2010 vannin' season kicking into high gear

Less than a week away from Vanfest now. This will be the official start of my vanning season although it seems like there is always something going on. I came another step closer to getting Showvans.com back on track but then had other stuff to get onto like Vanfest, the 2010 Nationals and talking to Glenn from Dropjaw and Bob from Truckin'. I'll be collaborating with both of them in 2010 and into 2011.
There's plenty to keep the media happy these days and thanks to the effort of many vanners and custom hot rod builders doing vans this will be happening well into 2011. One of the more interesting events this year will be the rollout of the 50th Anniversary of the Econoline at the Ford plant near Cleveland. One of the gurus of Econolines has been contacted by a Ford executive who is inviting vanners to this grand event with their Econolines of all eras. Hopefully we will get that date in July soon so we can plan on having a respectable showing. We'll see if we can keep the whole 50th Anniversary thing rolling into 2011 with the CofC, the Nationals  and other events. We're going to have an Econo guru summit of sorts this Tuesday in Toronto to discuss this.
Battlestar is featured in the latest issue of Truckin'. Bob also introduces us to a long term feature Mid Dodge van.  I spoke to Coop this week as well and the work on the Battlestar/Deathstar is proceeding slowly but surely, it might not be ready for the 2010 Nationals. Perfection unfortunately does take time and from the sounds of it Coop has taken this van to the next level. 

Keep on Vannin' by any and all means !

Detroit, Vanfest, Nationals and beyond

Detroit was a great time once again. In the end we managed to get 3 vanner vans in Autorama. It was very disappointing not having all 5 vans there especially Coop's Flying Eagle II as he was there anyway for the pinstriper's jam.  Before the event I mentioned that I would be going to Autorama on the myrideisme.com forum.  Craig got in touch with me about taking pictures for them, the end result was helping that website achieve their biggest day ever with exclusive Great 8 shots. At the time only Street Rodder Magazine had anything on the net from Autorama. A bunch of my Detroit pictures are headed to Drop Jaw Magazine for their website. 

Woody's Smokin Chop custom van at the 2010 Detroit Autorama

Karson's custom drag van at the 2010 Detroit Autorama

Ken's Shelby E-100 custom van at the 2010 Detroit Autorama


2010 will be another great year in vanning. My travels will be limited unfortunately, not sure if I will make any van events before Vanfest in June.  Vanfest 15 is going to be Kevin's last at the helm. So if ever I have been motivated to do something special it will be for this one. Have some ideas in mind. 
The Nationals will kind of be in my backyard, 6 hours away. I'm doing the website for this event and will be fairly involved with the Vannin.com Auction from there and likely take a couple of pictures for Truckin'. Not likely to see them at this one. 
Onward to 2011 and the Council of Councils in Buena Park California. This will be one heck of an opportunity to showcase vans in the mecca of car/truck culture. I've already been scheming on this one since I heard of the bid back in early 2009. Thanks to a bit of help from my friends, we also managed to convince everyone at this year's CofC in Wisconsin to do the van show on the Saturday afternoon of the event. This opens the doors very wide to get the non vanners and the media more involved in the show.  Plenty more info on this will be coming.

Also in the process of moving Showvans.com back over to Vannin.com so it could be a bit wonky for a while.

2008 vanning season almost done

With 2008 winding down we have the events of 2009 to look forward to. Busy getting the 2009 Vannin' calendar together now. The pictures to be used for the main features have been selected but still need to figure out the cover.
My last big event of the year was Remember Butler in Butler Pa. on Labor Day. Three River Vans do a great job with this event and the numbers were actually up this year with close to 200 vans there.


Ken's Shelby themed Econoline custom van

Flying Eagle II custom van originally built by Greg of Akron and meticulously restored by Coop

John's Stallion custom van originally built in the mid 70's and believe it or not the mural was done at the same time. Seen here at Remember Butler 2008.

It takes a vanner to a Scooby Doo van right and this is among the finest I have seen.