Round-trip Greenbrier
In late 2014, Frank DuVal, of Fredericksburg, VA, once again became the owner of this well-traveled Greenbrier. It is a 6-door unit with a PowerGlide transmission. The van is now just a shell and is available for anyone who wants a starter van project. Here is a partial history of owners courtesy of Frank:
"I first owned it in about 1985, with grand plans to revive it. Prior to my ownership, it was Dave Edsinger's race car hauler, then Jack Dempsey of Hot Air Enterprises had it a short spell before Lee Cramp bought it. When Lee sold it to me, he towed it from northern Virginia to my shop in Richmond, Virginia with a '63 Spyder (non-turbo engine) convertible. I have a picture somewhere of the day it arrived, still on the towbar setup. Funny picture--small car towing a large box.
I unfortunately ran out of storage space, so the van traveled through the hands of a strange Corvair guy named Bill (who ran a skin flick theater in South Richmond), to Phil Piccardy, of Corvair Motel fame (just local fame; he owned about 20 Corvairs parked around an old cottage style motel in Colonial Heights, VA), then to my friend Guy Spiller (a Mopar and Corvair guy) who wanted to restore it but never found time. He gave it to Allen Bristow in January, 2008, with the hope of it being restored.
Allen ended up using the van mostly for parts and I ended up with the shell. I have 'had' this Greenbrier so long, I really do not want to scrap the shell, but I might have to reduce the number of vehicles in the yard!"
Here's what Guy previously had to say about the van:
"I stored the van indoors for many years, hoping one day to "get around to it". That didn't happen so I let it go. It has some body damage on the right rear from an accident, but just sheet metal damage. It has a 110 car motor in it, but what appears to be the original motor, with broken crank, is in pieces inside the van."
The date code on the engine in pieces inside the van is T0817RX. The code indicates a 110 HP engine for a '65 Greenbrier with automatic transmission, built on August 17, 1964. So it is very likely this is the original engine.
Here are some photos that Guy sent:
Allen thinks the van may be parted out and if so, he will offer items to other members of the registry.
Information from the data plate
Description |
Description |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
5Z60LB |
Custom equipment, Red interior |
5526AA |
Ivory, solid color |
none |
N/A |
(Click on a heading in the table for more information on that item.)