Jalopnik: Vanning

The Miller High Life Cruiser

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:45:00 EDT

As man cannot survive by racing alone, we found ourselves setting out to discover other aspects of Milwaukee. To our eyes, this mid-sized city is sort of a mash-up of Detroit and Chicago with most of the crime and blight and uppity-ness strained out. You can't help but enjoy a stroll down by the lake or along the river, the shockingly huge number of bars (including the Safehouse — if you know the password) and the constant rotation of downtown festivals. But that would leave out one very key ingredient in the character of Milwaukee — brewing. And the oldest and biggest brewer in town is Miller. That's right, as part of our race coverage, we were forced to go tour the Miller factory, and this little gem was there waiting for us.

Dubbed the Miller High Life Cruiser, this monument to beer and streamlining was put into duty in 1953 as a touring celebration of the 50th anniversary of the brew. Designed by Brooks Stevens, the bus rolled around the country extolling the virtues of one of America's oldest large breweries. Complete with the Lady in the Moon on the back, acres of chrome and aluminum, and a swank interior (which was impossible to photograph), the High Life cruiser is now retired outside of the Miller visitor Center. Oh, and the tour? Recommended.

Now This Is How Race Fans Do Vanning

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:20:00 EDT

Traveling all the way from Alabama to Wisconsin for the 2008 ABC Supply AJ Foyt 225 at the Milwaukee Mile can only be explained by rabid fandom. This race fan showed his true colors by covering his Chevy van from rockers to roof with enough race stickers to make a stock car look like an exercise in Swedish minimalism. Color us impressed, not only with the amount of time it took to create this masterpiece, but that he had any money left over to pay for infield parking when it was complete.

What's Your Favorite Van Of All Time?

Matt Hardigree — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:40:00 EDT

Though we'll probably never have a "Maximum Van Day," yesterday's hard-living QOTD got us thinking about vans and vanning. Though the idea mostly died out in the 1970's in this country, the spirit of the van has lived on in Japan and in the hearts of anyone that owned a Supervan 2 matchbox car. Whether it's something small like the Mitsubishi Town Box, the gigantic and world-destroying A-Team GMC or Julie Nimoy's Silhouette, vans are rad.

Personally, we took a long trip in our grandfather's turquoise Ford Windstar around Texas that was a lot of fun (a seven passenger van easily fits 15, for the record). But that's not quite our style. We've been waiting for US import laws to change, and money to fall from the sky, so that we could buy our own Mitsubishi Delica Exceed from Japaoind and drive semi-off-road through the Hill Country with our cold ones chilling in the built-in minifridge. Dare to dream fellow Jalopniks.