Junkyard Gem: 1978 Dodge Tradesman Custom Van

The custom-van craze
was huge in California, back in the 1970s, and plenty of folks who would never have considered getting
zonked on Acapulco Gold while listening to
Elephant’s Memory ended up buying Econolines and Beauvilles and Tradesmen with shag carpeting, bubble windows, and wild graphics. In fact, van buyers could
get that stuff right from the factory.

Most of those vans are gone now, but I found this used-up ’78 Dodge in a self-service wrecking yard in California’s Central Valley.

Owners of custom vans felt strongly about their rides back in the Malaise Era.

This one has the look of a vehicle that was used for beer-and-burned-meat-heavy tailgate parties at Oakland Raiders games. Such service is rough on a van.

Try to picture this interior when it was new and plush, not the way it looks now.

They’ve all got to go, so let’s make a deal!

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