Traveling across the country in their van, the Pepsi-Cola skateboard team prepares to visit another city and show them what skateboarding is all about. Careening down the concrete; dodging in and out of man-made obstacles; letting it all hang out; pushing it tot the edge and back again… that’s skateboarding! It’s a fad that’s grown into a lifestyle for millions of young people nationwide. Pepsi-Cola has been instrumental in skateboarding’s growth, as their team of professionals have introduced skateboarding at cities everywhere across the United States.
Well, how could I refuse this, even if it did come from an eBay auction put up by a member with the dubious name of “boneite?” Best part was, he turned out to be an S&A reader by the name of Tom, who also lives in Portland. Concretin Nik, this one is for you. 10 pictures of the Revell Models Pepsi Skateboard Van from 1979.
Here’s the box. The whole thing came with the shrink wrap opened, but otherwise unmolested and unassembled. Tom found it at thrift store somewhere and paid a couple bucks for it.
“Molded in 2 colors. No painting!” Except that they show three colors on the box. There are no blue parts inside.
Here’s where the great copy comes from.
The decal sheet. I thought long and hard about whether to assemble this thing. My concern wasn’t about “keeping it mint” because I could care less. I was just recalling all the failures in my youth whenever it came to applying decals to models. I never got them right, and as a result models always looked like they had been painted during an earthquake. On top of that, this decal sheet was 30 years old, so I didn’t know if they would adhere or just disintegrate. I decided to do a test with a small scrap, and to my surprise, it worked. So I went for it.
I thought i did a pretty good job, no obvious glaring mistakes, until I got out the fisheye lens for some close ups, and every error became magnified. Still, I’m glad I put the decals on. It’s much more fun to look at this way. Yes, I laid on my stomach in the middle of my street to get this shot.
12 comments
Bevilacqua
more vans here:
http://sakaroule.blogspot.com/2011/02/vans.html
talentlessquitter
…And no;I did not first read your comment.What a coincidence!
talentlessquitter
That Kryptonics van is pretty badass…
boneman
FALSE ADVERTISING!! You totally fooled me, I thought that thing was full size and got my Rectors in a bunch until I checked out the full story. Damn you Pepsi and damn you Kilwag!
skaterhusseindave
Do I remember a plexiglass Pepsi halfpipe? (I’m too lazy to do my own research)
Rene Carrasco
If there was a “Pepsi Van” – it was my van –
a light-blue 1974 Ford Econoline With an Odyssey wing spoiler on top.
Sometimes I would have the BIG Pepsi logo stickers on both front doors and on the back door !
Ask anyone that SKATED on the Pepsi Team .
I never saw a white Pepsi van like that back then.
….-Rene Cannonball Carrasco
http://www.myspace.com/renecarrasco
2008 inductee –
‘WFSA FREESTYLE SKATEBOARDING HALL OF FAME’
-who performed over 2,000 Pepsi Cola Pro Team Demo’s
as Captain of the Orange County Pepsi Team.
-I authored a Pepsi Cola Pro Skateboard Team article
that is published in the
1999 Skateboard History Book –
‘The Concrete Wave – The History of Skateboarding’
( Michael Brooke author)….pages 84 & 85.
Pepsi Team photo’s – these are all me…..
see >>>
LINK ONE – DEAD LINK.
LINK TWO – DEAD LINK.
LINK THREE
LINK FOUR
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kvon
YA! Nice shots! Someone needs to paint a real van like that!
kc
The Pepsi team coming to my school was the best assembly ever.
It didn’t sell me on their soda, but I’m still hooked on skateboarding today.
Luke
am i the only one who wants to see this van get involved in some stop-animation adventures?
Concretin Nik
WINNER! Thank you. “Yes, I laid on my stomach in the middle of my street to get this shot.” Because you are the man. That is bad ass Sir.
kilwag
Auction is long gone, December of 2008.
houseofneil
dude, link to the auction please