4×4 Chevy Van

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The first Chevy vans were based off the Chevrolet Corvair. That's right, the little weird looking car. Of course, this produced a not quite as little, still very weird looking van. They came out in 1964 and I, personally, have never even seen one. Well, maybe I have, but I don't think I would have made the connection between that thing and a Chevrolet van. For all extends and purposes, this goofy looking little creature was available with only minor updates and facelifts until 1970 as rear wheel drive only.

4x4 Chevy Van

The first Chevy 4x4 van came about in 1971, and these are the ones that I have always associated with a “Chevy Van”. In fact, that was their name. ChevyVan. Inventive, no? They were big, square, no nonsense vehicles that could transport a ton of goods or people at one time. As four wheel drive was offered, they could even transport said goods or people down shoddy dirt roads or through ice and snow. In 1996, the Chevy Express replaced the ChevyVan and currently hold nearly half the full-size van market share in the United States. They are heavily adaptable, used as everything from small cargo haulers to ambulances, and have offered four wheel drive from their first year in production. All full size Chevrolet vans have some parts available for them, and have been lifted and showed in various 4x4 shows, but the Chevy Astro is far more popular in the offroad modification scene.

The Chevrolet Astro, the not-so-mini-minivan, was introduced in 1985 as an answer to Chrysler's minivan. Apparently GM felt the Chrysler line of minivans was too small as the Astro was quite a bit larger, and even advertised itself as bigger than the Chryslers. They were available with four wheel drive from year one and capable of towing 5000 lbs or more when properly equipped. Astros have been seen as everything from family haulers to converted cargo vans. They are known to be reliable, though difficult to work on, and are easily drivable by just about anyone. Since the Astro is based directly on the full size truck platform, it is easily lifted and modified for off road use, often using the same parts as the 1500 series Chevrolet pickup. The biggest difference between the Astro and the full-size pickup, from a modders perspective, is that the Astro has a unibody chassis design with a subframe. Some see this as a good thing, some do not. It is certainly unique in the world of offroading.