This van reached out for help

[Mont3]

Hi, for many years I have been driving by this small yard on my way to work and really not paying attention to what's in there as I have some aircooled VWs and that's my thing...I thought. I recall seeing this van 20+ yrs ago in the same place, sitting there lifeless and staring at another flat-glass chevy.
With each day, week, month and years passed I would see this van sitting there. One day I decided to go look at it from outside the fence. The owner of the property had his own schedule so hitting the place on a day off and finding him there was rare. I knew I made a mistake the day I wandered up to the fence and looked at it. The van spoke to me much like the first wagen I looked at in High School. I snapped pics of it and moved along. With each day I passed the van on my way to work I'd glance at the van and when I locked in on it, it looked stranded as if to say "Help me". I began to research sites and look at more pics online as well as youtube videos posted. Being air-cooled is a plus but the look and character of the van was better than others I'd seen. I finally made contact with the yard owner and made an offer on the van and a friend helped me drag it to his place to store it as the weather hasn't calmed down here. I've already begun collecting bits and pieces for it. Here are a few pics of my new van project...

[Jerry Whitt]

The infection has reached another!


As various questions arise, lots of folks here will be glad to help


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[MtnVairMike]

Nice find looks like an old telephone service vehicle.


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[toytron]

Yeah it still has a registration number on its door. I wonder if you could trace it's use from that? It would be kinda cool to re-label it as it was.

Ed Stevenson

[lostboy]

That patina is almost perfect. Beautiful van. Good luck with it.

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[Mont3]

Thanks for the comments Gents. From my understanding and in speaking with a buddy here, this was indeed a Bell Telephone Co fleet van. It's dealer sticker on the rear door is from Shellabarger Chevrolet out Casper Wy. The van has resided in Rapid City, SD in a yard until I rescued it. The logo was that round-ish rust burn on the panel behind the door. The lettering can be barely read on the panels stripe line but it has what I think is the business fleet tag number WT3350. It's not missing much to it and I've been working on sourcing replacements. This van has had an assortment of mirrors placed on it as there a several variations of mounting holes. The door windows had been busted out on both sides and today replacement glass in put in to keep the elements out.
I'm unsure in what direction I want to go in. I have another wagen I was planning on building before this van called out so I'm on the fence as which one will get the attention needed. I still have a lot to learn about it though. The current plan is to see what type of response We'll get when we attempt to fire it.
Thomas, I've read your thread on your 8-door and it's one of my favorites to back to and reference your images. Cfishe5 was gracious to respond to an email sent on his slammed 8-door. These have been great inspiration but as I move my way thru the forums I'm sure I'll run into others and look forward to learning this van in hopes of reviving it and enjoying it.
As for doing work on it, I look forward to it. I finished my 67 wagen and trailer last summer and am in the process of building a new motor for it as the existing one has a case stud backing itself out and is leaving me with an undesired pool of oil in my pan. My wagen built over the last 3yrs...

[toytron]

Yeah it still has a registration number on its door. I wonder if you could trace it's use from that? It would be kinda cool to re-label it as it was.

Ed Stevenson

Registration number for what? What does "re-label" mean?
I'm asking because of unfamiliarity with the commercial/State program.

Some States require a registration or fleet number to be posted on the front cab area. When I said re-label I was referring to the company logo on the side. Sorry for not being clear on that.

Ed Stevenson

[toytron]

Thanks for the comments Gents. From my understanding and in speaking with a buddy here, this was indeed a Bell Telephone Co fleet van. It's dealer sticker on the rear door is from Shellabarger Chevrolet out Casper Wy. The van has resided in Rapid City, SD in a yard until I rescued it. The logo was that round-ish rust burn on the panel behind the door. The lettering can be barely read on the panels stripe line but it has what I think is the business fleet tag number WT3350. It's not missing much to it and I've been working on sourcing replacements. This van has had an assortment of mirrors placed on it as there a several variations of mounting holes. The door windows had been busted out on both sides and today replacement glass in put in to keep the elements out.
I'm unsure in what direction I want to go in. I have another wagen I was planning on building before this van called out so I'm on the fence as which one will get the attention needed. I still have a lot to learn about it though. The current plan is to see what type of response We'll get when we attempt to fire it.
Thomas, I've read your thread on your 8-door and it's one of my favorites to back to and reference your images. Cfishe5 was gracious to respond to an email sent on his slammed 8-door. These have been great inspiration but as I move my way thru the forums I'm sure I'll run into others and look forward to learning this van in hopes of reviving it and enjoying it.
As for doing work on it, I look forward to it. I finished my 67 wagen and trailer last summer and am in the process of building a new motor for it as the existing one has a case stud backing itself out and is leaving me with an undesired pool of oil in my pan. My wagen built over the last 3yrs...

