Classic/Antique Car Repair: 1975 van, enormous undertaking, van nuys ca

Question
Hi, we have a 1975 dodge sportsman van, gold, with a 440 in it.  The outside has be redone and it mint!  The inside is all original and needs to be redone,  Problem - can't find a dashboard, inside shroud covering, floor, wall, or ceiling covering, wood drink tray for on top of motor, curtain, etc.  I checked with junk yards, none!  Do you know where we could start to find some of these items for restoration of the interior of our van.  Thanks for your time, SUE

Answer
This is going to be an enormous undertaking, because most of these vehicles were not considered collectible, and so were used up and junked - in other words they have long since gone to the crusher.  Interior parts are going to be very hard to find, and when you find them they are probably going to have the same problems you car has.   Parts for these are not being reproduced.

As you may know, the design of these vehicles changed VERY little from 1971 to sometime in the late 80s or early 90s, so it is possible you could use parts from a much newer van to fix yours up, and no one will ever know (I won't tell).

There is a company called "Just Dashes" in Van Nuys, CA that can recreate your dash and other vinyl covered parts from your old stuff, but I don't think you will like the price.   But to find out for sure, contact them and ask about it.

There is a company in Long Beach CA called "Acme Automotive Headlining" which has new material for ceiling covering (called "headlining" in the trade).  They are nice to deal with, and may be able to help you with some of the other items too.

There is a company in Georgia (forgot the town - probably Dalton GA.) called ACCmats.com which makes reproduction carpet for just about any vehicle ever made.  Contact them to see if they have the pattern for your van - I don't know if they do vans.

It's a coincidence, but I bought one of these vans brand new (we had 6 kids), and we drove it for years.  Ours was a 3/4 ton "250", but it didn't have the 440, it had the 360, which was more than adequate.

If you live out here on the west coast, you might find a decent condition vehicle in a wrecking yard in the central valley (Bakersfield or Fresno area) which you could rob parts off, or better yet, you might find one for sale with a decent interior, which you could buy and drive home for a few hundred dollars.  You can contact "autotrader.com" and ask for a few issues of their autotrader magazine for that area.

If you decide to contact any of the companies I mention, run them on a Google search to find the contact information - if that doesn't work for you, post a follow-up question to me and I'll try to locate them for you.

Good Luck,

Dick