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She Gave Her Van a 1970s Overhaul, Shag Carpet Included
Wall Street Journal ^ | April 15, 2023 | A.J. Baime

Posted on 04/15/2023 5:00:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Soumaya Majout Bent was inspired by ‘That ’70s Show’ to turn her 1977 Dodge into a road-tripping ride

Soumaya Majout Bent, 35, who lives in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Santa Barbara, Calif., and is a student planning on opening a restaurant in Santa Barbara, on her 1977 Dodge custom van, as told to A.J. Baime.

It was the week of my wedding, and my fiancé and I were driving in Chicago. We saw this van parked on a lawn with a “for sale” sign. I was always mentioning how I wanted a van to go road tripping. I yelled, “Stop the car!” When we approached the van, I noticed two other people looking at it. I thought, I need this van in my life. So we called the owner right away. The following day—Aug. 5, 2022—he met us with this van. It had over 90,000 miles on it, and we bought it for $12K. The next day, my fiancé and I got married.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Hobbies; Local News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: 70s; automotive; van
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1 posted on 04/15/2023 5:00:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway; gundog

2 posted on 04/15/2023 5:02:13 PM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: nickcarraway

This is news worthy of the Wall Street Journal. Thirty-five years old and identified as a student. We are indeed living near the end times!


3 posted on 04/15/2023 5:02:33 PM PDT by 7thson (I've got a seat at the big conference table! I'm gonna paint my logo on it!)
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To: nickcarraway
Fu Manchu - Boogie Van


4 posted on 04/15/2023 5:04:55 PM PDT by Drew68 (Ron DeSantis for President 2024. A real conservative.)
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To: Drew68
1973 Sammy Johns Chevy Van
5 posted on 04/15/2023 5:07:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Good times!


6 posted on 04/15/2023 5:08:58 PM PDT by PhiloBedo (You gotta roll with the punches, and get with what's real.)
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To: nickcarraway

How inspiring. /s


7 posted on 04/15/2023 5:19:28 PM PDT by sasquatch
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To: nickcarraway

That van was made in the day when decent cars were made here.


8 posted on 04/15/2023 5:23:43 PM PDT by wjcsux (On 3/14/1883 Karl Marx gave humanity his best gift, he died. )
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To: Drew68

Great album from a rockin band! I swear I saw a black spray bombed minivan today with an angled red stripe on the sides and bright red home made looking spoiler on the back. The plates read “B TEEM”.

Freegards


9 posted on 04/15/2023 5:27:07 PM PDT by Ransomed
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To: nickcarraway

The Dodge vans made from the late 60’s to the mid 80’s were pretty much indestructible.


10 posted on 04/15/2023 5:27:20 PM PDT by wjcsux (On 3/14/1883 Karl Marx gave humanity his best gift, he died. )
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To: nickcarraway

A charmingly impulsive move on her part. I can see why it caught her eye. What a cool piece of Americana and practically dripping with vibe from a time that seems worlds away. Funny to think that customized vans were kind of a craze for a while there. This one has some nice Cragar rims like you’d see on a muscle car, some very deftly hand painted pinstripe accents, and oh man those stripes. I do notice it has some rust issues here and there if you look closely. Maybe she’s got a complete restoration planned once her restaurant starts raking in the bucks.


11 posted on 04/15/2023 5:45:41 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: wjcsux

Rust seemed to do a pretty good job taking them out.


12 posted on 04/15/2023 6:20:11 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Ransomed
Great album from a rockin band!

Hell, yeah! Fu Manchu kicks so much freakin' a$$!

They really should've been bigger than they were. More than twenty five years later, they're still a bar band.

13 posted on 04/15/2023 6:24:05 PM PDT by Drew68 (Ron DeSantis for President 2024. A real conservative.)
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To: nickcarraway

Heck, my mom’s van was better than that and it came with shag carpet!!


14 posted on 04/15/2023 6:29:17 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: wjcsux

“That van was made in the day when decent cars were made here.”

Yep... I am converting a 1978 Chevy 4X4 van into a camper right now.


15 posted on 04/15/2023 6:39:51 PM PDT by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: Larry Lucido

It’s a manufactured van. The art was in the one off custom trucks. I used to go to a lot of custom van shows with my friend who had his tricked out econoline, saw some awesome work at those shows. This ain’t one of ‘em.


16 posted on 04/15/2023 6:48:48 PM PDT by Clutch Martin ("The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right." )
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To: nickcarraway

It’s a bit hard to see. Can you make the picture any bigger?


17 posted on 04/15/2023 7:47:59 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: nickcarraway

Hate the side mirror attachments of that time!
(although maybe fashionable, I think her trog footwear sux)

-JRoberts-


18 posted on 04/15/2023 7:50:22 PM PDT by A strike ("The worse, the better."- Lenin (& Schwab & Soros)
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To: Clutch Martin
There were a lot of paint and body shops that did cheapo "conversion van" jobs in the '70s. Add a porthole window, some period-popular stripes and maybe a roof rack & rear ladder (chrome, of course), and then offer some stereo speakers and carpet - done.

This one, despite being a Dodge, looks like a Ford factory offering (they had a Pinto with the same "stripes and porthole" package, IIRC.

The serious custom van shops were the ones that were capable of one-off airbrush murals and such.

19 posted on 04/15/2023 7:59:06 PM PDT by Charles Martel (Progressives are the crab grass in the lawn of life.)
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To: nickcarraway

She needs it to transport a dog that big.


20 posted on 04/15/2023 8:09:11 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> --- )
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