New to forum, proud owner of an Astro

[BigJon]

Hey folks, I'm 28 years old and have owned my Astro for at least 6-7 years now. It used to be an old "installer van" for my dad's work (vehicle glass installations). Unfortunately, that's the reason I've joined here...as the thing is starting to show it's age and I've come to tap the keg of infinite wisdom of this board.

The van is my daily driver and being a low income family I haven't been able to put a lot of TLC into it. It's been a good van, however, and I'm very proud it's still alive and kicking. As little things go out here and there I figured I'd read up on the mechanic sections of this forum to help get some tips and tricks on repairs.

On a lighter note, I did get to have some fun with it last year and decked it out to resemble the "Ecto 1" from Ghostbusters (complete with lights and siren) and walked in the Columbus 4th of July "Doo Dah Parade" with my friends (pictured below, I'm the one in the middle with the hat):



My hope is to keep the thing running and eventually give it a new paint job and redo the roof rack and lights so it makes a proper Ectomobile (minus the rust stained roof and chipped paint). Of course, that'll probably take a few years of saving up some cash so I can pump into it.

Anyways, thanks for checking out my intro post. Hope you enjoy.

[mdmead]

Welcome to ASV!

Looks like you guys had a good time in the parade!

[MountainManJoe]

Welcome to the forum.

I nominate "Ecto 1" as van of the month for creativity.

[Wiley]

Nice, we def need more pics of that van!

[BigJon]

I've got more pics...but they aren't the greatest looking.

I never finished the "roof rack" gear...I needed to add so much more "science equipment" and junk to it...but I didn't have time before the parade...so it was kind of bare. The crowd got the idea though.

Here you can see more of the bad shape the paint is in. Some rust forming on the bumper...hood is chipping...roof is rust stained. Also...you'll note that the door here says it's a Safari but below the other door says Astro. Yeah, I had a little incident with a stereo theif that left me having to find a new door...unfortunately the only donor was a Safari.


For the parade I "blacked out" the rims...basically just removed the hubcaps and sprayed them with black spraypaint. I think it makes the rims look much nicer now...although nowhere near "professional".


As you can see, the rack is pretty bare. Missing tanks, junk, and other equipment. It was a rush job.







THIS was my goal. I had a friend photoshop the roof rack from the ACTUAL Ecto 1 onto a pic of my van. Unfortunately I just never had the time/money to get it up to this level of detail.

[BigJon]

It might even be more feasable to change it into this:



Note the Astro-ish looking van above. This was some concept art for the GB cartoon that never made it into the actual tv show. Of course the big gun robot arm thing is a bit far fetched for reality.

[chevymaher]

Welcome to the site. I got a picture Of my safari with an astro grill because that what the donar vehicle after the crash was.

[Smiliesafari]

Welcome to ASV, BigJon. Looks like you're having a lot of fun with your van. That's what it's all about. The Safari door gives it a little added class.

[97CargoCrawler]

Welcome! That van is bad-ass! I would drive it around town like that EVERY day!

[LiftedAWDAstro]

Welcome! Cool van. Looks like you had a blast in the parade.

[Kabey's Van]