"ORANGE KRUSH" 1972 Chevrolet Custom Van

1972 Chevrolet G20 Van KUSTOM!! Description

"ORANGE KRUSH" is notorious on the streets of Southern California, and an icon in local van culture, owned by founding member of CALIFORNIA STREET VANS. It is an Original, 1972 Southern California G10 Survivor custom Chevy "Shorty" van. A pure 70s street machine or "boogie' van.
It rides like a car and not a van.

The original 350 has a respectable low rumble out the old school glass pack dual exhaust.
PS, PDB and automatic trans all work good as they should. Orange Krush has only 122k actual miles, because it was in storage for 18 years!

Yes, that is dealer installed AC, and compressor is free moving but has not been charged in several years.

It rides on nice set of vintage American Torque flight wheels and BFG white-letter TA radials. Tires are good but they are starting to show some age.

The exterior is straight, with deluxe trim and is "uncut”, meaning it has no port hole or camper windows, no sunroof or air vent either. By not having those features, the original groovy shag carpet, matching velour and chocolate naugahyde interior remain in fantastic shape.

Unique interior:
The interior is unlike any other, with 70s olive green shag carpet, matching velour and chocolate brown naugahyde combination, just as it was built per the love den specifications of the original owner back in '73.

The goal has been to keep it as "it was 1974" and that's what this is: a Retro Time Capsule.

Since the original owner wanted both a work van and custom van, he built this shorty with that in mind. There are two Mustang Mach 1 seats up front, with matching velour panels and two passenger bucket seats build into a divided wall in the back. The same velour was used on the roof and matching door panels.
The quality of the work done by the custom shop at the time is fantastic.

There is only one small nick in the entire cabin. The driver's seat has a small tear that I have covered up for 10 years and during that time it has not grown in size.
Out back, when you open the back doors, there is a two feet deep "workshop" for the original owners tools, and cargo, as he was an auto tech who worked at local car dealerships, and even has a working grinder for sharpening tools. With a hand-crafted primitive cabinet mounted to the back of the wall, this cargo space, today it makes for great storage for tools or camping gear.

It has a period correct "octagon" wood and chrome steering wheel, that has a unique design unlike other octagon wheels I've scene. The dash is in great shape, with a period clock that was installed in the 70s. The in-dash cassette player works as a radio, but the cassette player will no, as a copy of Aerosmith's "Toys in the Attic" has been stuck inside there for over a decade. I would put an in-dash 8 track/CB combo in there if I kept it.

Exterior: The original body is straight and true. Although it is a factory orange color, it looks like there may have been a re-spray at some time, but that had to be in the mid 70s, judging by the patina and color and as you can see, it is holding up very well. The chrome and bright work are all there and in great shape It also has period correct custom chrome hinges, and cowl. No holes cut. NO sunroof, vent or windows, which tend to leak as they age. Doors, including slider are solid. It also has straight really nice chrome bumpers and rear pop out windows.

Glass is all good and window roll up and down as they should.
The roof rails are in great shape for its age with only one small area starting to show some bubbling up in the front, and a tiny fingernail sized bubble on the door. Other than that, very solid and remarkably rust-free, as you would expect from a Southern California vehicle.

The Passenger wing window recently broke but I have not had time to fix that.

A full day of detailing and the paint will pop even more.
It is still eye-catching, no matter where you go. Want to talk about old vans and cars etc? Then just drive this thing anywhere and stop, because people will be guaranteed to come up and ask you questions.

There is practically no rust on this southern California climate rig, but recently, there is some bubbling up on the roof, that is the result of living near the beach here and salt air in Los Angeles. However that formed after ten years of being in this area. So, a quick attention to that should not be a big deal. The frame rails and undercarriage are extremely nice and solid.

Basically, I'm the third owner, although the 2nd owner never got it on the road and it sat for 18 years before I purchased it 10 years ago and got it on the road. Once it was finally up and running, I could not wait to take it camping, surfing or to car shows or concerts.

Before long, I met other guys who had done the same and we decided to form a van club. At that time there were only a handful of van clubs left in California, when back in the hey day of Vanning, there were over 300.

With some exposure on social media and regular media, these old vans, most sent to salvage yards or regulated to plumbers vans, suddenly had a renewed interest. A new scene started to happen here in southern California that became infectious to car/truck enthusiasts and spread quickly across the states and even to other countries.ORANGE KRUSH has appeared in magazines as far away as Thailand, and the very first issue of "ROLLING HEAVY" magazine.

These original preserved vans are hard to find. It deserves an owner who wants a unique piece of Southern California street culture.

Ready to go to Van Nuys Blvd or Bobs Big Boy cruise night, or any Car Show in your hometown!!

Thanks for looking, and KEEP ON TRUCKIN'