In 1972 I bought a Dodge Van. This was a time before such a purchase was a popular item, before the mini-van was invented; it was a full size van.
I had decided to buy this vehicle preparing for a cross country camping trip. We had started camping as a family, and while I had a VW bus, I needed something sturdier and larger to get a family of five around the country.
I have had (and continue to have) a problem buying new cars. For some unknown reason, I can never get waited on in a car showroom. I have gone in jeans, and in suits, it still doesn’t matter, no one will ask me anything. Forget high pressure, I can’t get blood pressure!
In ’72 however, two things were going for me. The salesman who helped me was older, and this is always a good sign. Car salesmen seem to get better if they stay. An experienced salesman will actually ask customers if he can help. Secondly, I was driving my father in laws newly acquired Cadillac, and I realized someone would see me enter driving this vehicle which made it seem like this kid in jeans may actually have some money.
They had no vans in stock to speak of, at least not the stripped down model I was looking for, and so I decided to order it from the factory. I ordered a maroon regular length Sportsman van (the longer one was nice but I guess there was no reason to splurge), I included power steering and brakes, a radio and the large outside mirrors on both sides (an extra at that time) and in his list he read to me he had a “heavy duty” clutch. For $25, I figured why not? It had one additional bench seat and therefore it sat five with a big, empty back space for camping stuff and everything else one could think of hauling.
The Sportsman van was better for us than the Tradesman van, as it came with such extras as insulation in the doors and panels on the doors as well, windows all around and a rubber mat throughout the car instead of bare, painted metal. Such luxury!
It lasted a long time, and I kept it until 1980 when I purchased a 1980 Dodge van in Detroit, and it was orange! They brought it in from Windsor, ON. It was a V8, had air conditioning etc., and it had lots of luxuries, but unfortunately I purchased it right at the time of the gas crisis, and it was not the car to have! It became a short lived vehicle for us, as gas rose from $.39 a gallon to $.69 a gallon and I thought the world had ended!
The title of this epic is the “Heavy Duty” Clutch, and I don’t want to forget that. If you are offered anything in life where you have the choice of heavy duty or regular, of course you’ll get the heavy duty. It was only a $25 extra, and when you’re dealing with a truck with standard shift, you have to figure the clutch will get lots of wear. So, there was no choice.
Some years later, in 1978, the clutch went! It simply broke and had to be replaced. The garage gave me an estimate on costs, and when it was over, the actual cost came in at more than double! Why, they didn’t realize that it had the “heavy duty” clutch!
I had decided to buy this vehicle preparing for a cross country camping trip. We had started camping as a family, and while I had a VW bus, I needed something sturdier and larger to get a family of five around the country.
I have had (and continue to have) a problem buying new cars. For some unknown reason, I can never get waited on in a car showroom. I have gone in jeans, and in suits, it still doesn’t matter, no one will ask me anything. Forget high pressure, I can’t get blood pressure!
In ’72 however, two things were going for me. The salesman who helped me was older, and this is always a good sign. Car salesmen seem to get better if they stay. An experienced salesman will actually ask customers if he can help. Secondly, I was driving my father in laws newly acquired Cadillac, and I realized someone would see me enter driving this vehicle which made it seem like this kid in jeans may actually have some money.
They had no vans in stock to speak of, at least not the stripped down model I was looking for, and so I decided to order it from the factory. I ordered a maroon regular length Sportsman van (the longer one was nice but I guess there was no reason to splurge), I included power steering and brakes, a radio and the large outside mirrors on both sides (an extra at that time) and in his list he read to me he had a “heavy duty” clutch. For $25, I figured why not? It had one additional bench seat and therefore it sat five with a big, empty back space for camping stuff and everything else one could think of hauling.
The Sportsman van was better for us than the Tradesman van, as it came with such extras as insulation in the doors and panels on the doors as well, windows all around and a rubber mat throughout the car instead of bare, painted metal. Such luxury!
It lasted a long time, and I kept it until 1980 when I purchased a 1980 Dodge van in Detroit, and it was orange! They brought it in from Windsor, ON. It was a V8, had air conditioning etc., and it had lots of luxuries, but unfortunately I purchased it right at the time of the gas crisis, and it was not the car to have! It became a short lived vehicle for us, as gas rose from $.39 a gallon to $.69 a gallon and I thought the world had ended!
The title of this epic is the “Heavy Duty” Clutch, and I don’t want to forget that. If you are offered anything in life where you have the choice of heavy duty or regular, of course you’ll get the heavy duty. It was only a $25 extra, and when you’re dealing with a truck with standard shift, you have to figure the clutch will get lots of wear. So, there was no choice.
Some years later, in 1978, the clutch went! It simply broke and had to be replaced. The garage gave me an estimate on costs, and when it was over, the actual cost came in at more than double! Why, they didn’t realize that it had the “heavy duty” clutch!
This clutch had seven springs instead of the usual four or five. In addition, I swear my left leg is now ½” shorter than my right because of six years of driving the “heavy duty” clutch!
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