14x05 - Dodge A100 Van

[bunniefuu]

The 1965 Dodge A100 sportsman passenger Van
is an American classic. Beloved by hippies,

campers and beach bums half a century ago.
There's something about it that is utterly

charming and captivating.
And with retro enthusiasts

hiking up demands,
getting our hands on one.

could be a huge opportunity.
We can do absolutely

anything with it. But
when you're dealing

with a 50-year-old Van,
you have to be ready

for some 50-year-old
problems. It's raining.

inside the car. Gotta
get the grinder out again.

And tonight need to
turn the clock back on

this groovy ride. Surf
wagon. It just sounds

amazing. And bring
back a piece of automotive

history and hopefully
score a cool profit in

the process. There
you go. That's actually

our car beer. I've come
all the way to Oregon

because I'm on my way
to go and see a 1965.

Dodge sportsman slant
six Van. Split screen,

barn doors. It's every
inch. And an American

icon. It could move people around. It could
move boxes around. And you could go and

live in it as a camper Van. The Dodge Van
I'm going to see belongs to a guy called

David. Now David has
gone a little bit crazy

over the years and he's
gone and bought himself

maybe one or two vehicles, too many. And
he needs to now think about shifting a few

of them. David is asking two and a half
thousand dollars or around £1850, which

is a bargain since I've seen A100s of
this era selling for more than $20,000.

They've been a real sturdy vehicle over
the years and their Mark in history makes

them highly collectible.
Now, what do I always

say to you? Never
buy a vehicle when it's

raining. And that's
true in part, but I'm not

going to be too fussed
about the weather today.

And that's because this Van hasn't seen
a blade of paint since 1965. It's got that

original rust and patina
on it. I've seen the

pictures and I accept
that. So I'm expecting

to see a fan that's naked and it's got his
bones out there on display for me today.

However, this Van is
so cheap, there might be

a little treasure laying
in the field for us.

Wow, this guy really
has collected some cars,

hasn't he, over the
years? Car and gear,

Wayfarer, two-door
sedan, the station wagon,

all those old trucks.
But I've come to see this

and I've come to see
this man. You must be

David. Yes, sir. How
are you? I'm very well.

Great to see you. And
this is it. Wow. 1965

A100. So how did you
come by it? A friend of

mine that worked for me, his dad had it and
I had an El Camino with no motor and it was

another project and
he just wanted to get the

El Camino. That doesn't
seem like a bad swap,

does it? I didn't think
so. You're a Wheeler

dealer. Nice one. Can
I have a look inside?

Sure. You could have tidied up the interior,
David. I didn't want to get too carried

away. You knew I was
coming to see it. What are

you thinking, man? I
mean, that dashboard, wow.

Oh, you should have seen it before. I'll
say it's got a small little swimming pool

as well on the front. Let's have a look.
I love this feature, the barn doors.

The barn doors are amazing. The way they
open up, you get really good accessibility.

into the cabin. That's
nice, isn't it? And that

engine mounted right
in the middle. So this

is a cab over, so the
engine's sort of midway

in the car, if you
like. It's a bit more like

a sports car, isn't it?
Yeah, it's a slant six

and they were known
for their reliability and

they put them in a bunch of cars. Well,
I love it. I think it's brilliant and it's

got good bones, hasn't
it? You can see all

this is solid, the
floor's solid. It's a nice.

solid vehicle. I don't think much of that
roof rack on the top. Looks like it'll when

it's loose. That might
have to come off,

mightn't it? And somebody's
been sh**ting at this

rear glass. Now, down
the back here, I love

the styling. The styling's
fantastic because

the rear light, they've
been frenched into the

bodywork. A little
bit different and really

unique. You can see this was a step up
commercial vehicle because it's got that big

rear bumper and a
step to get inside the

vehicle. These big
doors at the rear. Again,

little bit of surface
rust and water ingress,

but it must be leaking
in parts and it'll have

to be buttoned up at some bit or another.
So, does it really go? Yeah. When was the

last time it drove? Maybe six months ago.
About six months ago. Yeah. So, is it all

right to take it for a test drive? Sure.
Go ahead. Cool. Thank you. All right.

