In the beginning...

It was 1977 - and the Panel Van craze had hit Australia a few years before and any red blooded boy worth his salt was either doing up a van, buying a van or dreaming of doing the same. I was in that category....dreaming! I have two older sisters and i do remember on more than one occassion the odd panel van in our driveway - I was 15 at the time and i was hooked - i purchased my first van (which was actually a 'Delivery' not a van)  it was an XP Falcon complete with the side pipes, glassed in roof spoiler, XY taillights and Mustang Grill - it had an array of guages and buttons of which not a single one worked but hey, they looked pretty cool! This was traded eventually and i found my self with a small ford escort van - i basically did nothing to this little van as i was finding it waaaay too small - as luck would have it a mate of mine was on the hunt for a small van and was looking to get rid of his larger van, so - we swapped. I was now the proud owner of a magnificent Holden EK windowless Panel Van, man what a car - Andy was happy with his new little Van so all in all, a great deal was made.

It was around this time Coca Cola Bottlers and the Radio Station 3XY were having a huge competition (and as they had done the previous 2 years) they had gotten a brand new stock Bedford Van and completely customised it from the ground up and this was to be first prize in a bumper sticker competition - i  reckon i could have wallpapered my bedroom with the amount of stickers i got from the local petrol stations. All you had to do was be spotted driving with the bumper sticker and hear you're rego called out over the radio and you were in for the grand draw - but alas, i never got the call (sad face) - but i did however, get the bug!