IS THIS THE BEST VAN EVER BUILT IN AUSTRALIA?

This is my opinion, but having had a lot to do with this van and studied it in real life and photos, i asked myself the oter day, is this the best van ever built in Australia.? Now i do not mean in quality and workmanship, i mean "over all". It's stance, it's body, it's murals, it's looks, it's ideas, it's quality, it's sex appeal, it's everything. Many people do not know about the mods to the rear quarters how they are pumped out 3 inches on each side yet still looks like original body lines, (how many holdens have 295 tyres under the rear without flares and inner mods). This van has stood the test of time. I would say that the body and paint has held up better than Street Legal and Mystic Fantasy , only Innervisions would come close for a van that has remained untouched body wise for over 20 years. This van is JADE Whats your opinion?

This is a good question mate.

I cannot answer this correctly as i have only ever seen pics of Jade, compared to Street Legal, which i saw again this year after 20 odd years.

Whilst it's stance looks fantastic for a van that "appears" to have standard guards, compared to Street which has the flared guards, i must say that it'll come down to a personal preference.I think the van has a "tuffer" look than Street with the fact that it's lowered to give that "fat" look.

I also like the perspex bonnet showing the engine bay and how the gold on the sills blends in nicely with the chrome wheel arches etc.Street on the other hand has more obvious body mods and murals, which appeals to me more.

Sex appeal is much of a muchness to me as it's hard to compare as both styles are different.(get it sex appeal - hard )


But having said all that, as i personally prefer more of the "custom" look of the 70's/80's vans rather then the street machine look of the 80's/90's, i would have to say Street is the better van to me.

Although if i was able to see Jade in living colour, i would be able to give you a more acurate judgement on this. So Eric what are the chances for 2010 nats?

#NOTE: This is a personal preference of mine and it is in no way showing disrespect towards the current owners OR builders of these vans. I would gladly have either one sitting in my shed.

it would have to be up there........
People from Newcastle may say " Tis a tidy bit of gear"
People from Sydney may say " Thats fully sick"

I understand what your saying Agro, some people like the crazy mod look while others like the standard smooth original look. I personally like both and appreciate the work any builder puts into their van. But just to stand back and look at the sheer "wow" factor of Jade is unbelieveable.

I remember when Jade and Street were both in at the Vic Hot rod show a few years back, both next to each other with bonets up. People walked up to Street and were mezmerised by all the chrome and shiney bits, they had a blank looking stare on their faces like they were in a trance, they then moved onto Jade and an instant change of look came to their faces as if they just really related to this van (mainly talking about their under bonets here) They saw a perspex bonet, murals on the inner guards, chrome, blower and paint, yes paint It was more relateable to the average person.
It was interesting to stand their and see the look on peoples faces.
Don't get me wrong, Street is one of my favourite vans, i was just using it as an example of another van that has been around for over 20 years and still looks great.

IS THIS THE BEST VAN EVER BUILT IN AUSTRALIA?
In a word, No, mine is hahahahahahahahahahah

But seriously now, Jade is a top notch example of the workmanship that can be carried out to last the test of time as is the select few van that where around 20 odd years ago and still goin strong. Allycat would have to be my fav. but ive not seen it up close for 20 years and am told it was showing its age at motorex. I wasnt there so can only go on what i was told.
My personal choice is a vehicle that can be driven to the show, put on display then driven home without too many hassels. Eh, but what do i know

James, gotta agree with you that JADE is one of the best vans built in the van heyday, I remember this van from when I was a youngster and to see it again recently 20 odd years later looking so prestine was a knock out.
Maybe Im old school but I liked the original wheels( Simmons) from memory but hey I dont own the van so have no say in the wheels, Long live JADE and we can only hope it stays untouched and in the hands of someone who appreciates owning it, heard a rumour that an apprentice broke the bonnet recently and they are trying to make another, cheers VANDIL.

It's a tough call James, I think some of my favourite Vans were probably a bit daggy around the edges compared to something like Jade, but that's where personal preference comes in.

I love the fact that Jade still exists in good nick too, and I think the only way you could put icing on the cake for the Jade story would be if Gary Pierce bought it back again.

I've mentioned on here before that I see the Van scene of old broken into two fairly distinct groups, the 'street' type Vans that were all the go in the mid-late 70's and then the in-betweens like XX308 which are 'street' with some custom work and then the full-on 'custom' vans like Street Legal, Checkmate & Invader 2001.

Jade stayed on top of the heap through its various incarnations and independent of whatever else was happening in the Van Scene, which probably makes it Australia's Top Van as far as longevity goes!

have fun and great thread

Simo

HI,guys, i appreciate the feedback about Jade.....Cheers.Eric

G'day Eric, sorry I didn't mean any offence about putting Jade back in Gary's hands; I just seem to remember it being up for sale recently(?) and in no way meant to imply that you weren't taking great care of it!!