Right then, here we go. My first drive of a


got? Well, I've got a
Van in front of me that

looks like it's still
trapped in 1965. It's from

a bygone era. It's a bit
of a mess, admittedly,

not only to look at
on the outside, but the

inside really lets this
vehicle down. The

dashboard is basically
rubbish. It's got to be

binned. We've got to
change it. Something's got

to be done to it. It's
raining inside the car.

It's noisy. It's smelly.
It's damp. It's all

these bad things, but
there's something about it

that is utterly charming and captivating.
Now, these come with a six-cylinder inline


or not, they delivered 101 horsepower.

And for a Van, that's a
huge number. And being

that it's placed in the
mid of the Van, it handles

a bit more like a sports
car. The thing about

this one that makes me
laugh is this would have

been a sportsman. So,
if you had three rows

of seats, you would
have had a load of people

back there. But the
chances of having a

conversation with them
when you're driving along.

would have been stupid because
nobody can hear a word you're saying.

Now, the good news is
David has said that he

was looking for around
two and a half thousand

dollars, so I can afford
to take a chance on

this old bus and see
if we can turn it into

something that's truly
unique and desirable. If

I can get it for that
or a little bit cheaper,

this Van is definitely coming home with me.

How'd it go, Mike? It's a lovely car, huh?

I feel like I've aged.
That was exhausting.

It's noisy, smelly, smash
glasses, rust on the

inside, rust on the
outside. This Van needs

rescuing. I'm going
to do the right thing by

this Van. So, it's just price.
How much is it?

Two thousand bucks.

Two thousand dollars. Do you know what?
I'm not even going to argue with you. Just

hold out your hand. Got yourself a deal.
And I just bought myself a Dodge A100.

Thank you very much, sir. Great deal.

Really pleased. I've
done a great deal with

David. Now I just
need to get it back to the

workshop. I just hope
Ant's on board with

my plan. And when I
roll up at the workshop,

he doesn't run for the
hills or start throwing

tools at me. If we get
the ingredients right,

we're well on our way to turning a decent
profit if we can make it back in one piece.

As for now, all the gauges
have stopped working.

Oh, come on. Come on.

This ain't going to go well, is it?

Come and push this
in. Just push it in. I'll

explain. I'll explain
when we get it going.

Come on. It's heavy.
It's heavy. Does it not run?

No, it's really. Well, it does
run, but it's just run out of petrol.

Oh, my God.
As I pulled up, it just run out of petrol.

Seriously. Are you even pushing?

I'm pushing.

And there you have it.

OK, explain.

This is our new little toy.


It does need a little bit of work, but it's
got so many varieties of use. I loved it.

How much was it?

$2,000.

Would it have $1,500 of petrol in it?

No.

I've just pushed it in here.

Yeah, the Van is so
cheap and there's so

many things we can
do with it. But the first

thing we need to
do with it is just keep

the patina as it is.
It's telling the story.

It's so characterful,
just so beautiful, isn't it?

What we need to do
is replace everything

else, like the mirrors,
like the wind wipers,

the beauty rings around the headlamps.
We can do something beautiful here.

Add a little colour.

That is horrible.

Yeah, the bumper. We just get rid of it.

It's got to go.

We'll ditch it.

This Van's coup de grace
is most definitely these

fantastic, great big
barn doors on the side.

You're going to love
these. Look at the access

you get into the
inside of this vehicle.

And remember, because
this is a sportsman, we've

had three rows of seats
carrying and ferrying

people around, but now it's ended
out, we can do absolutely anything with it.

What about the engine?

Right, now the engine is absolutely awful.
It smells, it's noisy. So you need to take

it out and give it a total rebuild or I'll
possibly have to replace the whole thing.

Now, this vehicle in 1965 would
have had a V8 as an option.

Automattic, yeah?

Automattic gearbox, yeah, would be nice.

We have a free on the
tree manual, but changing

it to an automatic
will add loads of value.

If you can get me an
automatic gearbox, I'll put it in.

God, we can do loads in here.

Yeah, it's lovely, isn't it?

What do you reckon? Should we panel it out?

Surf wagon.

So you're thinking what, like
a bench around the outside?

Yeah, make it really sociable.
Table in the middle.

Yeah, somewhere to put your wetsuit.
Got to change the seats, obviously.

Got to smarten up the interior.

