Chevy & GMC Vans

Saw this down in Walla Walla last weekend.



I don't know if this was a custom one-off Comanche, or if maybe there was some conversion company back in the day building them. I didn't get any better view than this, but it didn't look like a hack job.

Sharp looking Comanche!

timelessbeing wrote:ZENN Car
This is simply brilliant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri2BG2qOvCg
GO CANADA!

lol i totally missed this post

mdmead wrote:Saw this down in Walla Walla last weekend.



I don't know if this was a custom one-off Comanche, or if maybe there was some conversion company back in the day building them. I didn't get any better view than this, but it didn't look like a hack job.

I would think it's a home built, starting with a Cherokee, then who knows if they just got the bed from a Commanche or the entire rear portion.

The rear doors are Cherokee (you see where they are rounded at the bottom too clear a Cherokee rear wheel--and the split window to clear the wheel).

Either way, I think it could have been a good seller for Jeep. I'd be curious to know what the wheel base is. Matt, did you happen to get that data as he drove by?

T.Low wrote:
The rear doors are Cherokee (you see where they are rounded at the bottom too clear a Cherokee rear wheel--and the split window to clear the wheel).

Yeah, that confirms it is a custom build. That detail had slipped by me until you pointed it out.

Last night, a friend from another forum I posted this on encountered the same truck when he was down in Walla Walla recently and snapped a couple of pics too. The rear doors are very obvious when you are driving alongside!

Might have been military or some other govt dept. They have some strange vehicles. Or a Jeep concept vehicle that escaped the crusher.

I actually emailed a friend about that Jeep and he said he saw a few of them on a google images search, but thought the wheelbase length may be a detriment considering it's a unibody. Interesting points.

If I would not hae gotten the van, my plan was to lengthen the frame on my Dakota and install a quad cab on it with 6'3" bed, and then look into a Hemi swap, and add a FWC pop up camper.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSFYCIzTBC4[/youtube]

That's pretty damn impressive!

I think we need a couple of those up here for the Canadian wilderness.

Muzzy5.0 - That is awesome! That jeep is awesome too. Funny it took us so long to come around to the 4 door pickup thing. We saw them in Central America years before one ever showed up on the road here.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

My new obsession is a Bobbed Deuce. Basically taking a surplus military M35 or "Deuce and a half":


removing the rear axle and "bobbing" the frame to create a big-ass 4x4 on the cheap (Retired M35s can be had for about $2500):

Wow that is cheap. Fuel consumption must hurt though.

timelessbeing wrote:Wow that is cheap. Fuel consumption must hurt though.

Yes and no... You're looking at about 10mpg, 13 tops.

However (and this is a big however) they're multi-fuel vehicles. They can run on diesel, gasoline, kerosine, and even used motor oil. (well, a 50/50 diesel/motor oil mix). So there are ways to get around the hefty cost of diesel fuel. Personally I know a darn-near unlimited source of used motor oil and while I could not fill the tanks with straight motor oil I could effectively double my mpgs by running half diesel half free waste oil...

They can also be run on waste vegetable oil procured from restaurants.