Building a Replica or Tribute van........

Me.....NASTY Nah...

I could rego ours in Victoria........father in law lives there! Cheaper, no yearly inspections...........

Worth a thought!!!

just better fabricators and idea makers.........

agro wrote:Worth a thought!!!

Perish the thought!
NSW has always been the home of Australia's top vans!

I remember talking to Agro about this topic quite some time ago. Maybe i am one of these people he does not want to mention, that's ok, but i will dob myself in a little here and give my thoughts. I don't remember exactly what i said but i do remember saying that what if he built a replica or copy and the original showed up as well, would he feel foolish? Maybe so, maybe not. I can not tell him to not do one, or for that fact anyone else, it is a free world and they can do as they please. The one thing i have against it is if a person wishes to build a replica or copy of a van i think it would be better to do one of a van that is dead and buried rather than do one of an existing van and do a cruddy job of it and have people compare the two. The one thing people hate is to here their name used and find out that they are being singled out as a copy cat or some one who has no idea on what they are doing because of a bad job. I think if a persons skills or knowledge is not up to it then it is better to remember the original as it was. I know when funds are tight people have to do things themselves and they may not turn out as they would of liked, that is the risk you take. Please realise i am not using Agro as a reference here or talking of any particular van as we spoke about a few vans. I am talking about anyone who wants to do it. Good luck to those who do a good job of it and every one should feel proud of what they can do on their own. It is fine to use ideas off different vans to make your own but my personal view is that remembering a van the way the owner builder had it is more of a mark of respect than copying one, i point out here i am talking about dead and buried vans. I just rather see people put their own thoughts and ideas into building a van that people will one day say so and so built that van, i think that is a better way to be remembered, for your own ideas and your own identity. That is why i built Bad Company the way it is. I wanted the paint job to be different, i wanted a cedar interior because every one else has padding and carpet, i wanted the RR front end because it was rare on Fords. I think i achieved what i set out to do and everyone now knows my van. I know i write controversal things and not everyone likes what i say but thats me too, different, and i am free to build what i want just as everyone else here is also. I am not against the idea of replica's and copies, especially when it comes to things like Mad Max coupes, i just like to see people with their own imagination running wild. Build what you like Agro and anyone else for that matter and be proud of it, after all it's a van and thats what we want to see on the streets.
I am not looking for any arguements, just giving my thoughts.
James

I wasn't refering to you mate, so that's not a drama.
Also there is no offence taken.

NSW,only home of the top vans,till the VIC's got serious......in 1985(sorry to rub salt in the wounds fellas)lol

Vanrat is the go, this van spun my crank as a 18 year old in a stock Sandman, Gotta laugh as I am now about to build a complete stocker and back then was to embarassed to park a stocky any where near Vanrat, this van was cool, tough, and had balls, remember watching it in a tug of war with another van, go VANRAT.....

willzy2905 wrote:NSW,only home of the top vans,till the VIC's got serious......in 1985(sorry to rub salt in the wounds fellas)lol

1985 was the year Innocents from Newcastle won didn't it?????????? Only to have the result changed after the presentations...........

We wont go there Willzy but let's just say the Van Nats judging has never held a lot of creditability with a lot of people starting in 1983, I've spoke to a lot of guys that were there and built vans that have won the title and they all agree the judging was crap and biased to the maximum.........

But that's ancient history now.
Cheers Rob

Easy for me, it'd be XX308 all the way; as in the Steve Ellis 3rd version with the modified Midgeley front.

You know they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so I think in this day and age it'd be looked upon as being cool so long as you didn't try and say it was the real thing.

And then what are chances they would be seen together anyway?

Rob was right in that I did Disturbia as a tribute to the Van scene generally, mainly mural-wise, but also to my original letter as a kid plus the fact that my ideas on what makes a Van cool hasn't changed since 1980!

As most of you know I was originally going to paint it similar to a Denimachine in red white and blue but wanted it to make its own mark. As much as I sound like I've just contradicted myself, I think having built an 'individual' van like Disturbia would now pave the way for me to do a reasonable replica if I wanted to, as in I've cemented the ability to do something out of my own head, just like your Van's already done for you Agro and with many other forum folk here.

But in saying that, if I ever owned a genuine article historical Van, I'd be hard pressed to change anything on it!

have fun

Simo

I wanted to build a replica of the van in mad max cause i thought it was cool........oh wait, i did

building a replica can be harder than doing an original basically because of the restrictions you have.

I have already drawn up the plans for the next Holden van I'm going to do.

That looks cool, i would like to see you build that one !!

That does look cool. I'd love to see that!

I would build this. I reckon it's one of the toughest vans I remember from back then. Love it!

The Zodiac wrote:Has anyone else every considered building a replica or tribute van?

Tribute Van
A van that looks similar to the original from the outside, not an exact match but close, lacks the finer points like undercarriage and engine bay detail etc but to the untrained eye it could pass as the real deal. Cheaper to build than a Replica and more useable.

Now the mind is turning over.
THANKS for that!!!!

Still not the cheapest exercise........but for around 20k you could have a pretty cool tribute van! (Depending on which van your copying and how good a job your doing. Even cheaper if you've got talented mates or got fellow MV club members to help, and of course how much stuff you have lying around and have access to!

Cheers Rob

we will let you decide what bits we put on our van as a tribute to the masters of vanning,

IDEALLY i would love to do Wizard of course, but i have a lot of stuff here for the first XX-308 style.

agro wrote:IDEALLY i would love to do Wizard of course, but i have a lot of stuff here for the first XX-308 style.

XX would be cheaper to do than the Wizard by a long way depending what you've got kicking around......

Lets see:
Deauville Blue XX7 van........Tick
Large side windows.............Tick
HJ Statesman triple grill.......Tick
HJ GTS Dash .....................Tick
Wagon roof racks...............Tick
Bubble rear window ............Tick

14 x 8 5 slot mags............... X
Wheel arch flares................ X
Escort bumpers .................. X
Long L88 scoop .................. only small one
Side pipes ......................... X

Go for it!!!!!!