Custom Vans - Dig-It

From the time I first saw a customized Van I was hooked. When I graduated High School I recall telling people I wanted to "go to California and paint vans" when I got out of college. (I made it to California, but never painted any vans).

Over the years I have built many models of custom cars and painted them with wacky designs. I would then proceed to destroy them with awsome displays of pyromania.

Ironically, I never even owned my own car until I was in my 30's and it was a Honda Accord. A long way from the Vans I covetted in the 70's.

I still love car shows, in particular custom cars. I also have a Big Daddy Roth Rat on my dashboard.

Anyway, here is a great magazine from 1976. Vans & Trucks 1976. (PDF 6.4 MB)

Vans and Trucks was published into the 80's and disappeared after that.

Keep an eye out for Grandma's Goodies and check out the Gossip, Rumours and Outright Lies column for what appears to be one of the 1st sightings of an SUV. There are also some great accounts of Custom Van enthusiast gatherings and How to articles in here.


Check out this link for a list of current US Vanning clubs.

One of the few shops still building custom vans in the US is California Custom in Chino California.














The Japanese seem to have taken this art to a new level. Check out these sites for a taste of some real far out Vans.

MasaMania = ????
Japanese Vans

Here are some japanese cool cars!

And here is a club in Finland!

"Our main goal is to spread idea of Vannin and Trucking in whole Finland"

Stumble It!

Home Sweet Zoo

When I visited my Grandparents home there were many toys, as well as books that I remember playing with and reading during those visits. This book was one of my favorites. I continue to enjoy it today.

I have scanned Home Sweet Zoo and created a PDF to share with you. You can get it here (1.7 MB)

Clare Barnes, Jr. was a photographer. He authored several pictoral books. His most popular were those with the humorous captioned photos like Home Sweet Zoo.

His books White Collar Zoo and Home Sweet Zoo were both in the top ten non-fiction best seller list in 1949. He followed that with another top ten book Campus Zoo in 1950.

He also was a great fan of JFK and this is reflected in his book John F. Kennedy, Scrimshaw Collector. (see article below)

Sotheby's - Jacqueline Kennedy’s Personal Home Furnishings Top $5.5 Million

Tom and Nan Riley of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, felt a personal connection to the recent sale, having given a dinner for Caroline Kennedy at their home during the 2004 presidential campaign. Tom, a lawyer and scrimshaw lover, bought a group of four books on scrimshaw at $1140 (est. $100/200). It included two copies of John F. Kennedy, Scrimshaw Collector (Little Brown, 1969) by Clare Barnes, Jr., Scrimshaw at Mystic Seaport (1966) by Edouard Stackpole, and a scrimshaw auction catalog.

And apparently an insightful fellow as well, as he was quoted to say...

Advertising has done more to cause the social unrest of the twentieth century than any other single factor
- Clare Barnes, Jr

His books can still be found on e-Bay and Amazon at a reasonable price (used and worn by age). They were re-copyrighted in the 70's, but never re-printed to my knowledge.


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