I'm thinking table, chairs,
benches, light a barbecue, go

for a surf, come back, and
have a hot shower on the beach.

Perfect.

I might take up surfing because I
want to buy it. It just sounds amazing.

Now, down the rear, I just want
you to seriously just take a moment

to just salivate over the back
end of this wonderful looking Van.

Look at the design in those lights.
They are incredible.

The way they've just
been cut into the body,

which I love, is that
we have to keep this.

One final question.
What about the way it sits?

Tell me if I'm wrong, but for
me, it sits a little bit too high.

I think we need a lower profile tyre, a
bigger rim, and lower down the suspension.

Absolutely, 100%.

Good.

Do you know, I never
thought you had any class.

Seriously, that's a bit cruel.

Turns out you do.

Oh, come on, that's just been awful.

I tried to give that A100
suspension a boost.

Take it all the way up.

That is absolutely fantastic.

We've just bought a 1965
Dodge A100 Sportsman.

We think our best chance to sell it
on at a profit is by keeping the vintage

patinated exterior as we transform
it into a modern day surf wagon.

This vehicle is 50 years old and it doesn't
drive very well, which is to be expected.

So I've taken out the engine and I'm
starting to work on improving the handling.

I'm going to remove the
entire front suspension.

and it all comes apart in just
a handful of nuts and bolts.

Now, this type of suspension design
is literally hundreds of years old.

In fact, it can trace its heritage back
to the days of the old horse and cart.

And it's really, really
simple, but absolutely brilliant.

It basically works with two leaf Springs
and a fixed beam axle in the middle.

But I feel like I'm chasing a
really modern market for our Van.

So I'm going to ditch this old style system

and I'm going to go for a
state of the art airbag system.

Now, the first calculation is to work
out what wheels and tyres I want to use.

Now, if I look at the
ones that are already

on the Van, visually,
they just look too big.

Now, the handy thing about tyres is
it gives you the size on the side here.

And in our case, two, three,
five, seventy five, fifteen.

And what that relates to is
two, three, five is the width.

Two hundred and thirty five millimetres.

The seventy five is a
measurement of the sidewall here.

Seventy five percent of two, three, five.

And the fifteen is the rim size.

I quite like the rim size,
maybe go an inch bigger.

But it's this, it's this tyre
wall that's just too big.

So I'm going to reduce it.

I'm going to stay with
two, three, five width,

but I'm going to drop it down to fifty
percent with a larger sixteen inch rim.

So the rim will be around about here.

The tyre will be around about here.

Two, two, five, fifty five, sixteen.

That's going to look really,
really cool within the wheel arch,

plus give us a little bit of
space to lower the Van.

I'm going to start with this,
an off the shelf subframe.

Mike has sourced for me along
with other suspension components.

The Dodge A100 chassis
is made up of two parallel

frame rails that run
the length of the Van.

These rails are what I'll
attach the new suspension to.

My plan is to install a modern
independent suspension

that includes airbags for
adjusting the ride height.

This will not only make our
A100 surf wagon look cool,

but will also allow it to
cover a lot of different

kinds of terrain without
getting bogged down.

And by the time it's
finished, I'll be sitting here,

driving the car,

Mike will be sitting here,

and he'll be sad because he's not driving.

Now the cross member needs to
fit between these two chassis rails.

The distance is 840 millimetres.

I'm trimming the flanges down
so the part is the exact right length,



and smoothing out the rough edges.

Right, moment of truth.

This should fit.

That's perfect.

It fits between the
chassis rails really well.

Now the second critical measurement is to
whereabouts it goes in the chassis rails.

I need it to be dead
centre so that the

wheel fits exactly in
the middle of the arch.

And what's great about
this Van is that kind of does

it for me because of this
little bump stop bracket.

This is the centre of the wheel arch,

so I'm going to use this as my reference
point for where I'm going to weld this.

Problem is, at the moment it's in the way.

I'm going to cut it out.

In the old suspension, bump
stops kept the Springs from

compressing too much or bottoming
out and damaging the frame.

The new independent
suspension doesn't require bump

stops and I need the
room for our new subframe.

I've cut the bump stops off,

but I've deliberately left
the back portion of the

bracket in place and
there's a reason for that.

