporter here is they were like, oh shit, we gotta do that.
Oh, still, oh, still, oh, still, oh, still.
Yeah. Ford did the Econoline, uh, Dodge did the A100 and Chevy did the, the Corvair van and the Corvair van is just a straight rip, right? Like it's forward control, rear engine, air cooled, like this pickup truck has the engine just below the bed. It's absolutely crazy. I don't have a picture of that, unfortunately, but I, you know, they're very pretty. Uh, they're, they're kind of like, they were like, okay, we gotta like compete with Volkswagen on their terms. So they all just ripped the idea. Um, and then. Uh, next slide, please.
Okay, so this specific van I saw at the Hot Wheels Design Headquarters in El Segundo.
Page updated October 30, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated