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If you are between the ages of 40 and 70, you probably have some fond memories of a panel van.
It's almost surreal to look back on them now and see the wild side of Australian car culture, with a group of people obsessed with what was endearingly called a ‘shaggin’ wagon.’
The youth of today, with the exception of the odd few like me, probably have no idea of the debauchery that happened in the back of one of those ‘panos’ and the reputation you carried as an owner.
But nearly 50 years after their peak popularity, panel vans are a shell of what they once were.
We investigate the mysterious disappearance of a once core part of Australian heritage
Panel vans have existed since the dawn of automotive technology. They are essentially station wagons with two doors instead of four, which was a popular design amongst early vehicles that drew inspiration from horse-drawn carriages. Even the first mass-produced car, the Ford Model T, came in a panel van specification.
Technically speaking, the car that launched what we consider panel vans in Australia was actually the 1953 Holden FJ (above). The idea was to have a delivery van that was somewhat closer to a car than a full-sized van (which weren't in abundance throughout Australia's early motoring days).
However, it wasn't until the early 1970s that ‘vanning’ started to take off in popular culture that panel vans were suddenly seen as more than just a work-horse.
As is the case with a large portion of Australian crazes, the modification of panel vans drew inspiration from the USA and its ‘hippie surfer’ van culture. Sitting low on the road, vans featured intricately airbrushed murals, swathes of shag-pile carpeting inside, space-age bubble windows, banging sound systems and a mattress in the back for… um... activities.
Perhaps the most famous Australian panel van is Holden HQ Sandman. It was the brainchild of Holden's design department, led by Leo Pruneau. He'd noticed the proliferation of customised panel vans on the road and was struck by their intricate artworks. Sensing an opportunity, Pruneau tasked his team with creating an eye-catching graphic pack that would adorn the sides and tailgates of the Sandman range.
Other uniquely Australian brands created their own designs to capitalise on the fast-growing trend, such as Ford with its Surferoo and Chrysler with the Drifter.
Outside of ‘vanning’ culture, there was still an entire range of people who loved the panel van. The British Motor Company made the Mini Panel Van from 1959 until Rover took over production of the classic model in 1983.
Toyota is another brand that seemingly adored the panel van. The Corolla range employed this option from its first generation (1966-1970 KE10) all the way up until the fourth generation (KE70 1979-1987) when the Corolla range moved from front-wheel to rear-wheel drive.
The Ford Escort was another popular model, available in panel van form from the MK1 in 1967 until the end of the MK2's production in 1980. So too our local Holden Gemini, a panel van available between 1975 and 1984.
But besides those models, the panel van was pretty much just a niche item. So, what happened to them?
What happened to panel vans?
The truth is the panel van is still around, just not in the layout that made them so distinctive decades ago.
We associate the panel van with a long wheelbase, rear-wheel drive, and a car-based platform. However, since the last Australian panel van went on sale in 1999, the XH Falcon, the shape of vans has undergone a shift.
We started seeing shorter, front-wheel-drive panel vans built on hatchback platforms: like Renault Kangoo, Volkswagen Caddy and Citroën Berlingo.
Some, me included, would argue that these aren't true ‘panos’ due to sliding doors on the side, which historically speaking would detract from what a panel van is: a coupe wagon.
Daihatsu even went so far to produce a range of Handivans in the 1990s and early 2000s that are listed as vans on the registration because they have no rear seats, two doors, and a wide-opening boot.
The death of the traditional panel van can be attributed to a number of factors. For starters, like all trends, when it died, it died pretty hard. In the last sales run of the final traditional panel van, the 1999 Falcon XH, just 80 were produced, compared to over 125,000 AU sedans and wagons.
The exact reason why the trend died off is not documented, but we can assume the boom of the modern ute and the rise in popularity of a canopy, combined with the increased costs over a ute, made it difficult to justify something that was essentially the same but less versatile.
There's also the hypothesis that the vanning community simply grew up and settled down into family life. Panel vans typically had only a two- or three-person bench seat, which isn't exactly the ideal for hauling the family.
We have been teased with a return previously, despite the last Holden panel van rolling off the production line in 1985 when the production of the WB ended.
In 2000, Holden released a concept of the Sandman based on the VU platform (above) and then teased us further in 2018 when Triple Eight built a V8 Supercar using a custom VF Commodore Sandman.
The sentiment remains, however, and we certainly miss funky and obscure panel vans, which were a short and booming trend and while not uniquely Australian, certainly a cultural touchstone of a far simpler time.
So how about you? Did you ever own a panel van? Tell us a bit about your experience in the comments below.
Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
