NICK COCKINOS
LAST issue we were treated to the early vanning memories of Nick Cockinos and his mates in Renegade Vanners. This month we meet some of the vans and characters that shaped their journey through the panel van heyday. Nick’s collection of photos from old-school vanning shows are a goldmine, so let’s tuck in and take a look. “They were great times,” he says, “and I’d like give a special thanks to the Renegade crew: Scott Wilson (RIP), Peter Mordue, Dave Peterson, Stuart Flood and John Strachan for their support and inspiration.”
01: INNERVISIONS is one of Nick’s all-time favourite vans, with its unmistakeable custom nosecone and a heap of other cool body mods. “I really liked the vents grafted into each front guard, and the blown small-block Chev and undercarriage were detailed to perfection,” Nick says. “The owner and builder, Craig Godbee, found his calling creating interiors and went on to establish Newcastle Custom Trim.” Newcastle was a hub for groundbreaking vans like Innervisions, along with the likes of Checkmate, Buccaneer, Innocents and Street Legal.
02: These photos of Dave Marsh’s Street Legal are pretty special, as they show the van with plain black paintwork prior to the gold fogging being applied, and before it was rebuilt with blue detailing and a blown 308. “Vans like Street Legal featured true custom bodywork, not just bolt-on stuff,” Nick says. “Normally at van shows we’d all walk around and admire the exteriors but not pay too much attention to the undercarriages. When vans of this calibre came along the whole scene shifted and the underbody detailing left us gobsmacked.”
03: Greg Mercer’s Invader 2001 was the peak of custom vanning in Australia and featured gullwing doors, a split-level wagon roof conversion, custom front end and a cutdown Porsche whale-tail for a roof spoiler. The interior was bursting with the latest in electronic gadgetry, moon-like burnished metal panelling, and 3000 LEDS. “Invader started life as an HZ Sandman and ran a Weber-fed 308. It blew us all away when it hit the show scene, and the Frank Lee murals were pretty risqué for the time – as was most of Frank’s work,” Nick laughs. “Mods like the frenched aerials and shaved door handles were straight from the early hot rod and custom scene, and it’s interesting to see how certain styling cues morphed from one car scene to the next.”
04: NICK once met vanning legend Fuzz Heinrich at John Strachan’s business, The Chrome Exchange. “You wouldn’t meet a nicer bloke,” he says. “His HZ Sandman, The Wizard, initially ran a 308, but then returned after a rebuild in the 80s with tunnel-rammed 429 big-block Ford power. It was a groundbreaking van that mixed and matched hot rod styling with vanning, but made it work. The Wizard epitomises the ‘dare to be different’ approach that was prevalent in the panel van and early street machine scene; people came up with a theme and stuck with it.” Imagine the whinging purists nowadays if you did that engine conversion – you’d melt the internet!
05: MANY will recognise this heavily chopped