I'm the luckiest Man alive... Mama Rash buys me a van!!!

I am lucky enough to have the sort of wife who loves cars enough to buy her own, never complains when the guys are over and we work into the wee hours, (hell, she even makes sure we have food and drinks) loves going to car shows enough that she toughed out the first HAMB drags with a sinus infection AND actually thinks roadside repairs are fun.

I got bit by the van bug a while back. Lately vans are all I can think of. I'm not entirely sure why but it just seems cool to be able to load up all your buds and head to a swap and have room to bring all those buds and the treasure back. Plus I've always liked camping and it would be cool to pull up in a van, crank the windows down and crash out.

I remember when Reverend Jake, My Pops and I just happened to be in Florida at the same time. He was in Tampa and Pops and I were in Orlando. Pops and I met the Tampa guys years before when we were in Tampa on business and thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with them. They know what this thing is really about. Anyway, Jake was in Tampa for Yankee spring training and Pops and I were in Orlando on business. We decided to take a weekend day off and cruise to Tampa to hang with Jake and the Tampons (TM). We wound up at a swap meet and there was a Greenbriar van there. This thing was cool because it had some accessories that turned it into a small camper. I really dug it and it stuck in my mind.

So the van bug bit me recently and I set my heart on a Dodge van I see sitting in a dudes front yard. I like it a lot but it is kind of odd in that it has windows on one side and not the other. I don't care. Maybe I'll fill the other side and make it a panel?

But Ol' Dude won't sell it. I've worked on him for 4 years and he acts like he will but he won't. Unknown to me Tracy (my darling wife) has been schmoozing him for quite a while, trying to get him to come off it. She wants to surprise me with it for my 40th birthday. (40. I sure don't feel 40) She thinks she's getting close but Ol Dude halts at the last minute and decides "She's just not ready to go yet".

She's bummed.

I just happen to bring up vans again and she tells me what's she's been up to and how it just didn't work out. I was completely blown away that she would go through all that effort for little ol me. I've been thinking on the van thing some more and the Greenbriar keeps coming to mind. Bone stock it's a pretty cool van. I'm a custom man though and I have ideas in my head that want to come out.

I tell her it's really OK that the Dodge van won't happen. I think I want a Chevy van anyway. I'm a Chevy guy. Not long after that Bulletproof says he knows a guy with a early Chevy van. Would I be interested? I figured it was a snub nose Chevy, late 60's kinda van. He sent me a pic and it's a Greenbriar. I tell him I'd be interested in looking at it so we figure we'd head up to "Tahlequah" where it's supposedly at the weekend of my Birthday.

Tonight we go to "Floater Q" which is really a gathering of my friends from work and the "Floaters" from Donald Duckus' board which is mostly a batch of local car nuts. We're there and Tracy is edgy as can be. Then I find that her Dad is coming which isn't too unusual. Reverend Jake and Norma are there for the first time. That's cool. No really bells dinging yet.

Tracy's parents show up and Tracy gets up and makes an announcement about how she and her parents got me something for my birthday and pretty much everyone I know was in on it. She can't wait to give it to me anymore so she hands me an envelope.

I'm trying to catch up, I've been super tired since spooling down from the SK500 and my brain is sluggish at best. My birthday is two weeks out still.

I open the envelope and it's a ***le. What the? Well, look at it...

I see 1963. I see Chevy and I see 4 door. MY brain stutters. What the hell am I gonna do with a 4 door 63 Chevy? Everything with 4 doors gets donored on my property. Maybe it's got good guts?

And what the hell body style is a GB? What the hell is GB???

Biscayne? NO
Bel Air? NO
Impala? NO

Maybe a wagon?
Parkwood? No
Nomad? NO



I don't know any other four door Chevy names.

"Green Bean" is all I can come up with. That makes no sense at all.

Then she tells me it's in the parking lot, I see it and it hits me. GB stands for Green Briar.

And sure enough, that;s what it is. And it's all there. Minus the second and third row seats.

I'm floored!

Pretty sure the first words out of my mouth were, "It's UGLY!"

Lucky for me my peeps know that's a plus for me!

We got it home and off the trailer. I'm already itching. We dump gas down it and hook a jump pack to it. It cranks! It's pumping air but no spark.

I'm incredibly pumped. I just need to figure the spark thing out and I'm sure it will run. I'll do a few minor things to it and **** around in it while I build the Elky.

I don't have any pics. I was busy flipping out, but I know lots of people took them so I'm sure someone will post them.

So I owe a huge thanks first and foremost to my lovely wife. Not only did she orchestrate this whole thing but she doesn't even mind that this thing will be lurking in the yard. She is definitely top notch and I'm sure way better than I deserve. Big thanks also to her parents who helped with the fundage and again her parents and Bulletproof for spotting the van, checking it out, working the deal, and hauling that thing aorund.

