One of the sad things about commercial vehicles especially passenger vans is that they end up becoming extinct faster than any passenger cars that are on sale. Most do not stop to think what has happened to any of them long after they've been scrapped or destroyed or re-exported out of the country. These days we have a lot of Japanese passenger vans plying our roads as well as some Chinese ones too. Favoured brands include the Toyota HiAce, the Westar LDVs, the Ford Transits and some funny Chinese ones like the LingLong or the JoyLong. No. I am not making this up.
In the 1980s and 1990s we had the Ford Econovan and the Mazda equivalent, Bongo Wagon too. But these have long gone and you may only see them used by the 'pasar malam' or night market vendors in and around Malaysia. But eventually these too will end up in the scrap heap. Unloved and unwanted. Unless they suddenly become icons, like the Volkswagen Kombi Transporter van. That slow, rattly van is now a style icon and everyone wants one.
That Volkswagen belonged in the 1950s and 1960s. And because it was collectible, people repaired them and kept on using them. I also remember another van which was actually in use in Malaysia in the 1960s and 1970s as well as in the early 1980s. The Austin 152 variant of the MORRIS Commercial J4 van. I remember this well because in the late 1970s I used to go to kindergarten in one. It was my school 'bus'
And look at it. It does have some nice styling to it. It is forward-control van (driver's controls in front of front wheels - like a bus you see on the roads these days) launched by Morris Commercial in 1960 and produced with two facelifts until 1974. The one that saw service here was usually the one equipped with a 1.5liter diesel. Brakes were drum brakes all round with no servo assistance (wow...those days). Suspension was similar to that on the Austin Cambridge/Morris Oxford of the time: the front independent suspension incorporated coil springs and hydraulic "Lever-type" shock absorbers while the rear springing was achieved by semi-elliptic leaf springs.
It was slow. But when I was a kid I think the speed did not bother me much. My house was only half and hour away even if the Chinese aunty who drove it around sent a few of the other kids before me. And in those days, everyone rode the school bus. I also remember diesel fumes. It was those days okay. No Euro5. A diesel back then was smelly and smokey. The engine access was right beside the driver. AND those days, what airtight seal?
But look at the shape of the van. How quaint. How different and full of character. It has as much character as that VW van in my opinion but fate did not make it iconic. I suppose you have got to blame the fact that the Kombi was popular in the United States of America, where hippies there and the flower power movement was well recorded and that spread the word of the VW van around as a an icon of that era.
These days a van is a mere box on wheels. But as things get more efficient and people want things does quick. It tends to happen. I do wonder if any of these vans have survived in the hands of any local collectors or museums. I haven't seen any since a long time ago.
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