That just so happens that the inside
dimension of my new cross member.

is exactly the same size.

It guarantees that the new cross member
is exactly in the middle of the arch.

Saves me loads of messing around.

I'm attaching the lower
wishbones to the subframe.

The spindles come next.

I can already tell from
here it's way too high.

Positioning the subframe
properly is essential

for the wheels to
fit within the arches.

I'm using a cardboard
cutout to help me determine

the final location
for the Van's wheels.

Perfect.

I'm tacking the new subframe in place,

but it needs some beefing up.

So I'm cutting extra
pieces of reinforcing

material called gussets
out of steel box section.

This gusset piece is really important.

And without it, we're relying
on that tiny little bit of world

in the corner to hold
this whole cross member.

But with it, we get to weld down
the whole length of the chassis,

join these two bits together, it
all becomes one big strong unit.

That's the lower cross member done.

That holds the bottom wishbones.

I now need to crack on with the
top part to hold the top wishbones.

The upper wishbones will be
attached within the wheel arch.

So I need to measure them to
figure out how big a hole to cut.

The upper wishbones connect
to an off-the-shelf bracket.

Measuring is critical
when positioning this part.

It looks like the
bracket is a little bit too

long to allow the wheel
to fit within the arch.

Means I'm going to have to trim it down.

I'm joining the bracket to the Van's frame

using a continuous bead of weld
for the strongest possible connection.

Then installing the upper wishbone.

Marvellous.

Now this is the fancy bit, the airbags.

Now that the suspension's fully assembled,

you can clearly see how
the airbag system works.

This bag here, via a switch in
the c*ck, either fills with air,

lowering the wishbones,
raising the height of the body,

or it decreases, emptying
the air, raising the wishbones,

and lowering the height of the body.

And that is fully adjustable at the
flick of a switch within the c*ck.

Cool stuff.

And Brewer's on his
way to pick up some parts

that will make this
system work even better.

Well, I'm out in a very
hot part of California.

It's called Simi Valley to meet
a friend of mine called Sean.

Sean specialises in suspension components.

He can basically do this to a vehicle,
what they call slam it into the weeds.

Hopefully he's got the message
about all the bits that I need

to do the same sort of
trick to our little Dodge Van.

How you doing, son? You all right?

I'm doing pretty good about yourself.

Good to see you.

So is this your little rabbit?

Yeah, this is my 79 Rabbit. It's my daily.

I've got it equipped with Accuware e-level.

So how does it work?

Let me show you.

Yeah, that's low.

When I daily drive this, I
put it on number two setting.

And then when I'm on the freeway, I like
to like, you know, drive a little lower.

Yeah, that's very good.

And then if you got to
get into speed bumps

or a steep driveway,
take it all the way up.

That is absolutely fantastic.

So tell me about what we
got installed in the back of this.

I have dual compressors
and I have dual tanks

and my tanks are
one and a half gallons.

So I have three gallons total.

The other thing with mine is I
have the older style block manifold.

Well, I'm excited about what
we can do with our little Van.

Once we get all this stuff installed,

we will be able to infinitely adjust
our suspension in the same way.

Correct.

You'll be able to fine tune it,
adjust any corners and set everything

for the way that you guys want it
and the way that you want to drive.

Where are my bits?
What have you got for me?

Well, what I got for you today
is this is the endo VT tank.

So it's got the valves on the
side and this is a five gallon tank.

So you'll be able to hold more air in your
larger Van and fill it up a lot easier.

Fantastic.

And we got you two via compressors.

Yeah, nice.

And then we have all the
mounts to mount these to the tank

and you'll be able to
mount everything in one unit.

It'll be a lot easier to store
and mount the whole system.

What if somebody wants to
venture that little bit more off-road?

I'm sort of aiming for the surfer market.

So if they wanted to go in sand dunes
and get the vehicle a little bit higher,

do we have the ability to do that?

With yours, you're going to get
anywhere between seven and ten inches

depending on where you
place the bag on the lower arm.

Fantastic.

Okay.

Well, listen, if we can get
ours performing like your

little Volkswagen and we can
get it having the same stance

that you've got in your Volkswagen
in our Van, it's going to be amazing.

It's going to be a sweet ride.

It'll be for sale.

I've got enough projects.

The bumpers need a major overhaul.