And thanks to Pops (for buying our dinner also!), Whitey, Bulletproof, Sara, Reverend Jake, Norma, Monkey & Ryan. These people all knew about it, kept the secret, AND didn't try and talk her out of it! I am rarely surprised and it's nice to be surprised like this!

Now I have my hands full. I know NOTHING about vans, rear engined things, and this part of the electrical system that seems to be faulty but I'm looking forward to figuring it out!

 

You are lucky to even have a wife,never mind a good one.
Take care of her,they don't make them like that any more.


Or give her my number.

 

Deja vou..

I started reading this and for some reason felt like I'd read it before.. No sarcasm.. Weird..

I'm trying to get out of buying a 62 corvair, but that's all my dad'll let me borrow..
Greenbriars though? UGLY!!

 

That's a lot of green. My apologies.

But I'm PUMPED.

I won't sleep tonight.

May call in tomorrow

 

your a lucky guy.....

 

Yeah, but just ugly enough to be cool!

If you read the post by BobK, bragging on his wife, you might have read where I posted the part I knew about her trying to get he Dodge van. Maybe where you Deja comes from.

I had no idea about the GreenBriar.

 

Sweet, Hippie!
Greenbriars rule, ugly in a cool way.
And Flat six powered, so it will mark it spot.
and Yep, Tracy is one of a kind.

 

ROCK AND ****IN ROLL!!!!!

 

Rashy - that's awesome!

 

Sooo.... Camping out at Bowling Green this year (haha)?

 

Dude, yer brain is ALWAYS "sluggish"!

Congrats!

 

That is wayyyy cool of her! I agree with Unkl Ian ^^^^^ My wife is a good one, but she wouldn't buy me a box of beer, let alone a van!
My birthday is tomorrow..I all ready know what I'm getting..Nada.
Or maybe I'll get to touch a ****ie!

I'm easy to please..

 

No Doubt, Rash. Congrats on the birthday surprise & for having such an awesome wife & in-laws & friends, ha. You got it all, brother.
I dig dem vans as much as anything that's different.

 

Man that is too cool, ,those early vans ROCK!!!!!!

Rusty

 

Rashy, you are a lucky man, and it appears that you know that.... Congrats!

Malcolm

 

We still like tracy better, her Vagabond threads are ready to ship!

 

Well Rash, congrats buddy, I turned 40 and all I got was this stupid T-shirt. I need to ask you a question....can I borrow your wife for about an hour, I need to tell A wife about a project I want to bring home, and yours sounds alot more understanding them mine. Thanks Buddy, and Happy B-day

 

It's great to have a supportive wife, Cindy & I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary last night by going to Thirsty Thursday!!

 

im just damn glad its over!!!!it was all could do to not talk about it...i slipped af few times and back paddled at straykatt.proud to be a part of it though.

 

awesome... now we need pics of "green bean"...

 

Nice, those early vans are really cool. What a great wife, you got one of the good ones !!!! Gary

 

What could be kooler.... I'm picturing a big ol Rashy monster hanging out of window grinning ear to ear loaded with the miss's coming out of a swap met with al kinds of goodies. Good wives Rock!! Congrats man

 

Hey Rashy:

Are we absolutley sure that Tracy and Maggie aren't sister's????


What a woman, you are one lucky Dude.

BB

 

Wow!! What a cool wife....I'm guessing she likes you!!
"Green Bean" is funny to me, my wife's family had a '62 Chev they called the green bean. My POP was a Corvair mechanic and I've owned several. The first thing to do will probably be replacing the pushrod tube o-rings, they become brittle from the heat of the nearby exhaust manifolds and then they leak oil into the metal shroud system. When that happens you get oil smoke inside the car. I had one that leaked so bad you couldn't drive it with the windows up and with them down smoke poured out like it was on fire Properly maintained they run great and I enjoyed them. Good Luck

 

Sweet - I've alway dug the Corvair vans and pickups. Almost bought one as a teen. Probably should have.
Congrats on the find (Tracy), and the van. Many of us should be so lucky. Look forward to seeing that thing blowin' down the highway.
Later -

 

Congrats Rashy!

Nothing like turning 40!


jerry

 

You have a AWESOME wife boy !!!!!

 

Damn...wish I'da known that at SK 500...we'da talked...my son has a '65 Chevy flat window van...WITH a 8,000 mile rebuilt 350" and headers INSIDE his...coulda considered that...it's just sitting...but, he'd want big bux for it...

R-

 

Van-tastic! My wife lets me get away with a kinds of hot rod schinanigans. Maybe one day I'll quit being an *** and actually build HER a car.