PennSilverTaco's domestic truck, SUV, and van photo collection thread!

I read that as "How old are you when you got in" lol.

No, the dime was almost 10 years old or so. Only had 160k on it when I sold it.

 

The 4.3L Vortec is one hell of an engine!

 

I've been taking pictures at car shows since the 1990s, but it really became a big thing in like 2009...

 

I was born in March 1989...

I'm guessing you were born in 2001 or 2002?

 

If I didn't get a Tacoma I was going to swap a 5.3 into it. Got one at my work with just over 4k on it.

 

Did you see the photos I posted of the black Sonoma crew cab with the Cummins 4BT swap?

 

Hired him to do what?

 

I will begin this thread with pictures of the only such van I have actually driven...


October 25th, 2013:



This van is a 1999 GMC Safari SLE all-wheel drive, formerly owned by the owner of the bar where I work. She'd had it since new and sold it to a friend of hers in 2016 when it started to really show its age...

This van is fully loaded, with everything except rear heat (It did have dual A/C), a cassette player (single CD player only, which got annoying because I had no way to plug in my iPod), and an alarm system. It did have a factory locking rear diff (G80), and it only had 105K miles on the clock when sold in 2016. The owner put a ton of money into this van (specifically the transmission), and then decided to sell it and get something newer. The only things wrong with the van, that I remember, were as follows:

1. The air-conditioner rarely worked! It worked in the sense that it got kinda cool and blew air in your face, but like many Astros and Safaris, it leaked refrigerant. When charged, it did blow cold, but it was lackluster compared to the A/C in my Tacoma.
2. The switch for the power mirrors did not work, so the mirrors were stuck!
3. The SERVICE AWD light seemed to be perpetually on. The van was looked at by at least two mechanics who checked the system out and gave it a clean bill of health. I once had the opportunity to drive this beast in a snowstorm, and at one point I was drifting it in a nursing home parking lot, so I can confirm that the AWD did indeed work as intended...

Yeah, the old girl was a bit beat up, but she started every time and absolutely refused to die. She also had a surprisingly decent factory sound system. I almost bought this van, but the combination of my parents and a bureaucratic homeowner's association rather quickly put a stop to that!




March 17th, 2013:




February 16th, 2014:




January 18th, 2016:

 

This 1988 cargo van caught my eye because while it is far from perfect, the body is surprisingly straight and appears to be largely rust-free...

Like the blue 1990 model above, this brown one factory A/C-delete. When I say this van has A/C-delete, I mean it really has legit air-conditioning delete! Like S-10s for from 1982 until about 1988, full-size C/K pickups until 1991, and G-series vans right up until production ended in 1996, 1985-1989 Astros and Safaris without A/C did not have any vents in the dash! Model with A/C had four vents in the dash (one on the left, one on the right, and two in the center above the radio). Non-A/C models just had vents at the top of the dash near the windshield for the defogger, while the heat came out under the dash, in the footwell...

I never understood why manufacturers designed the vehicles this way well into the 1990s. I would personally want the option of having heat blow directly on my face. The lack of cutouts for dash vents also makes it harder to install aftermarket A/C.

The interior, specifically the dashboard, was redsigned for 1990. 1990-1995 models had the same dashboard (A/C became standard by default on all Astros and Safaris in either 1994 or 1995, even the cargo vans, with the option to delete the A/C for credit if the customer so desired). All 1990-1995 Astros and Safaris, regardless of whether or not they actually had A/C, had the same dash design with four vents, a big improvement over the 1985-1989 dashboard. 1996 brought with it a complete interior redesign, which included a new dash with dual airbags, and the same option to delete the A/C for credit.

April 17th, 2016:

Englishtown, New Jersey

 

Do you know why Chevy quit making the Astro? Because it was one of the only quality vehicles they made and it actually lasted. GM couldn't have that. They are in the business of making cars. Can't sell new work vans in the old ones work just fine.

So, Chevy went from the Astro work van. To the Chevy Express 1500/2500 series vans. Which are ok. But suck much more than the Astro and need repaired more often. Wheel bearings galore on the Express vans.

Currently drive a 2000 Astro as a work van. Has 216 on the ticker. My door handles all suck, have broken more than once and been replaced. It's also starting to rust through at the drivers side floor board. Fred flinstone it soon enough.

 

If I remember correctly....you could get a manual transmission with the 2.5 Iron Duke engine early on in it's life.

 

And Charlie....you probably already know this....but the 4.3 V6 was a basically a 350 V8 with 2 cylinders cut off.

 

I've actually considered buying one of the all wheel drive versions, lifting it and making it my winter beater. Plenty of room for everyone and everything.

 

I remember my Dad wanting an Astro back in the 90's because they had a decent tow rating. I think it was around 5 or 6,000 lbs.

 

4.3L V6 could be had with a 5-speed stick too! 2.5L Iron Duke came standard with a 4-speed!

 

Yup!

 

I know a guy in New Mexico who's got an '03 Astro AWD for $400. 300K miles on it and it's gonna need a new engine soon, but the body is solid!

 

What do you think of the 1971-1996 G-series vans?

 

@Plain Jane Taco

Only the cargo van was available with the 2.5L Iron Duke, and it came standard with a 4-speed manual transmission. A 3-speed or 4-speed automatic was optional on 2.5L models. 4.3L V6 models came standard with a 5-speed manual, and a 4-speed automatic transmission was option. All 1985 models and some 1986 models with V6 engines had carburetors. From mid-1986 onward, all 4.3L vans had throttle body injection. All-wheel drive became an option in 1990. The 4.3L CPI "W Code" engine became available in 1992 (standard on all-wheel drive models beginning in that year). The manual transmission disappeared after 1989.

A guy my dad was in the Navy with had a late 1980s Astro passenger van with the 4.3L V6 and manual transmission. He was a reservist, working primarily as a middle school principal. This was in 2000-2001, when we were living on Whidbey Island. My dad's friend lived on the mainland (this was in Washington), and this old beater was his commuter. It was dark red and while it was nowhere near perfect, it was largely rust-free. If it had A/C, it no longer worked by then. This van had something like 250K-300K miles on it, and this was about 16-17 years ago...

Funny thing is, while 4.3L V6s are known for lasting forever, the particular variant of the 5-speed transmission used in the Astros and Safaris was not durable enough to handle the 4.3L's torque. Another issue was that the van's unique layout required the gearshift to placed at an odd angle. This put a lot of stress on the linkage, and failures were common. As such, 4.3L/5-speed Astros and Safaris are virtually impossible to fine.

My dad's friend, on the other hand, continued to drive his 5-speed Astro until least 2007 (maybe later than that) until something major broke and it was no longer economically feasible to keep the thing on the road. The odometer reading at the time of the Astro's retirement was about 400K. My dad's friend donated the Astro to Purple Heart or a similar charity and bought another no-frills beater as a commuter vehicle.

 

The only difference between 1994 and 1995 vans is the front end. They had the same body and interior. 1996 brought an interior redesign that included a new dashboard with dual airbags, which stayed pretty much the same until production ended in 2005.


April 18th, 2015:

Englishtown, New Jersey