They're big, they're bulky, and
they look like the side of a fridge.

I know just the trick and it's cheap.

These cost just $90.

That's about 70 quid.

We're turning a beat-up 1965 Dodge
A100 that was destined for the scrap heap

into a fantastic surf Van
with new modern suspension.

I want to keep the rough, patinated
look on the outside of our Van,

but I'm just not so sure
about these bumpers.

They're big, they're bulky, and
they look like the side of a fridge.

So what I have been doing
is I've been looking at the

bumpers on other cars
whilst I've been driving around.

The other day I saw a 68 Camaro,
and that car has beautiful bumpers.

So much so that I went and bought some.

In fact, I went and bought four.

Two fronts and two rears,
and these cost just $90.

That's about 70 quid.

I'm going to use the rear
on the front of the Dodge,

and that's because the
rear Camaro bumper is wider.

I'm going to be able to do the
point from the centre of the Van

to the edge where it
turns the corner in one go.

So I'm going to have to cut and
shut, make two bumpers into one.

The first step is to Mark the
bumper, allowing more than you need,

and then begin cutting.

It's much easier to handle a smaller piece

and position the end up against
the front of the Van for the next step.

This front edge is beautiful.

It hugs the Dodge body really well,

but I need to create that front V-angle,
and I'm going to use a set square.

Hold that on the back of the chassis.

That gives me a straight line for the V.

Mark.

Fresh cut here, repeat the other
side, join the two together, weld it,

and I'm going to create my new V
Dodge bumper from two rear Camaro ones.

After aligning the two cut ends,

it's a simple matter
of welding the pieces

together and mounting the
new bumper on the Dodge.

Look at that, two cuts, one weld,


becomes a 65 Dodge front bumper.

Ants, how you doing, son?

Yo, how's it going?

What have you got?

This is all the air ride stuff,
and do you know what?

The more I've got into this air ride kit,

the more I realise how
important it is for our little Van.

It's a shifting market at the
moment for these little vans,

and this is what the market wants.

This is really good stuff.

How much was it?

$3,000.

Don't fret, because remember, I only
give $2,000 for the Van in the first place.

All right, keep some money aside,
because I've got some grand plans.

Nobody said anything
about grand plans, just plans.

Try to spend money.

Why is it three grand?

Yeah, but this is transformation stuff.

Come on then, tell me
about your grand plans.

What we're doing to this Van
is absolutely the right decision.

We're building a modern retro surf Van, and
where do you need to put your surfboards?

On the roof.

On the roof.

Roof rack.

Plus, if you look at the front, I'm
going to put four little spotlights.

Nice.

Imagine sunsets setting over the beach.

It's getting slowly darker.

You've come out the surf.

There's a barbecue going.

Put the search lights on.

Light up the beach in front of you.

It's going to be really cool.

Well, you've still got a long way to
go, because it's looking really tatty.

Yeah, but I've been waiting for parts.

Well, you're going to have to move it.

I'll tell you why.

Surf doesn't wait for no man,

and I've already advertised
this out there on the Internet.

So the quicker we get it done, the
quicker we can get some of this money back.

Our mission of turning
a faded 1965 Dodge

A100 into a modern
surf Van is in full swing.

And so did the air ride kit I purchased,

which increases both the Van's
versatility and its curb appeal.

Meanwhile, we've been trying to
figure out what to do about its engine.

Now, I've just got off
the phone with Anthony.

He's told me what it would
cost to send out that slant

six engine for the Dodge
A100 Van and get it rebuilt.

Unfortunately, it's not good news.

Now, I know that I can get a rebuilt
secondhand V8 engine a lot cheaper,

and I've got a wealth of contacts
out here, so I'm just going to find one.

And the V8 will add so much
more appeal to that little Van.

Not only will it make it get
down the road a lot quicker,

it means that you can
carry a lot more people

around in it and make
it much more sociable.

So and be prepared,
there's a V8 on its way to you.

While Mike is trying to source that V8,

I'm working on some bespoke
accessories for our surf Van.

I've just finished
fabricating a new roof rack.

The rack looks really good, perfect for
mounting a couple of surfboards on the back.

And the reason I've left a little
bit of space on the front of the Van.

is to fit that light bar.

