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Continental Cruisin'

BY BETH ALLEN

 

While on tour with my old band, the Loudmouths, in 2000, I found that in Euro-land, VW’s and Mercedes vans prevail. (We ourselves traveled the autobahn in a rented... gag... VW mini van that we barely squeezed into.) The horror of it all was that in Europe, you do NOT see old Chevy, Ford or Dodge vans. Oh sure, they’re there, but RARE as all hell. It’d be like seeing tons of Mercedes vans over here—you don’t. So what kinda vans did we see??? From continental crusiers to crash pads, check out what we caught on camera.

 

Click on the images below for a larger view!

 

Shrunk It

“Honey, I Shrunk the Van!” Berlin, Germany.
So compact, so cute, so... so... grossly wrong. Matto our roadie and I size up this teenie weenie German work van.

Mini Vans

“Honey, I Shrunk the Van! Part II” Milan, Italy.
Yet another pee wee.

Mercedes Amsterdam, Holland.
BIG Mercedes van. This was the band Human Alert’s monsterous ride.

You could fit a house in here! Amsterdam, Holland.
Side view of the Mercedes as Human Alert loads up after a show. Hell, you could fit equipment for four bands in this big boy!

Volkswagon Winterhur, Switzerland.
The band Wicked and their very un-wicked looking wheels. Vrrooom!

Swiss Minibus Geneva, Switzerland.
Myriam and her van outside the Chalet Les Chenes squat.

Mean Machine Milan, Italy.
Pete Loudmouth hangs out in front of this massive hunk o’ mean lookin’ metal that, of all things, belongs to a band called “Flower Peace.” Go Figure. A psychedelic paint job would make more sense.

Flipper

Home Sweet Home St. Etienne, France.
Our crazy, drunken friends for the night, Barbara and Damien outside their crash pad.

Flipper

The Living Room St. Etienne, France.
Barbara and Damien inside their crash pad. It’s all about the stereo, baby.

Flipper

Hunk o‘ Hunk Scotland.
A friend snapped this hunk of stuff while visiting Scotland. Could use some bigger wheels I think!

Flipper

Tourmobile Scotland.
Another Scotland van sighting. This one is a communal van for a buncha Scottish punk bands.

Backbone of Britain
So I was recently enlightened by an email from the UK about Ford vans — apparently the brits have Ford “Transits” and they are everywhere. Here is a current model, and what can I say... it's UGLY! It reminds me of an enlarged minivan. What would that be? A mongovan? The Transit ad slogan is “The Backbone of Britain.”


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