1981 Dodge Mini-mini Ram Van

[Chuck Most]

Now that the Turtle Wax 1982 (despite the fuel cap vs fuel flap disagreeing with the model year on the box) Dodge van kit is out, I figured it was time to build my last remaining Rescue 911 van. You remember that one... when MPC wanted to do a Cannonball Run kit, and found themselves without the first-gen B series tooling, they just dummied up the second gen kit grille with a weird Austin Alegro-like insert to make it look older. Unfortunately, this grille carried over into the Rescue 911 version, though thankfully molded in white instead of red. 

First order of business (or bidness, as late Wendy's founder Dave Thomas pronounced it), was to cut down the body. I've wanted to do a shortened van for a while, I guess now was the time. Basically I cut out the length of the passenger's side cargo doors, with the interior tub and chassis cut to match. Since these kits have a "saggy bottom" stance I also shimmed the rear suspension, but since this was a custom build I also lowered the front a little. It was then fitted with some MPC Cragars robbed from a '76 Road Runner... another time MPC got the model year wrong, though much more painfully obvious in the case of the Road Runner.  

Once all that was done, attention turned to that Austin Alegro looking grille and it's molded basketball headlight lenses. No way was that gonna fly, even for a stupid little fun project like this. That was cut out, and a new grille was made from .040 v groove sheet. The bezels are flat stock with borders made from .030" strip and play host to Moebius F100 lenses. 

I'll discuss the interior a bit because it's basically invisible on the finished model. The kit comes with seats that would look more at home on a swivel mount in a Taco Bell lobby, so they were replaced with some very vintage Design Factory resin A100 buckets. I also added a floor shifter, with a parts box boot, brass rod, and a knob from a Warhammer skull set.  I stole the optional smoked glass from the Turtle Wax kit to use it here. The body was hosed off in Duplicolor Ford Oxford White. The decals came from a Gopher Racing sponsor sheet. 

Examining the photos it needs a few touch ups and I'm still toying around with the idea of adding some dummy side pipes, but overall, I had fun. Which I guess is the whole point. 

[kelson]

Love it!!.

[happy grumpy]

supercool van. Great idea.

[Oldcarfan27]

Looks cool. You got the base grille assembly (round headlights) with a tube grille added to it. Very effective!

[Lunajammer]

Soooo, no temptation to add an unseen blower, fat meats and tiny-short wheelie bars? (What would squirrels do? The squirrels, Chuck!)

[cobraman]

Pretty cool van you have there.

[ChrisR]

Cool!

[espo]

Can't help but smile looking at this. I like the short wheelbase design. The grill and headlights look like what someone would do on a custom build and cleans up the appearance of the front end.  

[Koellefornia Kid]

Cool looking "mini"-van! I like what you did with the grille!

[PappyD340]

That's too COOL!

[slusher]

Great little van Chuck!

[crazyjim]

I love these stubby vans.

[Draggon]

That really brought a smile to my face! And yes, sidepipes would look great. Well done!

[ewetwo]

Really cute.

[Dave72]

If I had a nickel for every time I tried this when I was a kid, I could buy more kits! Mine never turned out nearly as good as yours! Nice job! 

[Watertown]

I remember the "Shorty" craze of the early 70s. You've captured the spirit of it perfectly!