With a big Van like this,
it's the small details like the

bumper and the roof rack
that'll really make it stand out.

When Mike bought this
Van into the workshop,

it was fitted with a
rubbish Slant 6 engine

that leaked oil and
coughed out loads of smoke.

Now I've tried to save
it because it's part of the

Van's history, but
ultimately it was a lost cause.

Now remember, back
in the 60s, if I'd have

walked into the showroom
to buy a Van like this,

I'd have had the choice
between a Slant 6 or a V8.

And given that choice, I'd
choose V8 every day of the week.

Now putting it in the Van is a two-man job.

Yeah, come on son,
this ain't gonna fit itself.

Look at that, that looks nice, that engine.

Yeah, good.

Is that good?

Yeah, lower that down.

Nice and slowly.

Yes, please.

RA100 is a cab over design.

This means that the engine is placed
beneath the cab instead of under the bonnet.

The layout was popular in the 60s and 70s
when there were length limits on vehicles,

as it meant more space
for passengers and gear.

No, it's not bad at all, is it?

Right, go and get the gearbox.

One gearbox as ordered, sir.

Nice one, I can pretty
much take it from here.

Give it a shout if I need you.

Yeah, no worries, always on the
end of the phone if you need me.

Thank you.

This new automatic gearbox
is a lot bigger than the original,

so I know that I'm going to need
to enlarge the transmission tunnel.

Time to get out the grinder.

Now to get the Van on the lift.

I've raised the Van up to give
me better access to fit the gearbox.

So all I want to do is
raise it into position,

make sure it clears the
scallop that I cut out in the floor.

Here we have a problem.

Gearbox still needs to go up about an inch,
but it's going to foul that crossmember,

which means I've got to
get the grinder out again.

I'm notching the crossmember
to make room for the transmission.

Now here's a little problem.

All the cutting has
weakened the crossmember,

so I need to reinforce it
with pieces of plate steel.

I'm welding the steel
plates to the crossmember.

They will close the
opening and add strength.

Gussets beef up the gearbox mount.

Now I'm just going to test fit the gearbox,

make sure that it clears the floor, clears
the crossmember with plenty of space.

There's good space around the floor,

good clearance around the crossmember,

and the gearbox mount
lines up really nicely.

Yeah, I'm really pleased with that.

The key to success on
jobs like this is in the details.

If of course you can get them right.

Press the switch.

We bought a 1965 Dodge A100,

and we're turning it into
a modern beach wagon

by adding a full custom suspension,
surfboard rack, and a V8 engine.

The next step is to uniquely
tailor it to the surf experience.

I've knocked up this
really simple tubular frame,

and this is going to act as a back
support for one of the bench seats.

If you look inside, I've gone with
a really simple but sociable layout.

An L-shaped seating.

I'm going to put a new
doghouse in and then a

table in the centre, and
just picture the scene.

You go down to the beach with
your mates, do a bit of surfing.

As the sun goes down, you
then pile back into the Van,

crack open a few drinks, and have a burger.

Plus, I've left this area
here for a bit of luggage.

You want to carry the
cool box, food, wetsuits.

And now, actually, I think about it.

There's something else that
can make this Van really good.

No, it's not what you think.

Unfortunately, this keg isn't full of beer.

But what a keg is
perfect for is a water tank.

And I've been surfing for ages,

and there's nothing worse than coming out
the sea, and you've got sand in your bits.

Ideally, you want to have a shower.

And that's what I'm going to use.

I'm going to use the keg to feed a shower.

Plus, it's going to be warm.

And that shower's going to be made warm
by using this really simple piece of kit.

This is called a heat exchanger.

And it's basically just a simple hollow
cylinder that's going to fill up with water.

So it's going to take fresh water from
our beer keg at the back of the Van,

fill it into here.

These two larger ports here plumb
into our coolant system with the engine,

so that when you turn
the engine on, it gets warm.

The warm coolant enters
here via a series of tubes.

They make contact with the
new fresh water, making it warm,

so that it exits out down to our
shower fresh, clean, warm water.

The coolant never mixes with the water,

and we're using the wasted heat
that the engine's producing anyway.

Plus, there's no wires,
nothing complicated.

It's quite a simple system

that's going to give us the benefit
of having a shower on the beach.

