The Dodge Van Grand Prix! - A 1UP classic from February 19, 2013

I am a van man. I represent a dying breed of USA car enthusiast. My pride and joy is a 1997, B1500 Dodge Ram Van. I've spent plenty of time and money keeping it running over the years. Most of the van is stock including the classic "Metallic Forest" paint. There is very little that I have to do to make it perform. It has a powerful V8 and is actually pretty quick despite its size. On the freeway some cars mistakenly try to pass me by going around, thinking that the van is moving slower than it actually is. Before too long though most fall back in the same lane when they realize I'm clipping along well ahead of traffic. Despite its size it actually gets decent mileage, better than some SUV and trucks even.

Unfortunately my model van went the way of the Dodo thanks to the economic crash and restructuring of Chrysler, the parent company. Around 2002-2003 Dodge completely changed the body on their van series. They ditched the windows and passenger seats and decided to go with a cargo-only build. The Ram label was switched out to the new Sprinter name.

The bland vans were based on the new parent company template. Mercedes Daimler bought up Chrysler and began streamlining production and cutting models in the US. The new van was actually based on the European Sprinter van by Mercedes. Daimler ended up owning Chrysler from 1998 through 2007 before Chrysler bought back controlling interest and was acquired by Fiat. Unfortunately Fiat never returned the van to its roots.

The Sprinter was ugly, garish and lacked the personality of the classic Ram vans. In fact, Daimler completely missed the fact that van culture was a genuine part of American history. The van enjoyed a sort of cultural peak from the late '60s through the '70s. In fact 1977 saw two dueling movies, the Van and Supervan. This was something that Honda did not overlook when they were trying to get more interest in their Odyssey Mini Van. They released a Van Gods commercial at the start of their new campaign. The use of airbrushed characters and iconography helped rekindle a sense of nostalgia for older drivers.

 

The follow-up commercials The Van is Back and Respect the Van relied on nostalgia in equal measure. Unfortunately neither Honda nor Daimler actually understood what van culture was all about. All automobile brands have followers and enthusiasts. Each car is not only a means of transport but also offers a way to express the identity of the driver. If a car could be considered a blank canvas then a van could be considered an entire wall, ready to be painted or decorated any way the owner wanted. The interior of the van was also open to more configurations than any car could ever handle. It could be stripped of seats and benches and made into a utility van, keeping tools and hardware safe from the elements. Or it could be fitted with a lavish interior, entertainment center and bed for traveling and entertaining. Some owners were able to find a balance between the practical and opulent uses for their vans. Unfortunately the passenger van disappeared at the start of the millennia and with it went the enthusiasts.

Or so I thought.

It turns out that a good number of Ram vans ended up overseas. The Sprinter van was a great choice for big city deliveries but it was not a good choice for rural areas. Japan had a larger concentration of narrow roads and mountain passages than the US or Europe making the top-heavy Sprinter van a poor choice for many. The more compact Ram was not only good for deliveries but as a passenger van it was much more spacious than the vans or mini-vans developed by Toyota, Honda or Nissan. It actually ended up creating a very strong following.

In the previous blog I had mentioned Go Nagata, the founder of the Setagaya Air Force Base. He was actually the senior correspondent for Neko Publishing's Daytona magazine. The magazine is dedicated to Western car culture and focuses on the Japanese that find, restore and roll around in American cars. As a Western car enthusiast Nagata was interested in word of a Dodge van group getting together to run a Grand Prix. He documented this in Daytona issue 255.

The title of his article was "D-Van GP a celebration of the stupid / foolish that came this year."

The image of a group of Dodge vans peeling around a turn did more than piqué my interest. It turned out that the D-Van GP had been a tradition almost as long as the Ram vans had been around in Japan.

The group raced on the Ebisu Circuit, specifically the West / Nishi course. Think of the Ebisu Circuit as a racing fan's Walt Disney World. There are multiple courses, racing schools and even a wild animal safari park in the middle of the expansive complex. It is exactly the type of place in which driving enthusiasts can spend and entire vacation.

It turned out that these were hardly anything but stock vans racing on the circuit. They had undergone a number of alterations to make them track ready. A tube frame was welded for strength. The transmission was completely changed out and motor tuned for racing. Some of the vans were even equipped with nitrous oxide. The suspensions on the vans were also completely redone and reinforced. The Dodge vans actually had great suspensions for commuting and cargo, however the wear and tear from high speed stops and starts would easily break down regular vans on a racing circuit.

When the Japanese auto enthusiasts got into something, they got into something all the way. Racing Dodge vans was no different. The same do-it-yourself mentality that was the roots of NASCAR was evident in the article. Month in and month out Mr. Nagata had demonstrated this on the pages of Daytona. Groups all over Japan would get together to strip down, hop up and trick out rides. Performance and style went hand in hand regardless of what make, model or even country of origin their rides were from. I was so impressed by their enthusiasm I was wondering what it would take to make my own van race ready.

The aggressive-looking vans may have been thought of as slow and cumbersome to most motorists but those that drove them knew how sporty they could be. The Japanese didn't approach the Dodge vans in the same ways that the US did in the '70s. There were no waterbeds, shag carpeting or disco lights on the interiors. These new vans were meant for a different type of hauling.

