So up to the front curb rolls a \u201961 Ford Econoline van, out pops a \u201clong hair\u201d to pick up a girl for their date to the drive-in movies and as the van rolls away the \u201cIf this Van\u2019s a Rockin\u2019, Don\u2019t Bother Knockin\u2019” sticker is as noticeable as the far from happy look on her father\u2019s face. Well that was the norm, in 1969, for a group of teenagers from Highland and San Bernardino, CA, who decided to buy some wrecked, old 1961-63 Ford van\u2019s from the Bell Telephone auction. The group formed the club United Vans Berdoo, which grew rapidly until 1972 when they split to form Inland Vans Berdoo and fathers have been hiding their daughters ever since.<\/p>\n

The club members dreamed of starting the best car club around and their aspirations were just as high for customizing their vans. The members began pulling out the little 6-cylinders and replacing them with built V-8\u2019s, automatic transmissions, big rear ends, updated suspension and so on. Nobody in those days made over-the-counter performance equipment, so they had to be creative as they built, adapted and mounted their custom parts. An engine may have been fitted with a Hooker Header on one side and a Doug Header on the other to get it to fit in the engine compartment. These vans were not real aerodynamic, but with the combination of their light weight and lot\u2019s of ponies, owners could get their \u201csquare boxes\u201d to really hurt the feelings of some of the local street racers who drove muscle cars. They soon moved on to wild paint jobs, plush interiors and names for their vans, which had something to do with the owner\u2019s personality. I\u2019m sure everyone can recall the smile on your face as you read the name on the side of one of these custom vans, way back when. Unless of course, your daughter was in the passenger seat. They now had their hot rod, custom car, cruiser, motel and occasional home all in one. It wasn\u2019t unusual to find them, almost 70 in a row, cruising E Street, in San Bernardino, CA.<\/p>\n

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Vintage photo of Inland Vans at Glen Helen<\/p><\/div>\n
According to club president Steve Portias, over 300 clubs sprung up in the early 1970\u2019s in California alone and Inland Vans Berdoo became the outcasts, due to their wild ways. I get the feeling they didn\u2019t mind and actually liked it that way. They started \u201cvan customizing\u201d and that would remain the common bond for a brotherhood which has lasted over 40 years. \u201cThe members never cared if someone had a $50,000 show van or a junker held together with duct tape and wire, it has always been about the person,” recalls Steve. They\u2019ve enjoyed wild parties and had some crazy times, which can be seen in the photo archives on their website www.inlandvansberdoo.com<\/a>. Steve says, \u201cthe club was always run like an outlaw biker gang, which they partied with a lot over the years.” Around 1978, due to their hard partying ways, Inland Vans Berdoo was thrown out of the Van Council as an \u201coutlaw club\u201d and was not allowed to participate in its events. That exclusion didn\u2019t slow the club down, so they were shocked in 2008, when they were inducted into the \u201cCruizin\u2019 Hall of Fame\u201d, becoming the only club in the nation to ever be inducted for being innovators of the custom van. The “Cruizin\u2019 Hall of Fame\u201d was established in 1995, by the San Bernardino Convention & Visitors Bureau, in conjunction with the City of San Bernardino, to honor those who have made a significant contribution to the uniquely American automotive cultural phenomenon of cruising.\u00a0 The club\u2019s name adorns a plaque in the Route 66 Plaza, joining the likes of people like Don Garlits, Boyd Coddington, Chip Foose, Hot Rod Magazine, Goodyear, the Corvette, Route 66, Carroll Shelby, McDonalds Drive-Ins, Big Daddy Roth and about 30 others.<\/p>\n
The club is a sponsor of the JDRF Charity Car Show, held Saturday, June 23, 2012 at Cucamonga-Guasti Regional Park, Ontario, CA. They help with the fundraiser for kids with diabetes and are always trying to give back.<\/p>\n
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Inland Vans Berdoo at the JDRF Car Show<\/p><\/div>\n
Every member in the club has known each other for at least 35 years. At this point, they’re not looking to expand\u2026just grow old together.<\/p>\n
The Inland Vans Berdoo Club is as fun and colorful a group as the vans they drive and you will be able to meet them, hear some stories and see a collection of their custom vans at the June 3, 2012 Pomona Swap Meet, where they will be our Featured Car Club.\u00a0 Visit with them on the Main Aisle of the Vintage Show\/Sale Section and swap some of your own stories from the rockin’ days of old.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
-Matt Zarzana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cos_headline_score":0,"cos_seo_score":0,"cos_headline_text":"","cos_headline_has_been_analyzed":false,"cos_last_analyzed_headline":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9nnZN-on","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1511"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7513,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions\/7513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}