My name is Matthew, my wife is Tammy. We live in north central Alabama. I am an Aerospace Programming Engineer at a 5 axis machining facility, writing programs for our CMM and CNC mills. My wife is a middle school teacher.
We are members of VCVC, Vintage Chevy Van Club and we have been restoring a 1966 Chevy Sportvan.
Us...
Our van...
I have put hundreds of hours into my van. It was original with a 230 inline 6 cyl with a 3 speed on the column manual tranny. I bought a 1991 Chevy van with a TBI (fuel injection) 350 and 700R4 auto tranny. Needed that OD since it only has 4:11 gears and would be SCREAMING at 60 MPH, LoL. I completely rebuilt the 350 and have a buddy of mine reworking the wiring harness. I have stripped every piece of wire from our van and replaced it with an EZ-Wiring kit. Cruise, air and tilt steering are just a few of the updated options in the van.
Motor, ahhh so pretty!
Completely rebuilt the suspension, re-arched the springs to drop the van 2 inches in the from and 3 in the back. I tigged welded a new tank that will hold almost 20 gallons of gas instead of the 12 gallon original tank and installed new high pressure fuel pump and sending unit.
I removed the old single port master cylinder and fabbed in a dual port and also removed the old drum brake front end and fit a set of disc brakes that are from 3 different vehicles to make them fit right. LoL
So that is the back ground story, I still have MANY HOURS left on this van but I am doing what I can in the time I have off at work. It is getting closer for us going to some vanning events and so we want a camper!
Who wants to show up with 100 vintage vans with a 1966 Sporty pulling a new style camper? CHEESY! So want something vintage looking.
I am going to source an axle, someone suggested a boat trailer, and I know of a boat wrecking yard on Highway 431 that I might check. I am thinking 60 inches tall (body height not from the ground) 72 inches wide and 10-12 feet long. We dont want it taller or wider than the van. We also like the exterior galley and sitting/sleeping area inside. Enough to sleep 2 of us.
I am not a Sketchup pro but threw this together in a few minutes for a kind of round about idea on how I want the final product to look. As anyone that has build something knows, the project kind of takes on a soul of its own as it goes and so it might change here and there.
Would love anyone with thoughts and opinions on our build as we get started.
It's gonna be super sweet once we build that part. the Command Post has floor to ceiling cabinets in the nose, so we are going to include a couple of tie down points so we can strap the galley in place for travel.
