Cool Vans, Weird Tagline: This 1979 Dodge Van Commercial Gives The Model Line Up And A Weird Pitch


Cool Vans, Weird Tagline: This 1979 Dodge Van Commercial Gives The Model Line Up And A Weird Pitch

While the world wrestles with the COVID-19 pandemic, we look back to another scourge that came over the landscape, this one little more than 40 years ago and it was known as vanning. All of a sudden we were a nation obsessed with vans. The kids were diverting money from buying Camaro to buying new cubes on wheels and outfitting them with the latest in carpeting and mirroring fashions. They had side pipes sometimes, they had names sometimes, they had the panache of a breadbox and their slab sides were ready made for fantastical paint work. It was a dark era but one our country travel survived. Hell, even the sales pitch lines used by manufacturers were weird.

Don’t believe us? How about this gem from Dodge: Dodge is into truckin’ like America’s into jeans!

What the hell?

We get it. People like jeans, you like “truckin'” and you’re wanting to speak to the “youths”. You can literally envision the room full of old ad execs sitting around nipping on drinks being like, “What do these damned kids even like, anymore? The music sucks, the clothes are….wait…that’s it…the clothes”

Admittedly we want the Tradesman with the chin spoiler on it.

Press play below to see this cool commercial for the 1979 Dodge van lineup –


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6 thoughts on “Cool Vans, Weird Tagline: This 1979 Dodge Van Commercial Gives The Model Line Up And A Weird Pitch

  1. john

    Every Monday (1972) the same lament from my high school seniors…” Mr E … , We were pulled over by the cops again Saturday night…it really sucks man !!!” Oh the van in the student lot with the side pipes, mean rake, mag wheels, air brushed naked viking goddesses on the side?? That one??? I wonder why?

  2. Matt Cramer

    Hard to believe the same company came up with that tagline who had previously marketed their trucks under the “Adult toys collection” slogan. THAT was an appropriate tagline for custom vans.

  3. Kevin Weiss

    In 1972 my dad came home from Vietnam and traded his 68 roadrunner for a dodge van. Someone should slap him! Vans are cool but not roadrunner cool.

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