People's Choice is a huge honor. It says people liked what you did!
2nd in Concourse is a BIG DEAL. It says that the judges liked what you did!
Top 10 is spectacular.
Well deserved.
People's Choice is a huge honor. It says people liked what you did!
2nd in Concourse is a BIG DEAL. It says that the judges liked what you did!
Top 10 is spectacular.
Well deserved.
ShawneeCreek said:Awards banquet is complete. We came home with 3 trophies: Longest Drive (1,143 miles), Challengers' Choice, and 2nd place Concours (which currently reads 2nd place pm autocross (to be fixed later)). And we placed 10th overall.
First off, the longest drive isn't necessarily a trophy to work for (it's a lot of gas and seat time on the highway) but recognizing the effort is nice. It's going to be a long drive home.
Second, I'm honored to receive Challengers' Choice. I didn't set out to win it. I just wanted to make this crazy van a little more cool and send it off in style. Thank you to all who voted for me. I'm humbled that you all liked it so much.
Third, I'm happy to have done so well in the Concours. I lost out to the very worthy opponents of Wreck Racing.
I'm going to go hang out at the pool and relax. Once I get home and sleep on it a bit I'll formulate a plan on what is next for the van.
Until next time.
-Sean
Very cool, congrats on the finish!
Congrats. Was great to see the van again in it's new look.
Congratulations. I would have liked to see it in person but thanks much for sharing this build
Congrats!
Please squirt some clear coat on that wondrous paint job.
Thanks for the recap you did a while back. I cannot believe you dropped the shell onto a G6. Now that I've caught up on it some more I'm even more impressed with this van; I love it! I'm kind of a car sicko as far as that goes though -- I like driving a minivan. I would just as soon daily drive one as my car. But even if I didn't, man, this is awesome. Just awesome.
This question may be in the thread somewhere already, but what made you decide to do that body swap instead of a powertrain swap in the van? I mean, besides that it was going to turn out awesome, of course.
P3PPY said:This question may be in the thread somewhere already, but what made you decide to do that body swap instead of a powertrain swap in the van? I mean, besides that it was going to turn out awesome, of course.
RUST, and lots of it. There wasn't a ton of good structure left to weld to in the van. Also, swapping the whole chassis brought along all of the supporting systems (fuel, electrical, ABS, traction control, stability control) and ensured that everything was still aligned properly.
In reply to ShawneeCreek :
Oh yes that makes excellent sense. Otherwise that's tons more work -- well, tons of different work. I'd love to see this sometime in person. I'll be in Lansing over Thansgiving but I get the feeling my wife would kill me if I did such a circuitous drive from DTW
Small update now that things have settled down a little. I got the proper Concours trophy in the mail and finally got them hung on the wall in the office.
I also put the front bumper back on after I got the van off of trailer. I was most definitely scraping during the autocross. Wear item? 
Also, the van got a mention in The Florida Times Union. Dan is quite the car guy and a big fan of the Challenge. I enjoyed talking with him.
As for what is next for the van, I'm going to put the interior back in. It makes the van more comfortable, but most importantly saves space in the garage where it is currently spread out. After that, I'm planning on putting plates and insurance on it in the spring and enjoying the autocross and car show season. I hope to blow a few minds and make more people laugh and smile.
Until next time.
-Sean
ShawneeCreek said:
I hope to blow a few minds and make more people laugh and smile.
Yeah, that sounds about right. 
Finally got the pictures off of the camera and processed. I ended up with a few good ones.
I'd laugh at the body lean of the wagon in this corner, but the van wasn't a whole lot better.
I got a couple during the PM autocross when the pro driver took it for a spin. The lighting was really nice for a few of the pictures. I also love how it looks like the eagle is about to grab the cone in the first picture.
Next up: processing the autocross run videos that I took with the GoPro on the roof.
Until next time.
-Sean
How do the shift knobs work on the G6? Are they threaded?
The manual transmission versions are spring detent. Just yank the thing up. I found it easiest in 6th from the passenger side of the car. The shift boot just stretches over the reverse lockout knob.
I can't say what the automatic versions do.
My copy of the Challenge issue of GRM finally arrived. I got a nice 2/3rds of a page about the van.
There is a lot more to the story than what was written, but that's always the case. There is only so much content you can fit in 4 paragraphs. Thank you Grassroots Motorsports for creating and hosting this amazing event and for taking the time to document my crazy racevan. It's been quite the journey.
In my copy the colors seem much duller than in person. Saddened me.
Yeah. The Ford/New Holland blue tractor paint seems to be really hard to expose properly. It looks darker in person.
...and we're street legal. I managed to bribe Mrs. ShawneeCreek into going on the inaugural drive by going for frozen yogurt. First car show is Saturday at the Freeland, MI Walleye Festival. First autocross is May 5. This is going to be interesting and fun. :)
I wish you guys weren't so far from South Bend. You'd blow some minds by showing up to the start of One Lap.
Mrs. ShawneeCreek is one hell of a good sport about this whole crazy thing.
We are actually planning to come down and see the finish of One Lap on the 11th. But that's 4 hours of driving one way (I just looked again). Way too long in a vehicle as compromised as this van, even for me. We'll take the nice, comfy Focus with things like a sealed interior, windshield wipers, and working cruise control, electric windows, and HVAC.
Mrs. ShawneeCreek is a very good sport about the whole thing. I'm lucky to have her.
I took the van to work today and then used it for a few errands.
Parked at work in the morning. A slightly chilly 39°F. Thankfully the heated seat works. It kept me nice and toasty.
I took a friend and former coworker out for a ride and lunch. I got to show it off to a bunch of his new coworkers and park it next to something interesting. A nearly new Camaro ZL-1 convertible
After work I stopped for Chipotle and got a nice van to van comparison. One of these is not like the other
Unfortunately I didn't have a cone with me to imitate the bigger brothers. It's so nice to be in the "use and enjoy" phase of this project. Having said that, though, there are a few more modifications and fixes that need done
Until next time.
-Sean
I genuinely LOL'ed on that last picture. All, too cool!
Update time. Finally got my personalized plate in and mounted to the van:
It will eventually join the collection of licence plates above my work bench
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