I'm going to fit it here so the
plumbing faces backwards

to minimize the bends in
the lines and avoid kinking.

This heat exchanger will
provide hot water on demand.

In other words, water is only
heated when the engine is turned on,

so less energy is wasted.

Clipping the Van's coolant lines near the
heat exchanger is easy using hose cutters,

but any heavy duty shears will also work.

Installing brass T
fittings with hose clamps

allows me to tap the
vehicle's coolant lines

without interrupting their
flow to and from the engine.

I'm tightening the
hose clamp over each

connection to hold the
brass fittings in place,

and joining the vehicle's coolant
lines with the heat exchanger

using a short length
of black rubber tubing.

It's time to attach the clear braided hose

that will carry the clean water
towards the shower head.

Drilling through the Van's floor
to connect the tube is best done

by making pilot holes first
with a quarter inch drill bit,

and then enlarging
them with a step drill bit.

Now the whole shower is going to be
powered by this tiny little electric pump,

and simply it submerges
itself in the water there,

plugs into a normal little 12 volt socket,

and turns on and off with a simple switch.

It's really that easy.

Now it's a simple matter
of connecting the clean

water hose to the fittings
on the Van's underside,

then filling the water tank and
hooking up the shower head.

A bit of power from an
ordinary 12 volt auto battery

will provide the pump
with just the juice it needs.

Right, the system's plumbed,
the water side should work,

battery's running to
a little 12 volt socket,

so really... press the switch...

Whoa!

Well it works!

And at this stage the engine's not
running, so the water's going to be cold.

Get the engine running,
we're going to put heat

in that, and have a hot
shower on the beach.

I installed a new selector
for the automatic gearbox.

I've given the original dog
house a little bit of a tidy up,

and I'm just going to install it

because it's going to become a
starting point for my new table.

I was able to reuse a lot of the old metal,

which helps with costs.

Cleaned off the rust and put it all
back together, just as we found it.

Now that the dog house is in,

you can really see this space
starting to come together,

and it's the table that's the
centrepiece of every sociable event.

So I was looking around online, I
was trying to get some creative ideas.

What would make the
perfect table for a surf Van?

Well, what did you expect?

A surf Van?

The table can only really
be made out of a surfboard.

Yeah, this is going to be perfect, but
now I'm sat here, the seats are quite high,

I need to raise the table as well.

I'm going to put a little
pair of feet on the front,

big leg at the back holding it up,

and yeah.

I'm measuring and cutting some lengths
of two inch steel tubing to use as legs.

They'll be sturdy enough
to support the surfboard

and anything else I
might want to put on it.

I'm welding the tubing to a
couple of plates for the front leg unit.

This will raise it just enough.

It's also going to be removable in
case you want to take the table out.

For the rear, I'm installing
an off-the-shelf leg

that will attach to the Van
floor and the surfboard table.

That's exactly how I visualised it.

Still got a bit to do.

Lie next to the inside and
then put it all back together.

All right, a bit of a hand in.

Be careful with them.

I've got this interior done at a
friend of mine's upholstery shop.

These look great.

They're kind of like a deck chair.

Yeah, I went with a beach theme
to match our little beach truck.

I think they can look great inside.

Yeah, imagine them set up against
the new bed liner we had installed.

Fantastic.

That is incredible, isn't it?

I mean, it actually
looks like a Sandy beach.

It's fantastic.

Yeah, nice job.

And we've now got a roof rack.

I don't remember ordering a roof rack.

No, no, I made that.

You made that?

Seriously?

Yeah, it's a bit of bent
three-quarter inch tube.

It looks incredible with
the light bar at the front.

It's brilliant.

Love the cream finish.

Where's the rest?

That's all in the car.

Shall I go and get it?

Yes.

The 1965 Dodge A100 Sportsman is
the classic American Van of the 1960s,

beloved by wayfarers
and surfer types alike.

We got ours for just $2,000.

You know what?

I'm not even going to argue with you.

Got yourself a deal.

But it's no mystery why.

This machine was in rough shape.

It's raining inside the car.

And patched a leaky roof,
customized the suspension,

and swapped in a more powerful V8.

He also fabricated a totally
unique roof rack and bumpers.

I tracked down a
compressor system that

literally raised this
Dodge to the next level.

