CARROLL SHELBY TRIBUTE VAN

Carroll Shelby would be proud. Every now and then it happens. A van owner sends me something that really lights my fire. In the case of this Econoline van, it's a wheel package that while totally appropriate, you almost never see. These wheels are factory styled steel Mustang wheels that were offered beginning in '65 as an option. In the case of this particular van, the fronts are 14X7 with 4" of backspacing and the rears are 15X8, with 4.5" of backspacing. Now here's what really makes this interesting. These 14" front wheels clear a set of D&D disc brakes. Which happens to be the exact set-up I have for Pandora. The other things that makes this particular van interesting is that it has a great stance. As much as its current owner. Don A Overly would like take credit, the van came to him with this wheel package and stance. But what he plans to do with it is equally interesting. Don A is planning to build a Carroll Shelby Tribute van. In this case a picture is worth a thousand words. To date, the van has had a kick-up installed in the rear and has had a roller cammed 302 Police Interceptor engine installed.

The entire front suspension is being gone through at the moment and Don is going to run one of Tim Brogan's axle flip kits. Nice work, Don. Keep us posted.

Thanks for Sharing her with Vinvanco, Don. Keep up the good work. Keep the shots coming. #Vinvancoapproved.

FINAL EXTERIOR COLOR

I've got it. The final exterior color and a complimentary color for details. Were we standing in the home depot paint section where I pulled these samples you'd be looking at Citronette, HDC-MD-03 the olive color on the left, and Sovereign, HDC-CL-06, which is kind of an eggplant-ish dark purple. Both from the Behr "Home Decorators Collection, thank you.
The olive shade will be Pandora's exterior color. It may be a tad darker but for the sake of discussion but this is it. The purple lives on the opposite end of the color spectrum, making it a nice choice for pin-striping, the roof, and/or interior color. The primary colors of the interior will live in the worlds of bamboo and barkcloth, two materials I've dabbled with in the past.  So there you have it.

Although I'm not picturing anything as elaborate as the reference picture below, I would like to make use of tiki style matting for the headliner. The barkcloth would make great curtains, front door panels and loose throw pillows and perhaps a detail wall. A couple of cool light sconces a small Edgar Leeteg-inspired black velvet painting and bingo. We've got a polynesian vibe. Vantiki.
.

The other color/texture I'm strongly contemplating is Pearl white, for seating cushions and to keep the interior feeling light and bright in spite of the bamboo and woodwork
accents. The accompanying shot to the right is a good example. Picture the side interior panels in a padded barkcloth, the headliner in bamboo matting and the seat cushions done in diamond tufted white vinyl.

Here's a good example of barkcloth as a wall texture.

Let's not forget the floors. We'll be using Sisal. 

As I noted earlier, the fial color may be just a touch darker, like this VW squareback so

nicely demonstrates. Forgive me for repeating aspects, but this is the process I generally must go through to feel confident of an overall idea. And this one is really resonating nicely.