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Fastest Dodge van in the West

Now usually on these walkarounds, we talk about the history of the vehicle. Today is a little different, I’m going to tell you about this van in particular and the stunning list of changes made by Paul to create the van of his dreams.

First off, a lot of people will see this van and be immediately horrified that it hasn’t been preserved as a standard van, but the van didn’t arrive with Paul as a concours example and in fact, had had quite a hard life.

It started life as a gas board van until 1992 then spent 19 years being used as a shed before being taken on by a man called Alan who is a guitarist and was touring was Gloria Gaynor. He had the chassis repaired and some of the lower panels replaced.

Paul then took it on and created the van we see today.

Everything started off far more original and Paul rebuilt the original engine himself after big end failure and said if the engine packed up again, he’d put a V8 in it…

The first idea was put a standard 6.6L engine from a 1979 Lincoln Continental into the van and it was purchased as a unit from a scrap car via eBay. It was due to go in as a standard lump but then upgrades got implemented by Paul and his friend Tim!

They began by stripping the engine and found it had little to no sign of wear and they sent it away for a cylinder hone and fitted the engine with compression racing pistons.

It also benefitted from a high lift cam, a big valve cylinder head, Yella Terra pedestal mount rockers, Holley 600 CFM 4 barrel carb, high flow oil pump, MSD ignition system, Holley fuel pump and a mad exhaust which is 2 4 into 1 exhausts with two straight through flowmaster boxes

The gearbox is the Standard Ford C6 3 speed auto paired with a Landrover prop shaft

The rear axle is taken from a Rover P5, mounted on a 5 link with coil overs and even the rear wheels have been changed and they’re off a Jeep.

Front axle is standard but fitted with Toyota Hillux shockers and the front wheels are standard.

Brakes are drums all round with servo assistance and an electric hand brake I’ll show once we hop inside.

The interior is still a work in progress whilst the slightly customised dash and MGF 99p front seats are doing alright, the rear is the next focal point for Paul who plans to whip it up into a bonkers camper.

Now before we have a proper look inside, I’ll hand over to owner Paul from the YouTube channel Manfacility Metal Works.