When I say "indestructible," what I mean is "destructible." I'm assuming that everyone who owned one of these babies was as rough on it (read: coming down from three feet of air on a standard suspension) as Los Hermanos Deniston were. I say this because about 8 years ago I was looking for one to restore, and it seemed they don't exist. You can find a few online these days, but as to their shape, who can say? I did note that this tiny little truck had a V8 production version. A V-Fucking-8?! I'm surprised the drive train didn't rip out every time you accelerated.
The blog, Marooned named the LUV one of the ugliest vehicles of the 1970s. But he's a self-proclaimed right-wing gun-nut, so there you go. Apparently, this truck was just a re-badged Isuzu.Also apparently, the modern descendent of the LUV is the Chevy S-10, also known as the GMC Sonoma, the truck I drive now.
I'm not sure what happened to the two trucks, or whose lasted the longest. This was the truck that Vance, Me, and Virginia drove on the famous "Amarillo Road Trip." It was also the truck that we sat in and discussed driving at top speed into a brick wall, but then smoked some hash and went to see Annie Hall and learned how to tell a cup of Dr. Pepper from Coke because, apparently, Dr. Pepper doesn't fizz.
I loved my LUV.Mine was a 1976 that was purchased from Ed Blacks on San Mateo. "HEY, were's everybody going?"....sorry about that. I bought the truck in very early 1977. The purchase price was $3,800.00 and my monthly payment was a whooping $110.00 a month. Rick will soon have a photo to post of the Luv in action, speeding towards Hill, coming back down to earth. Between the the door jamb and the back of the cab was alittle cubby-hole that the Toker II fit in perfectly. A upside down 181Gm. Frisbee under the seat acted as storage and sifting tray for buds and wraps. Mine was a Canary Yellow, like the New Mexico sun and I dug it to pieces. I scrimped and saved and bought the white spoked desert wheels that were required in those days to not be called a dick. There were two distinct types in 1977, Custume Vans like IRON BUTTERFLY or you went OFF_ROAD. Off-road meant less traffic, very few cops and a hell of alot more fun! Through all the jumps, near roll-overs and Devil-may-care street antics, I never got one dent on the truck! Except one. The secound day I havd the truck I had to go show Alan and he thought it was cool, even though he's a FORD man. His parents driveway angled steeply toward the house from the street. When I got ready to go, I said "watch this" I put the truck in reverse, threw my right arm over the passenger seat, turned my head with a big grin and dumped the clutch to do a massive burnout out the drive. CRASH.....right through the friggin garage door...... The truck was in first gear. We stayed up the whole night to fix the door before Alans parents got back from Vegas. Alans dad walked in the house and said, "what happened to the garage door?" Shit...Thats when I started framing houses for Alans dad.
ReplyDeleteHah! Great story about the dent. I don't think 'd heard that one before.
ReplyDeleteRE: Iron Butterfly. I still see that sunabitch around from time to time. It's horribly faded out now. I remember the legends surrounding it before. "He never takes it out of the garage during the day so the paint stays fresh."
I'm sorry, but those custom vans from the 70's were cooler than shit. I mean, what do you have these days that was, basically, a rolling apartment? Squat. That's what.
Really, the 1970s was the waning of the self-customized car era. People today go and buy a factory Mustang that looks like a 1970 custom job. Worse yet was the P.T. Cruiser -- a car designed to be customized, but no one ever went further than the packages that came from the dealer. Ever see a chopped and chanelled Cruiser? Feh!
One thing about that van that was not legend but fact was that he had an electric train that ran aroud inside a glass table. I think Car Craft magazine did an artile on this van when they came to Eastdale shopping center to do an article about Cruising.
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