Weird half panel/half passenger van thingy.

I'm not even going to put this in the $2017 column. I've just never seen anything like it before. https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/mld/cto/d/1977-chevy-g10-shorty-van/6235370504.html

Ok, now that is odd.

I'm pretty sure that in the 70s, GM was really liberal about ordering options individually. I've seen some really weird variations.

In reply to EvanR:

I can totally see GM assigning the rear windows individual RPO codes.

That is a popular configuration from the old days of The monopolized phone company, Ma Bell days.

The phone installers typically had shorty vans with ladders on the roof and Windows all along only one side.
I'm not sure why. Most likely visibility and saftey.

Other samples;

Old Ford Version

In reply to John Welsh :

Came here to say exactly that.

Left side panel - tool/parts/equipment racks

Right side windows - lane change visibility, back when people actually turned their heads while driving.

"Back in the day" (as youngsters are fond of saying), passenger side mirrors were not standard equipment and drivers instinctively looked over their shoulder before moving to the right.

Slant parking was the usual reason for the door windows, but I have no idea why it would have the way back window on that side too. The driver side would have had a wall of bins too, and sometimes an extra leaf in the rear spring pack to compensate.

Blown head gasket and not finished means he's about $1000 too high on his price.

Interior visibility might have also been a reason for the back window - interior van lighting wasn't quite what it is now, nor were head lamps when looking for small parts in those side shelves.

I have a thing for those full size shorty Chevy vans. As a youngster they drew my attention big time. I would get so excited when I saw one. There was a guy in a small Indiana town near the campground we went to that had a hotrodded one. It was electric blue with some Cragar S/S wheels, side pipes and it sounded gooood. My God that was 30 years ago. Now I feel old. And weird for liking vans as a kid.

Nick (Bo) Comstock wrote: I have a thing for those full size shorty Chevy vans. As a youngster they drew my attention big time. I would get so excited when I saw one. There was a guy in a small Indiana town near the campground we went to that had a hotrodded one. It was electric blue with some Cragar S/S wheels, side pipes and it sounded gooood. My God that was 30 years ago. Now I feel old. And weird for liking vans as a kid.

Same here except I liked many of the lwb van's also if they "looked right". Although apples to oranges mechanically speaking, my exposure to the big vans as a kid likely explains my current infatuation with "cheap" minivans now

Who knows how much backyard butchering he did to the front end on the van in the ad. The value, minimal at that, lies in the factory pass side windows. If it was running and driving maybe worth closer to his asking price, but as it sits no more than half of what he's asking also taking into consideration the body issues.

Toyman01 wrote: Blown head gasket and not finished means he's about $1000 too high on his price.

Craigslist "blown head gasket", and on a relatively worthless 250 6.

bludroptop wrote: Right side windows - lane change visibility, back when people actually turned their heads while driving. "Back in the day" (as youngsters are fond of saying), passenger side mirrors were not standard equipment and drivers instinctively looked over their shoulder before moving to the right.

Or when parallel parking. I always use the center line of the rear window to help me get close to the curb by looking over my shoulder. So when I see someone not doing that it looks mind numbingly idiotic. It's been a quarter century but I'm pretty sure the U.K. road test failed you if you didn't do an over the shoulder for lane changes. So Ma Bell is the answer. Cool. You'd think there'd be a bunch of these still running around.

This configuration was used by BCTel and BC Hydro (telephone and electricity) in BC. There's not too many left because the order of things would be utility sells off after a few years, and they're bought up by couriers and contractors who proceed to beat the E36 M3 out of them for a couple of 100 thousand miles.

bludroptop wrote: Right side windows - lane change visibility, back when people actually turned their heads while driving.

I think its mostly if you need to make a left turn onto a road that isn't running perpendicular. To see oncoming traffic you pretty much have to look through one of the rear passenger side windows. No mirrors or backup camera is going to help you there anyway.

Thats also why you'll see some of those trucks try to approach the intersection as perpendicular as possible.

In reply to ProDarwin:

My Express 3500 only had front door windows. No windows on either side or back doors. Intersections like this were a bitch. The door windows had limo tint too, which was great for hot days since there was no a/c, but sucked at night.