old custom vans

[pat stevens]

its now owned by a guy in bham now painted white and coverd in lights

[dean_king]

well i'm personally not too keen on loads of lights but love the look of that van.
i may have a chance of getting a mk5 LWB low roof when someones finished using
it as a store room.
so i would love that look for it, maybe sit a little lower just to be outrageous and
make it look longer. but that look all the same.

Ooops, thats as long as you didnt register that as your design?

[thebandit92]

heres a few more

I love these three,brown mk1 is my favourite though

[pat stevens]

well i'm personally not too keen on loads of lights but love the look of that van.
i may have a chance of getting a mk5 LWB low roof when someones finished using
it as a store room.
so i would love that look for it, maybe sit a little lower just to be outrageous and
make it look longer. but that look all the same.

Ooops, thats as long as you didnt register that as your design?

feel free m8 would look cool on a lwb low roof

[thebandit92]

I was thinking about these old custom vans and remembered there used to always be 1 or 2 in Chrome & Flames magazine,not sure where mine are though to have a look but did find some scans online.




Not a Transit but it caught my eye due to having mid 70's Firebird rear lights.

[pat stevens]

now that 6 wheeler van the rebel is amazing (mmmmmmmmm food for thought ,i really need a bigger drive )

[Luke]

nice anyone know what year was the Rebel built and if it's still around

[thebandit92]

nice anyone know what year was the Rebel built and if it's still around

Heres a link to the site i found the pic on http://www.vannin.com/threads/ubbthread ... 781/4.html third post down the guy says he heard its still around,the post is from march this year,so maybe there is hope that its still around.

[MR BigBeefy LDV Guru]

if henk and malle say its still around then trust me its still about them 2 really know their vans

[thebandit92]

Found another pic of the gold Transit i posted,rear shot.

[clayman]

You are Totaly wrong about Al Lewelin doing Quicksilver it was built in 1977 or 8 along with 5 other Transits for Quicks in Manchester by Steve Stringer and Star Vans. How do I know and can be that sure, I am that man, Still around, still in the Automotive Design and Concept Vehicle buisness including Aircraft and Large RV's , only not in the UK, resident in Texas since 1985.

Nice to see that the loverble Transit is still going strong would love to get a new English Transit over in the US but the stupid DMV regulations sa NO.

[rover]

You are Totaly wrong about Al Lewelin doing Quicksilver it was built in 1977 or 8 along with 5 other Transits for Quicks in Manchester by Steve Stringer and Star Vans. How do I know and can be that sure, I am that man, Still around, still in the Automotive Design and Concept Vehicle buisness including Aircraft and Large RV's , only not in the UK, resident in Texas since 1985.

Nice to see that the loverble Transit is still going strong would love to get a new English Transit over in the US but the stupid DMV regulations sa NO.

Would the petrol versions not be acceptable in the U.S?

Do you know if any of the vans you built are still on the road?

[Dagenham Dustbin]

You are Totaly wrong about Al Lewelin doing Quicksilver it was built in 1977 or 8 along with 5 other Transits for Quicks in Manchester by Steve Stringer and Star Vans. How do I know and can be that sure, I am that man,

Then you are a wrong man, it was done at Al Llewellins, and geoff ridgeway did the murals, along with a Trans Continental big rig semi.
I know as I too, am the man who worked there at the time.
You certainly must be thinking of one of the many other vans dane by steve stringer.
Go back a page or two, and look at the video, who is driving quicksilver, Al llewellin.
it was even trimmed by the same guy in Kent who did the pepsi wagon for us at A&L's too.

(mind you, I cannot remember where the original silver base was laid on it, but I cant see it being a rival)
After it was done, it may have spent some time at stringers place.

[clayman]

Well either my memory is really bad, or my wallet must have lied, You are correct in saying that Geoff Ridgway did the " Buck House " murals, don’t know hat he is doing today , but he was " The Man " back when.