The enthusiasts that Mr. Nagata had written about were rare but not unique. The Japanese had been passionate about building racers with street roots as much as for the racetrack for several generations. In popular culture some of the most successful comics and cartoons celebrated car culture. The next blog will explore these things. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

The Car Tangent, part 2...

The Ford Mustang was one of the most reputable performance cars but had begun to stagnate in the ‘90s. Once the envy of adolescent boys the cars had begun to look dated against the crop of imports that were tearing up the streets. The 1965 Mustang that my father grew up admiring was much more impressive looking than the ones I saw in 1985. All of the attitude seemed to disappear in the generic shapes that seemed very popular in the '80s automotive designs. Thankfully the “Pony” was given a new lease on life at the turn of the century. The fifth generation Mustang made its debut in 2004. It brought back the styling cues of pre ‘80s Mustangs, the aggressive stance and horsepower as well. Like the Nissan IDx I had mentioned in the previous blog there were enough cues to harken back to a racing legacy while still keeping everything street legal. Sales picked up and became a steady source of revenue for Ford. By 2014 a sixth generation would be introduced, again preserving many classic elements while updating the technology behind the ride. Ford was not the only US auto maker that went back to a legacy.

Dodge actually resurrected a car that it killed off in 1974. The Dodge Challenger was synonymous with the muscle car era of the late ‘60s early ‘70s. It was big, fast and brutal. It took a few years before Dodge tried to bring back the name. Between 1978 and 1983 Dodge sold the Mitsubishi Galant Lambda under the Challenger label. The four cylinder engine and boxy shape were nothing like the muscle car of old. It faded away, especially once Mitsubishi gained a foothold in the US and could sell and distribute its own cars. Dodge was adrift for years and only recently had found its stride once more. It began by bringing back the Charger, the sister car to the Challenger in 2006. Dodge made it clear that they were going back to their roots when they announced that the Charger would not be the last muscle car to be resurrected. The third generation Challenger debuted in 2006 as a concept car but went into production in 2008. The Dodge Dart which last saw action in 1975 would also be brought back. In 2013 the Dart would replace the sporty Neon and Caliber passenger cars. The Challenger was a flagship muscle car and seemed to get the strongest push. It was modeled on the classic 1970 R/T Challenger. When it was previewed it received a strong reaction from the public and press, as much so if not more than when the IDx was unveiled in 2013.

The designers at Dodge had managed done a good job bringing back the classic styling of the Challenger. The devil was in the details; the lines of the body, headlights, hood scoops and stance were very familiar. This was nothing at all like the Mitsubishi Galant that Dodge had tried to pass off as a Challenger two decades earlier. This was an honest to goodness remake of an icon. Fans that missed out, or were not even born during the first wave of muscle cars were experiencing a renaissance.

The Muscle Car became a part of the American identity in the mid to late '60s. The powerful production car appealed to many baby boomers as they were entering adulthood. An entire cult of speed and power seemed to rise up overnight. The cars from that era pulled the fledgling NASCAR out of the golden era of pre-WWII rounded bodies with white wall tires and into more streamlined and more powerful performance vehicles. The Daytona, named after the famous racetrack in Florida, the Superbird (a modified Road Runner), the Challenger, Barracuda and Charger became synonymous with speed. Each manufacturer offered its own special performance packages to take already powerful car to absurd heights. Dodge for example had its in-house MOPAR brand, the MOtor PARts for performance. MOPAR was to Dodge what NISMO was to Nissan. These cars became branded with bright colorful decals to let everyone on the street know what they were up against.

The Super Bee for example was a limited production car based on the Coronet. It was meant to rival Plymouth's Road Runner line. Dodge and Plymouth were sister companies and their respective performance groups MOPAR and SRT (Street and Racing Technology) were constantly trying to come up with better performance packages. Dodge had a "Scat Pack" which appealed to drag racers. It included changes to the engine, exhaust, frame and suspension which made the brutal muscle cars even more menacing. The Super Bee logo was derived from the Scat Pack Bee logo. The iconography of the cars of that era, from cartoon Road Runners, to Cobras, racing bees and even the word HEMI became ingrained in US culture. A few decades later there was a new beast on the block. Dodge created a Ram Truck with a powerful HEMI motor and decorated it in the livery of the classic muscle cars. The result was the Rumble Bee, a perfect marriage of the new and old. There were two "Swarms" of the truck released, the 2004 and 2005 models, and then quietly discontinued. By the time the driving community was catching on it was too late. The limited production muscle cars had returned in a way and those that got on board were rewarded by the exclusivity. Dodge used the positive reaction to the Rumble Bee to build a case with the parent company, then Daimler Chrysler, to pursue a return to the Charger, Challenger and Dart as well as the performance packages. It was a long time coming and would have arrived sooner if not for the sluggish reaction that the US auto industry had during the '80s. When it came to the evolution of the automobile the rest of the world was not asleep. Japan, Germany and Italy had adapted to change quickly. Those nations had to especially as they were rebuilding from the ravages of World War II. How those nations forever changed the landscape of car culture will be explored in the next blog. If you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!