Popsicle, anyone? One of my recent salvage-yard finds was a van that I’m sure could tell a lot of stories. It started life as a run-of-the-mill, full-sized, government-use cargo-hauler, but it spent at least its last 20 years as an ice cream truck. Pretend you’re listening to the melody of music-box-style folk tunes and nursery rhymes, and let’s dig a little deeper into this van’s flavorful past.
The Ram Van’s origins can be traced back to the B-platform 1971 Dodge Tradesman. By 1998, the Ram Van was in its third generation and received substantial updates. Notably, the body was upgraded for crash protection, the interior got a redesign, and the engine was moved forward in the chassis (necessitating a redesigned, longer hood).
The 2001 full-line Dodge brochure said, “Hard-working features like twin-piston front disc brake calipers, a wide range of window and door configurations, and Tradesman Packages such as the Contractor Shelving Group and Ladder Rack Group let you carry exactly the load you need.”
The passenger side of this Ram Van 1500 was plastered with faded stickers for ice cream, like Blue Bunny “Load’d Bars” and “Mississippi Mud Sandwiches.” The opening for the passenger-rear door was occupied by broken, sagging plexiglass shelving, and placard at the right rear of the vehicle showed some faded renewal stickers from the Maricopa County Environmental Services Department from August 2011.
I decided to pull the van’s VIN, run a vehicle history report, and see what I could dig up about it.
The van was Phoenix-owned its entire life. It was first titled for government use in February 2001 with 10 miles on the odometer, and it racked up about 88,000 miles in its first five years in that role. Owner number two took delivery in fall 2006 and titled the van as a commercial vehicle, so most likely, that’s when the van hit the streets of Phoenix with tasty desserts. A short time later, a Manufacturer Safety recall was issued for the gear shift lever blocker, but the remedy was never performed.
A few other points of interest came to light: There were six subsequent owners (bringing it to eight in total), including a couple of owners who kept the van for only a few months. There was a damage report logged in August 2012 with impact to the passenger-side front corner. According to the CARFAX, the van achieved 250,000 miles in February 2019. I wonder if it was “on duty” at the time.
The standard engine for the 2001 Ram Van was a 3.9-liter Magnum V-6, but this one received an optional upgrade: A 5.2-liter Magnum V-8 that was rated at 225 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque. A four-speed automatic transmission sent power to the rear wheels.
The van’s gauge cluster had a digital odometer, so I wasn’t able to see the reading at its final resting place.
However, according to CARFAX, the last recorded entry was for an emissions inspection in August 2022 with 286,519 miles on the odometer.
Assuredly, the van made many young friends over its lifetime. In fact, some of the youngsters who bought ice cream in its early days probably have kids of their own by now. Time flies!
