service trucks and vans...

[cfz2882]

Any of you appliance/TV guys have any memories of especially good or bad work
trucks or vans?-any VW vans or corvair rampside pickups(LOL)-In highschool a
classmate bought an ex-appliance store van to haul his band equipment-it was a
plain-jane long bodied ford, around 1978-80 era,it had the 300 straight 6 and auto
tranny.One feature i remember is an"economy"gauge-a vacume gauge.It had an AM
radio but no A/C..

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Sears Robuck had all those turquoise Ford Vans...

There was someone at my work had a big long tan Ford van, circa 1994, which was also a Sears vehicle (and unfortunately The Feds had to arrest him & confiscate his van--apparently this guy was a "conspirist" of some sort, not to mention a few other kinds of "ists")...

I think those Ford Transits are also pretty neat, not to mention a similar one made by Nissan...

But any well-stocked app' repair guy would probably drive a Dodge Sprinter...

-- Dave

 

[macboy91si]

Ford vs Nissan?

Apples and oranges. I really like the little Transit Connect, but it's nothing like the Nissan, unless you count them both being a "van" as similar. The Ford is essentially a Focus Powerplant (2.0L I4/4-sp Auto) in a small FWD Chassis van. The Nissan is based on the full-size V8 Titan/Armada platform, much heavier duty- and thirsty. The Sprinter, or Merc. Benz. is a nice but top-heavy option that comes with a turbo diesel option so they produce good torque and are fairly fuel efficient for what they are. The MB/Freightliner/Sprinters are however I hear somewhat troublesome in areas and prone to rust.

I'll take the Transit, not really a Ford fan, but it's a well rounded vehicle for the casual collector

-Tim

 

[goatfarmer]

I used to work on those Sears vans, one of my many jobs working at the Service Center.

 

I remember most every truck my dad used for a service truck, a 67 Chevy van(green), a 69 Chevy van (blue), a 71 GMC pickup with a camper shell on it (yellow), a 74 Ford F250 with the same camper shell on it(blue), a couple of Dodge D50's.

 

[whirlcool]

In the 60's smaller television dealers used Ford of Chevy vans as their service trucks. Your television or stereo would be delivered on a large box truck and if it needed service the guy would come in the Ford or Chevy van. However there was one company that used VW vans as their service vehicles.

 

[runematic]

We bought a new Ford Transit Connect back in February.  At this point we have about 21000 miles on it already.  So far it has been abosultely trouble free.  The brakes are a little noisey up front, but I have read similar stories from other owners.  When I can pry the keys out of  my dad's hands I love driving it.

 

We use a Chevy (Isuzu) w3500 cab-over as our delivery truck.  The only saving grace on that one is the super tight turning radius. That's perfect for  in-town deliveries.  Other than that the Chevy 5.7L engine drinks oil like it's it's job.  It uses at least 2 quarts every 1500 miles.  The ride is also horrible.  It's like riding a buckboard even on "smooth" roads.  Parts are expensive and tough to get ahold of.  We wish we would have gone with a van-front chassis.  But when the budget is limited and the truck was bought used, what are you going to do.  We only started using a lift gate about 12 years ago.  Before that we had pickups to deliver from with no lift gate.  What a back saver the gate is.

 

We have always used a Chevy, Dodge or Ford full-sized van as a service vehicle.  I can't say I miss the gas mileage they got.  Saving money is nice at the pump.

 

Back in the early 80's my dad used a 1970's Chevy pickup that had a service box on it.  That was ok but it was a 3 on the tree that every once-in-a-while the linkage would bind up.  I learned how to drive in that pig (even though I was probably 10-12 years old). 

 

[cfz2882]

'60s mid engine ford van

around 1975 one of my dads friends used one of those little mid engine ford vans
to service remote microwave sites-the van had a 6cyl.engine and"three on the tree"
manual tranny.I kinda remember the heater core box and blower intruded into the
passenger footwell area,but i could be wrong on this detail.