I know all the Quick’s of Manchester jobs where done by Star Vans, ( Steve Stringer ) because this is he. Now what could have happened, and if it did thanks for filling in some of the blanks, the work load for Star Vans back then was unbelievable, more work than any could have thought, I remember Gibb Grace of Ford Mo Co asking about other companies that could help out with some projects, and I know we suggested that Al did the Pepsi Truck as his work was " Top Notch " he had the capability and space to do it, Geoff had been doing a fair amount of work for me at the time on his trip down from the Rainy City, it was Rodger Atterway that introduced him to me.

So in summing up what could have happened, and see if your memory remembers, Was the interior done when you worked on it at A&L ? That was done in Bedford by Star Van employees Duggie " The Button Tufted man " Thompson and Sandy Ventrigula I found the Queen Ann legs on the two Chaise Lounge’s and we used some “ Lovely “ antiqued gold veined mirrors to box out the wheel wells and form a base for the seating, the reflection made it look like there was four legs , The carpet was the mandatory “ Shag Pile “ cover up any mistake carpet, it also had a real 12volt fridge instead of the Ice box type we used to use, It was for the Royalty so only the best would do.

I also seem to think that we put the base silver down, because the front spoiler and wheel arches are Star Vans fiber glass parts made for by Peter Unwin up in Mora West midlands, Peter had that “ Bloody Ugly “ upturned boat High top Transit, Painted Orange with a white roof, Although the roof was ugly his FRP work was the best, after spending what I thought at the time was a lot of money on tooling, he was producing around 20 sets of Transit glass parts and 10 sets of Bedford parts a week for us back then ,

That van was also one of the very first LWB high roof single wheel Transits that Ford decided to build after we build the " Raspberry Sheik " van for the center piece on Fords Paris Auto show in 1976, that’s another story, if I get time I will post how it came to have Sisal matting on the lower rocker panels, The wheels, because we had so many Ford Dealers wanting Custom Vans and Quicks ordered 5 or 6 just for the Manchester Show were a Star Vans first , up till then we had to have the hubs re drilled to a 5 on 5" Patten ( would not and will not use those adapter ) We had Barry Treacy of Wolfrace Wheels cast up a completely new slot mag Patten with a larger center to take that funny 5 x 6” or was it 6 x 6” or there about wheel bold spacing that Ford had at that time.

That’s about all I can remember, its been a while around 35 years and around 50,000 vans later, yes I did say 50,000 In the hay days of the US Conversion Van market my companies in Texas and Cali –pornia were putting out over 200 vans a month. 100 Chevy / GMC 50 Ford and same for Dodge, along with so many Pickups and Suburban’s I was glad when the OEM manufactures started to do it in house, Then I started to do the large Motor Home concept Design , look at www.newellcoach.com that’s an AAD design and concept build, they state “ Porsche Design “ in there press stuff, ( I had done some work at Porsche Design in the early 80’s after selling out Star Custom Vehicles in 1980 ) Along with Featherlite and Foretravel RVs the Cirrus SR20 aircraft , and loads of other related “ Transportation “ stuff its time to say “ thanks “ to all the people that worked for, or with me over the years, in the UK, NZ, SA and the USA its been a wild ride , if truth be known, 18 hours a Day 7 days a week, getting ready for a trip to Rainy City Cruisers Manchester shows, the Custom Car shows at Ally Pally and Cristal Palace, having to listen to Andy Kay crying cause he didn’t win a prize, the great times had NSVA and NSRA Runs I would not change a thing.

Cheers and have a beer for me,


Steve Stringer. clayman@claymodeller.com.

alternative automotive design.
1000 Design Drive,
Loop 304 South.
Crockett. TX 75835.
tel: 1 936 544 5282
sel: 1 936 546 4897


www.claymodeller.com

www.alternativeautomotivedesign.com

[clayman]

If I new how to upload or attach pictures I would try and post some of the old stuff pictures from the early days.