BONUS Episode 55 PREVIEW: Another Van Episode

what is your vansona sound off in the comments full episode on PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/posts/van-episode-vans-157809711

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Liam McAnderson?

  Oh, yes.

• 0:02Speaker 01

  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.

• 0:19Liam McAnderson?

  With a box on tops, right, sure.

• 0:22Speaker 01

  This is from Mercedes-Benz. This is based on the Benz Victoria.

• 0:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, it's a single cylinder, like, five horsepower, belt-driven, two, two-speed car that they just, like, plopped a box on.

• 0:41Speaker 01

  That it's like, this was basically all vans up until more or less like...

• 0:48Liam McAnderson?

  Like the war?

• 0:49Speaker 01

  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.

• 1:16Liam McAnderson?

  Did I go too far?

• 1:17Speaker 01

  I would argue...

• 1:18Liam McAnderson?

  Look at this beauty!

• 1:20Speaker 01

  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.

• 1:40Liam McAnderson?

  That's sick.

• 1:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, they have an incredible collection. They have the largest collection of Tatra's of anybody in North America.

• 1:48Liam McAnderson?

  Nice.

• 1:49Speaker 01

  Which is why I was there, because I was like, they've just got like 12 of them just sitting around.

• 1:55Liam McAnderson?

  Never knew you were gonna need them.

• 1:57Speaker 01

  Huh?

• 1:58Liam McAnderson?

  Said never know when you're gonna need it.

• 2:01Speaker 01

  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.

• 2:24Liam McAnderson?

  The war, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 2:25Speaker 01

  Yeah. Um, it is a unibody. It is built as cheaply as possible. It's based on kind of the same.

• 2:32Liam McAnderson?

  It looks like it's made of siding.

• 2:34Speaker 01

  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?

• 2:49Liam McAnderson?

  Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 2:51Speaker 01

  It basically the same concept as that. We took an agricultural motor.

• 2:55Liam McAnderson?

  Cheaply as possible.

• 2:55Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 2:56Liam McAnderson?

  Right.

• 2:57Speaker 01

  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.

• 3:07Liam McAnderson?

  Yeah, once we get Fallout season three, yeah.

• 3:12Speaker 01

  A Fallout game set in Philly would be cool, honestly.

• 3:15Liam McAnderson?

  I'd play that.

• 3:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. Um, but so they didn't really solve any of these outside of mainland Europe because like the

• 3:21Liam McAnderson?

  Why would they have? Right?

• 3:23Speaker 01

  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.

• 3:45Liam McAnderson?

  That's fun. I like that.

• 3:46Speaker 01

  It's suited for parade usage as a uh, drinks vehicle.

• 3:51Liam McAnderson?

  It's like Jay's Bart car thing with the face.

• 3:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:57Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah, they're kind of anthropomorphic. They got like a little, they, the, the dual, um.

• 4:05Liam McAnderson?

  The headlights.

• 4:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, the headlights, it's kind of got, it's kind of like the mustache with the, um.

• 4:10Liam McAnderson?

  It looks French.

• 4:10Speaker 01

  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.

• 4:29Liam McAnderson?

  Oh, hi, Bert.

• 4:31Speaker 01

  Oh, hey, Bert.

• 4:35Liam McAnderson?

  Oh, look at the hell of flush.

• 4:37Speaker 01

  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.

• 5:10Liam McAnderson?

  It's a car, isn't it?

• 5:11Speaker 01

  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.

• 5:35Liam McAnderson?

  And now you can have the ID buzz if you so choose.

• 5:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, we will now repackage the nostalgia and sell it back to you for $70,000.

• 5:43Liam McAnderson?

  For $70,000 and it's electric, ugh.

• 5:47Speaker 01

  Um.

• 5:48Liam McAnderson?

  Uh, make a GTI, uh, then.

• 5:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, we were talking about this on Trey Gurlisbo, uh, because Liam was also on my show like this past week. Um, but, uh.

• 6:00Liam McAnderson?

  Golf R van, yes.

• 6:04Speaker 01

  You know, do you remember the old Euro vans?

• 6:08Liam McAnderson?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 6:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, they should bring those back, like a Golf R drive, right?

• 6:13Liam McAnderson?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 6:14Speaker 01

  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.

• 6:35Liam McAnderson?

  Like Century? No.

• 6:37Speaker 01

  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.

• 6:44Liam McAnderson?

  No, but no, but he's dead, so.

• 6:47Speaker 01

  Uh, it's too bad.

• 6:48Liam McAnderson?

  Yeah.

• 6:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:50Liam McAnderson?

  Everyone's dead, that's why we're the only ones left.

• 6:52Speaker 01

  Socialism incident.

• 6:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, but this is, it's, this one is actually specifically on, uh, Fuchs, which are the Porsche wheels.

• 7:04Speaker 01

  It was hard to sell. Of course, these used to be like five dollars and now like.

• 7:07Liam McAnderson?

  It looks sick.

• 7:08Speaker 01

  If you want a cool, like, you know, sixties Volkswagen van, it costs twelve trillion dollars.

• 7:13Liam McAnderson?

  Yeah, it's a billion dollars, yeah.

• 7:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, um.

• 7:17Liam McAnderson?

  Or you can buy the electric one for seventy K.

• 7:21Speaker 01

  With no cup holders for the rear seats either.

• 7:23Liam McAnderson?

  The what?

• 7:24Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  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.

• 8:07Liam McAnderson?

  Do it as a deal installed option, you idiots.

• 8:10Speaker 01

  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.

• 8:17Liam McAnderson?

  That's embarrassing.

• 8:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, it is. Uh, but next slide, please.

• 8:24Liam McAnderson?

  Oh, yes.

• 8:25Speaker 01

  Yeah. This is a Corvair Chevrolet Corvair Greenbrier pickup, actually, but it's the same as the van.

• 8:33Liam McAnderson?

  I love the sitter in the back, too.

• 8:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, this is this is inside the Lane Motor Museum.

• 8:38Liam McAnderson?

  This is the lane, right? Yep.

• 8:39Speaker 01

  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.

• 9:13Liam McAnderson?

  Oh, still, oh, still, oh, still, oh, still.

• 9:15Speaker 01

  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.

• 9:54Liam McAnderson?

  Oh, yes.

• 9:55Speaker 01

  Okay, so this specific van I saw at the Hot Wheels Design Headquarters in El Segundo.