Simo

Hi,Simo.no offence taken!I agree it would be nice to see Jade go back to Gary eventually,and even other well known vans go back to their original owners/builders.On the other hand,some of these original owners have had their time with theses vans,and have conquered/acheived their goals.Hence some have moved on to other styles of cars,or just burnt themselves out due to the demanding/competitive late 70's show scene of the 70's and eighties[in vanning].As most of you know ,that in this period of time,most of the cars entered at shows were vans.And if you were trying to reach the top of the mountain back then,you had a lot more competition.An example of this was a friend of mine had a xw gt that won dozens of trophies back in those days,and he told me that if Jade rolled up to a show,he and other entrants would basically concede defeat.So what i suppose i'm trying to say is all that polishing/detailing...upgrading of new ideas,have probably worn a lot of these original owners out over these competitive years.....not saying the carsowners of today dont have the same issues.Cheers Eric

Hi Eric, one thing about you having Jade we know it will live forever. so top effort to you and we cant wait for you to finish off the projects.

Cheers
Daz

van crazy wrote:On the other hand,some of these original owners have had their time with theses vans,and have conquered/acheived their goals.

That's pretty much spot-on Eric, I'm in the same boat and just about to sell a Valiant Hardtop I've owned for nearly 20 years due to the same reasons; my interests in the car scene have changed (or gone full circle) and I only keep it now because I've owned it for so long which just doesn't really cut it anymore, as it rarely gets driven and I've got other projects that I'm keen to get finished. Time will tell if I regret it!

Simo

Some good feedback on Jade. The reason i started it was because after looking at these photos, it just had that wow factor. Its a van that your enthusiast and your everyday Joe will stand back and admire as it is a really relatable van, a few body mods, great paint, an awsome stance and not too much chrome. There are so many great vans around as Simo said. No offence was meant at any other vans or owners. Jade is not even my all time favourite van although it is in my top 3 but i just think it is a work of art. Its paint finish is still as good as it was in the 80's, it was never a body off chassis build either, yeah Eric has replaced some chrome and done a few other things to improve it also, it couldn't have gone to a better person (except me) lol, Lets just hope he keeps it and looks after it just as Gary did, which i know he will.

The Moonlight Dreamer had some good battles with Jade
So many beautiful vans back in them days the competition was awesome. some of us old vanners got wornout & had to settle down, have families
alot sold & moved on & some were forced to sell & then those who had tragic ends.
Lucky for me l still own the van which l can say was around when Jade done the rounds & is one of Oz's oldest showvan still alive.
Comming to a venue near you in the future

My favorite vans

too many to mention

awesome thread James. - (I'll try and post for the third time.)

Certainly i think build quality and test of time should be factors when considering the subject - Jade would have to make a strong showing in these areas (as would Proctor's FJ surely).

While Jade doesn't have the wildest body mods of aussie vans to have entered the show arena it is a van with timeless style. (here's a hard lotto win scenario: park Jade and Phoenix next to each other, missus says u can't have both.)

The metal work to the rear quarters to fit the rubber should be interesting to those that filed Jade under JASBH.

I wish I'd had the chance to seen vans such as Jade, Street, et al etc in the paint... flesh? metal?.. under lights.

Jade is in my eyes a great van. but long gone to the days of driving them to & from shows (jade, street, bad ass hx & the blown black van cant remeber the name) as the boys in blue would just pull u over & defect it.
we just cant do these type of van anymore for that reason. i love vans like that. so on to newer types like smooth 74 not standed but the start of the newer van stiling, straight, smooth & great to look at.
i canot put these in the same class. its like putting both of Eric's vans at each other 1 smooth noholes in bonnet (domminat) bloody great van & jade thay are in differt classes i love both. both are in my top vans i wount like in my garage. but domminat would be 1st.

Let me guess Sway, that would have something to do with the big block in it i would say!!

There certainly are some awsome vans out there. Procs J is also one of them and you have to admire the work thats gone into it as it has been driven to every show its been to and quite often tows a trailer behind it.

Pheonix is in a league of its own i would say. Basically it is the hotrodders van, what i mean here is that the quality and workmanship is as close as possible to the standard you seein many of the top hotrods. No one in the van scene has takena van to that level until Pheonix. Sure you can say Haydns XC could be as good but it is basically a stock van taken to the limit in quality workmanship, just less the modifications and engineering.

vanner065 wrote: Many people do not know about the mods to the rear quarters how they are pumped out 3 inches on each side yet still looks like original body lines, (how many holdens have 295 tyres under the rear without flares and inner mods).

Rhino's van ICEPIK does.

Hey SMQQTH,

Now ICEPIK is a sweet van!!
Sweet, clean lines and awesome stance. This van looks ace on the road.
I wouldn't claim it as the "Best Van Built of all time" as there is alot of customising done to alot of other vans but still, this one is right up my list!!
That, and Rhino's pretty cute too..... Bugger, did I say that out load again???