Junkyard Gem: 1978 Dodge Tradesman Custom Van

Fri, Nov 4 2016

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.

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

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Featured Gallery Junked 1978 Dodge Tradesman Custom Van

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Dodge
Minivan/Van
Wagon
Junkyard Gems
custom van

By Murilee Martin