Car Lust

End of the (Econo)Line: The Ford E-Series van

When word came down a couple of months ago that Ford was discontinuing its venerable Econoline van -- known since 2001 as simply the E-Series -- the news was greeted with consternation and dismay by large swaths of the American public. Newspapers carried the story on Page 1 and the airwaves were filled with vitriol at Ford's unfortunate decision and high-minded praise for a vehicle that has been a crucial part of the American road for over 50 years -- not to mention the best-selling full-sized van since 1982. Indeed, the reaction was so strong that we here at Car Lust simply had to finally take notice and deliver a post to you, the CarLusting public, commenting on the unfortunate demise of this mainstay of automotive Americana.

Okay, I made most of that up. There wasn't much reaction at all and, for what it's worth, I found all of 3 news stories regarding the decision, none more than a few paragraphs long. True, full-sized vans don't generally get that much attention anymore, certainly not since the minivan made its appearance and caused us all to bemoan (or celebrate) the day when we became minivan-driving-soccer-moms/dads, or when the SUV started grabbing a significant market share leading to all sorts of smackdown by partisans on either side.

It doesn't get many props, the humble cargo van, but chances are you've either used one or depended on one at some point, probably recently, and often never even noticed it. They're a staple of commercial fleets for hauling cargo, for use as mobile workshops by all manner of craftsmen, and have been a staple of various organizations for hauling people around. But now, as it is about to fade into memory let's take a few minutes to, well, notice it for once.

1985: It Was a Very Good Year!

It was "Morning in America," a time when men were real men, women were real women, and hair was real big. Ronald Reagan had just been sworn in for his second term after winning one of the most lopsided Presidential elections in American history. and the "national malaise" of just a few years before had been replaced by a mood of confident optimism. Technology was on the march: personal computers now had floppy drives and 12 MHz processors, fully-functional mobile phones were down to the size of a box of Girl Scout cookies, and used DeLoreans were being retrofitted with aftermarket flux capacitors. On the big screen, besides the one with the time machine, we had Out of Africa and Witness and The Breakfast Club and Rambo: First Blood Part II. On the small screen, you had The Cosby Show and Hill Street Blues and MacGyver.

On the radio was Springsteen, Madonna--this was way before Nirvana--there was U2, and Blondie, and music still on MTV. The cars then were old school, and you might think them uncool, but this post will be occupied with cars of Nineteen Eighty-Five.

Great (?) Commercials--Subaru of America's "The New Look" (1969)

In the grand cinematic tradition of the action-packed Corvair in Action!, the romantic Koers Amerika met de Holland-America Line, the harrowing Death to Weeds, the insanely comic Inside Story of Modern Gasoline, and the groundbreaking classic Your Name Here, comes director Malcolm Bricklin's 1969 magnum opus, The New Look:

My comments come after the jump.

Old Fords Week: America's Ford Falcon

Don't let its humble looks fool you. America's Ford Falcon started out as a late 1950s economy car, then became America's most-loved 1960s pony car, morphed into a compact and sporty coupé/sedan for the 70s, and finally retired in garish style in the early 1980s. Except for one small exception.

And along the way, the Falcon was a two-door coupé, a four-door sedan, a convertible, a station wagon, a van, and, oh yeah, a Ford Ranchero.

This versatile compact (Not sub-compact, as was the Pinto) platform began life as Ford's answer to the small import cars that were trickling their way into America in the late 1950s. The VW Beetle, Toyotas, Datsuns, and a few British cars more than hinted at sensibility and thrift. This was a novel idea on American roads at the time, as most 1950s and 60s cars were getting longer, lower, and wider.

But the 1950s' Suez Crisis got a lot of people thinking, especially in Europe. The thought of petrol-miserly cars caught on quickly over there and has remained to this day. That happens over here only when gas prices go up. Then they go back down, and we go back to where we were.

A 1966 GMC Value Van

When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, sometimes I think of vans... sin bins, rolling pleasure palaces, hotel rooms on wheels, whatever. That's what many of them were back them, and the freedom of driving a rolling mansion (Or at least part of one) during our first energy crisis was an All-American event that is sadly all but gone today.

When we think of a Chevy Van, maybe a large vehicle with a rounded profile, lots of windows, and maybe a sliding side door comes to mind. Sammy Johns immortalized them in his 1974 song "Chevy Van." "I gave a girl... a ride in my wagon."

Also when we think of Chevy vans, we don't normally think of GMC vans. But they are essentially one and the same, and a very unique one is our subject for today.

Project: 2001 Dodge Caravan headlight lens restoration

On a steamy July night I decided it was time to fix the headlight lenses on my 2001 Dodge Caravan. As you will see in the videos, over time they have gotten very dingy and yellowed. My solution to the problem was to use 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System which is available through our hosts here on Amazon.com and for my final step I used Meguiar's #10 Clear Plastic Polish.

