The Chevy-Van and Sport Van were almost carbon copies of the Ford Econoline, but that was just fine with Chevrolet dealers and loyalists.
1965 Chevy-Van
The Chevrolet Corvair was an impressive technical achievement, and so was its ingenious truck/van variant, the Corvair 95/Corvan/Greenbrier. But their innovative rear-engine packaging forced America’s most popular automotive brand into a box. When the far more conventional Ford Falcon proved to be more popular and profitable, Chevrolet was forced to rush into production a virtual Falcon clone, the 1962 Chevy II.
Likewise: When the Ford Econoline, a totally conventional front-engine box van, found greater acceptance in the compact commercial truck market than the quirky Corvair 95, General Motors saw no choice but to play catch-up with an almost-carbon copy of the Ford. The box-truck version was called the Chevy-Van (with a hyphen, note) while the passenger-van model was badged as the Sport Van. They were sold right alongside the Corvair-based trucks at Chevy dealers through 1965, when the rear-engine jobs were quietly dropped.
1967 Chevrolet Sport Van
Based on a unit-construction, rear-drive platform much like the Econoline’s, the 1964 Chevy-Van (G10) featured a stubby and manueverable 90-inch wheelbase, with a beam axle at the front, a live drive axle at the rear, and leaf springs all around. The two available engines at the ’64 rollout were a 153 CID inline four and a 194 CID six, both borrowed from the Chevy II. As for the plain and straightorward exterior design, there isn’t much to say. As the photos illustrate, the styling pretty much explains itself.
Naturally, there were badge-engineered versions of the compact vans for the GMC truck division, too—nearly identical, these were marketed as the Handi-Van and Handi-Bus. Legendary racer Smokey Yunick, who also happened to be the GMC truck dealer in Daytona Beach, drily noted in his print ads that the Handi-Van was the only vehicle with two complete engineering teams: Chevrolet designed the chassis and engines, while GMC did the ash tray and hub caps.
1968 Chevy-Vans 90 and 108-in wheelbase
For 1967 the product line was upgraded and expanded, with a longer 108-in wheelbase model added to the catalogue, and the engine box was enlarged to make room for an optional 283 cubic-inch small-block V8 (enlarged to 307 CID in ’68). Beyond that, the Chevy-Van and Sport Van saw remarkably few changes throughout their seven-year model run. For 1971 a totally redesigned G-series van was introduced, and it proved to have a rermarkably long service life, remanining in production through 1996.
1969 Chevy-Van
Once again proof that if you give the average American something unique, different, and well-engineered . . . . they’ll invariably buy the alternative that dull and ordinary.
Actually it was more the flat floor of the Econoline that made it a bigger seller. Easier to load, capable of hauling more, it was just much more practical. Same as with the Chevy-Van. And I say that having owned a Corvair 95 Corvan, along with a Dodge A100.
That may be true… but I suspect that the Corvair-based vans were more expensive to build. And in those days a van was about utility first and cost a very close second.
And GM is always been “accountants-Uber-allies”. Which has been the core of their problems since the Sixties.
while both are a rare sight today, the Econoline is something that you do occasionally see; those Chevys have to be nearly extinct. There was someone locally using a rusty example as a static sign for his Tuxedo rental business but it disappeared probably 10 years ago. I like the looks of the Chevy over the Ford especially the early version
I own a 1965 model Chevy-Van which has a 235 cu in six cylinder from the factory.
Could have been a 230. The 235 was gone after 63.
I had a ‘68, 108 wb, Sport Van, w/ a 307 v8 & 3 speed manual on the column in the early 70s. Obligatory paneling, carpet and couch that folded out to a bed. Married in ‘75, Van left soon after that.
My parents bought a 68 G20 window Sport Van new. It had a 307 with a 4 speed column shifted manual. It only came with the drivers seat and no others, so they had the dealer put in a passenger seat, which, as I remember wasn’t a match to the driver seat. My dad later put in some Rambler seats in the back that he acquired from a wrecking yard. That van was in our family into the 80’s.