That's the switch.

A shower and beachy, keen interior
made this Van truly one of a kind.

So what's it cost us?

We paid $2,000, or around


The airbag suspension cost $3,000.

The V8 engine swap set us back $2,200.

The bumper and roof rack were $1,900.

The shower added $400.

And the surf-inspired
interior ran to another $4,500.

Glass was $1,125.

And the wheels and tires were $1,250.

Altogether, that's $16,375,
or around 12,400 pounds.

From beginning to end,
it took 96 man-hours.

This Van is ready for action.

But how best to put it
to the test, I wonder?

You finished throwing
yourself into the waves?

Malibu Surf, Malibu Sand, surf wagon there.

This is exactly what it was built for.

Certainly is.

And look at the stance,
the way it's sitting there.

I love the fact that we can raise and
lower the suspension due to the airbags.

And I love the fact that it's got
that locked in patina from 1965.

So pleased we took the decision to
keep it and lock it in by clear coating it.

Plus, we could have gone really blingy and
put loads of chrome and shiny bits on it.

But actually, the fact that all the
bits, like the roof rack, the bumpers,

the light details, the wing mirror bits are
cream and not chrome, it's more subtle.

And of course, the interior is fantastic.

That surfboard table, a
real nod to the surfers.

I love what you've done with
the seat and around the outside.

I mean, you come at
the beach, you bring your

friends along, you
all sit around together.

You're just going to have great fun.

Well, for me, I'm just excited to
get it back out there on the road.

Keep driving it.

Yeah, but let me have a shower first.

Okay, well knowing you, you're
going to want a warm shower.

Let me start it up.

Ready?

Our 1965 Dodge A100 sportsman
is finally ready to hit the road

by the beautiful Southern
Californian seaside.

When I found this in Oregon, it
was basically just a poppy shed.

It was a shed.

And it was absolutely going nowhere.

It was going to become tin cans.

I did wonder why did you buy it?

Well, I bought it because of the
charm, because of the character.

You know, things like
the patina on the outside of

this vehicle, they come
along once every 50 years.

And this one has got that charm.

It's got that patina.

So this was the perfect
opportunity to create

a surf vehicle that
comes in at a budget.

But what's brilliant about this
Van is what's hidden underneath.

Well, it feels amazing on the road.

It's really compliant.

It sits onto these corners really nicely.

I would never have done that before.

What about the power?

Let's have a look at what we got.

There you go.

That's actually got quite a bit of beans.

It's got some beans.

I can't believe how far it's come.

It's perfect being automatic gearbox,

because no longer are you searching
for the gears on that three on the tree.

You can just slip it in the drive.

Just cruise, arm out the window.

Now it feels like a
thoroughly modern vehicle.

Yeah, and that's because
air ride suspension.

That is lovely.

Do you know what?

We've absolutely nailed it.

Yeah, well, listen, I know
you're a good mechanic.

You're amazing, but I never knew until now.

You do surprise me.

You had good woodworking skills.

How perfect is that?

Absolutely spot on.

People will love that kind of detail.

You know, that's just going to go for it.

I think we're on good ground for this,

because genuinely out there,
the marketplace is quite wide open.

Well, my job's done.

Over to you, Sunshine.

Yeah, all right.

Leave it to me.

One of the nicest things
for me on our car build

is when I get to advertise these
vehicles out there on the Internet.

Gives me a chance to
really get some good details

and write a really nice description
of what people should be looking at.

And with this A100 Dodge Van,

I took great pictures of the
inside of the automatic gearbox,

that rebuilt V8 engine, the surf
table that Ant built inside that roof rack,

and of course, the stance
and locked-in patina.

In fact, some of the
pictures looked just like that.

And I was expecting to
sell this vehicle locally,

but South Africa, the
south coast of England,

Australia, New Zealand,

all of those countries
would love a vehicle like this.

And guess what?

I found an international buyer
who's willing to give me $19,000 for it.

That's around 16,000 pounds.

Now, me and Ant are delighted.

Where we found this
car, it was a potting shed.

And now look at it.

It's now going to live on, we
hope, for another 50 years.

If you want to see more vehicles
being turned around by me and Ant,

then join us again soon
on Wheel of Dealers.

Salut.