I used the Meguiar's #10 because I have that on hand from polishing the windshield on my motorcycle. Another final step option is Meguiar's PlastX Clear Plastic Cleaner and Polish which might have a wider application of uses, but I didn't have any on hand.

The 3M system is awesome in that it uses a drill to do all the work. I had previously attempted this project on my wife's car by hand with other products (a hand sanding kit with multiple grits and polishing compound) and halfway through the first lens my arms were shot, and the lens was only about 20% better, not nearly totally clear like they are with this 3M setup.

The first video is an overview of the project. You'll see in it that it was about 95F and 75% humidity on the night I chose to do this project. And my garage is NOT air conditioned.

The second video shows the stage by stage progress as I clean the second lens. I am very satisfied with the final product, and will soon be doing this for my wife's 1996 Honda Civic.

--Big Chris

Face Off--Chevrolet Astro/GMC Safari vs. "Dustbuster" Minivans

In our past face-offs, we've compared cars that were generally considered desirable, but that's not really the case this time around. As befitting our minivan theme this week, I'm pitting against each other two GM minivans--the Chevrolet Astro/GMC Safari rear-wheel-drive minvan vs. the radically styled front-wheel-drive Chevrolet Lumina APV/Pontiac Trans Sport/Oldsmobile Silhouette (colloquially known as the "Dustbuster" minivans due to their unique profile).

I will elaborate on the two options and reveal my choice after the poll and the jump.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Minivan=Swagger Wagon

Minivans--for manly men only. What says virility better than pulling up in your ride filled with your offspring? 

0:22--He nails the look of fear.

0:30--"I roll hard through the streets and the cul de sacs..."

0:58--Pegged the cute meter

1:13--Keep the pinkie up!

1:53--PB&J just keepin' it real.

2:27--Nothing quite like spiking a child's toy to emphasize your level of cool.

Don't hate the playa, hate the game...where my mother-fathers at?

--Big Chris

The Rise of the Minivan

The minivan we all know and love (or loathe) today did not simply pop into existence. The story of how the North American minivan came to be is actually a long and complicated one, wrapped up in the story of vans and commercial vehicles in general, with a few twists and turns along the way.

Early motor vehicles evolved from horse-drawn wagons. Fairly early on, it became established practice to stick the motor under a hood out in front of the driver's position. If it was a passenger car, you added seats in the area beside and behind the driver; for a cargo-carrier, put a low bed or enclosed box on the rear end. It wasn't until deep into the 1920s before it became common practice to provide the passenger space with an all-weather enclosure.

The sense of putting everything--motor, driver, passengers, and cargo--in a single streamlined enclosure seems obvious to us today, but it didn't occur to anyone to try it until the 1930s. The Stout Scarab which my colleague Anthony Cagle has so ably described was one of the first "monobox" designs, and is clearly the oldest vehicle that's recognizably something we might now call a minivan.

At about the same time that William B. Stout was fashioning the unibody of the first Scarab, maverick architect and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller--the closest thing to a mad scientist this country has ever produced--was building prototypes of his three-wheeled, eleven-passenger Dymaxion Car. I won't go into a great amount of detail about the Dymaxion right now--it really deserves its own post--but suffice it to say that in function, though not in form, it was, like the Scarab, something of a proto-minivan. Like the more conventional Scarab, the Dymaxion never got past the prototype stage.

The idea of a high-utility "one-box" vehicle languished until after World War II, when those nerdy German engineers produced a clever and compact multipurpose vehicle:

Car Lust Classic--A Minivan is Better Than What You're Driving

This post was originally published by David Drucker on Aug. 22, 2008--to comment, please visit the original post and comment there.

I don't care what your current ride--or even pie-in-the-sky dream ride--might be. A minivan is better. "But wait!" (I can hear you say)... "A minivan will make me look, well, like a minivan-driving loser." Get over yourself. If your self-image is based on what you drive, just put a Ferrari Owners Club license plate frame on the minivan. Awestruck onlookers will assume that your Ferrari is in the shop, which it probably would be anyway.

This post was originally published by David Drucker on Aug. 22, 2008--to comment, please visit the original post and comment there.

I don't care what your current ride--or even pie-in-the-sky dream ride--might be. A minivan is better. "But wait!" (I can hear you say)... "A minivan will make me look, well, like a minivan-driving loser." Get over yourself. If your self-image is based on what you drive, just put a Ferrari Owners Club license plate frame on the minivan. Awestruck onlookers will assume that your Ferrari is in the shop, which it probably would be anyway.