Yeah Tom seems to have a passion for these vans. That would be cool in my opinion to have a Bell telephone company sticker on it again even (especially) with the patina.

Ed Stevenson

[toytron]

Registration number for what? What does "re-label" mean?
I'm asking because of unfamiliarity with the commercial/State program.

Some States require a registration or fleet number to be posted on the front cab area. When I said re-label I was referring to the company logo on the side. Sorry for not being clear on that.

Ed Stevenson

Ah. Got it. Thanks for clearing that up,Ed.

[emoji106]

Ed Stevenson

[SteveInMarietta]

Mont3,
Could you post the VIN (driver side door jamb) and the paint and trim codes (from the data plate below the fuse box)? I'd like to add this van to the Corvanatics FC Registry; and if it a phone company FC, then I would expect the paint code to be something like "SPEC".
Steve

[Mont3]

Mont3,
Could you post the VIN (driver side door jamb) and the paint and trim codes (from the data plate below the fuse box)? I'd like to add this van to the Corvanatics FC Registry; and if it a phone company FC, then I would expect the paint code to be something like "SPEC".
Steve

Hi Steve, The info requested:
VIN: 3R125S105906
TRIM: STD
Paint: SPEC
The 'Bell' logo was on the panel near the door. Looks to have been ground off with a flap disc or DA. There's very lite lettering above the trim line on the rearward end of the panel as well. Hope this helps.

[toytron]

Perhaps the logo looked something like one of these.

Ed Stevenson


Found on http://www.beatriceco.com/bti/porticus/ ... logos.html

Website.

[toytron]

Some more images for reference.

That last one would be cool to reproduce!

Ed Stevenson

[Mont3]

Thanks for the pics guys. Those logos seem to fall in line with the shape of the ground off surface.

Yesterday I decided to head over to my buddys with a new battery and a small gas can. That's right, lets turn this thing over and see what happens. I've read articles of mystical cars which have sat for decades and with some TLC from their new owner, they miraculously come to life. I've read article after article and thought to myself there has to be more to it than that. Well I sort of had that kind of moment yesterday. I took three things with me; battery, gas can with gas and a power station/jumper cable unit. I brought the only key to see if after all these years this thing would turn over. That was just my expectation. I had turned the belt and it seemed to be freed up but I wanted to see if the ignition would turn the engine over. My buddy and I talked about for a few then went after it. As I set things up and placed the battery in place we primed the carbs. Went to turn the key and no sign of life. Did a light test and we were getting power to places so my buddy suggested bypassing the ignition and he went to get his started button which attaches to the starter. We ran a wire from the batter to the + terminal on the coil. I primed the carbs with gas and we turned it over. We were surprised the engine turned over after a long hibernation stint. We kept at it. Stopping and adding more fuel and trying and trying again. This went on for a bit until we could hear the change in the cranking as the battery was slowly winding down. We placed the power station on the battery and tried again. Within three tries the motor gave us the first sign of hope...a couple of coughs. We stopped, looked at each other and smiled. We decided to pull the distro cap and see what condition they were in - burnt. We also pulled the plugs and too note of them. After looking these things over, we went to lunch and I let my buddy know I wanted to change the cap, plugs, wires, points, condenser and rotor. So after chow we headed to the FLAPS and picked up those pieces minus the cap and wires which were not in stock. After getting back, we gapped the plugs and got those in. The distro was outfitted with the goods and we connected everything back up. We primed the carbs and got starter button in place. I remember saying I'm already happy it's turning over.

At this point I didn't know what was going to happen as my expectation was met. What happened was magic The engine came to life. Caked on dirt and dead grass blades flew all over and the silent van was no longer. We let the engine run for an hour or so and as the engine ran, it began to smooth itself out. to where it idled and purred. My buddy and I were silent but with large grins on our faces as we experienced something special.

After 20+ yrs of laying dormant. No oil change as it was still in the engine, not valve adjustment nor carb rebuild. Just a $40 swap of parts in the distro and some new plugs.

https://youtu.be/q-IBCn-0TKc
https://youtu.be/tPBfjqM868c

Ive never had such a thing happen.

[Mont3]

That's the perfect example of how to destroy a motor. Congratulations.

Thanks for the words of encouragement but I'm not completely sold on destroying the motor from running it a bit. Time was spent checking the underside of it looking for damage, leaks, blown rods and the like. It wasn't there. Compression check was also done and the results were very promising. When it was running, the vans wasn't ran up the road as its not drivable. And like most rebuilds, the motor will have its turn as well. There's alot to do but not having to source a new motor or a bunch of parts scavenged from it isn't one of them. If this thing is as badass as the old advertisements and comparison tests say, it's a testament to the construction of the vehicle

[Gregory_Miller]

You could make it into one of these!