After a few years of chasing down Jonathan Goolsby of Goolsby Customs, I finally cornered the man himself at the World of Wheels Birmingham show to talk about one of the most distinct builds I’ve ever laid eyes on: a 1969 Dodge A108 window van that defies convention while honoring its roots. This van isn’t your uncle’s shag-carpeted party wagon – it is a masterclass in subtle customization, meticulous craftsmanship and perseverance.
“It’s been a rather lengthy process,” Jonathan tells me when I ask how long this golden chariot has been in development. The build began before Goolsby Customs moved to its current location a decade ago.
I first spotted this machine years ago during a visit to see the progress on a friend’s street rod. The van was nothing more than a gutted shell in black epoxy primer. The original plan? Something wildly ambitious – a pro-touring van built for autocross competitions. “Roadster Shop was building an Econoline van,” Goolsby explains, “and just for s***s and giggles, we were gonna build this A108 at the same time to have two vans autocrossing and shooting for Street Machine of the Year, just to stir the pot and make people talk.” Both shops soon discovered that ambition has a timeline all its own. “Both of us took forever to get them done, and plans changed more than a little over the years.” What was once heading for a parking lot full of orange cones was now headed down the full custom-build path.
Beneath the gleaming gold exterior sits a Fast Track chassis from Roadster Shop. The van rides on a Ford nine-inch rear end with Penske coilovers and Wilwood big brakes at all corners. Billet Specialties crafted custom 18-inch smoothie wheels, while Greening Auto Company machined period-correct dog dish hubcaps – a subtle nod to the van’s origins.
Power comes from a 6.4-liter HEMI® engine pushing roughly 485 horsepower through a 45RFE transmission to the 9-inch rear end. While not the fire-breathing monster some might expect, it’s plenty for a vehicle that Goolsby estimates weighs about 5,000 pounds. The engine breathes through an Edelbrock intake, explicitly chosen because the team had to solve a delicate packaging problem: “The original equipment intake and throttle body was just about stuck into the back of the driver’s seat,” Goolsby explains.
You can’t really notch a driver’s seat for clearance in a vehicle you plan on driving. So, in a bold but practical move, the entire drivetrain was shifted about a foot rearward. “We ended up moving it back 10 to 12 inches, and that allowed us to get the radiator in there.” (Which is fairly important!) The repositioning also accommodated dual air conditioning systems – one for the front, one for the back – and helped achieve better weight distribution.
Everything under the bodywork and interior is a work of art, but the real magic of this build lies in its deceptive simplicity. “It’s so subtle,” Goolsby says, acknowledging that much of the customization goes unnoticed by casual observers. But those with trained eyes know they’re witnessing something special.
“First thing was tucking bumpers, making them fit better, capping the ends off so they don’t look like a giant I-beam stuck to both ends of the van,” Jonathan explains. Then came the laborious process of removing every trace of a body seam from front to back, filing everything to create a flawless appearance. The custom trim along the sides presented its own challenge. Clayton Machine Works at Lokar created bespoke trim for the entire vehicle, but even with their expertise, limitations emerged. “They don’t make a tank big enough to drop a 12-foot-long piece of trim into,” Goolsby says, referencing the chroming process. So, they found the best place to split the trim in half and diagonally dropped the absolute longest piece they could into the chrome tank. For most builders, that seam would have been a small compromise. For Goolsby, it meant somewhere between 10 hours to three days looking at it and agonizing over the perfect solution. Meticulous attention to detail separates good builds from legendary ones, and Vantasy is at the legendary end of the scale.
If the metalwork represents subtle mastery, the windows showcase outright audacity. In stock form, only the side and rear doors featured pop-out windows. Goolsby wanted uniformity – every window needed to pop out. “We made templates for all the glass,” he says, describing how they reverse-engineered the van’s windows. They even enlisted Steele Rubber Products to reproduce the window gaskets, creating a new product line in the process. But when they installed everything, a critical flaw emerged: “All the stationary glass on the stock van wouldn’t latch.”
The solution required cutting and repositioning channels by a mere sixteenth of an inch across numerous windows – the kind of maddening precision work that separates the professionals from the passionate amateurs. Even after solving the mechanical challenges, the interior fiberglass panels needed custom pockets for every latch.
The stunning two-tone paint job – gleaming gold over pristine white – represents months of methodical work. “Just painting by itself and buffing… probably three months easily, if not more,” Goolsby estimates.
Due to the van’s size, the paint process was broken into manageable stages. The team constructed scaffolding around the entire vehicle just to paint the roof. Goolsby vividly recalls the moment of applying the final clear coat. “I remember walking and finishing the last coat and I looked at it, and I was like, ‘It’s finally done!'” But the satisfaction lasted only seconds before reality set in: “And then it just hit me – now I gotta sand and buff.”
After touring shows for about two years, the van’s future remains uncertain. Goolsby typically keeps his builds in his booth at shows, letting the owners take over and enjoy the accolades later. “I try to keep them in the booth so we can showcase them for the company,” he explains. “And if the customer comes out, he gets to hang out with us with it there.”
The van has earned recognition as a top-five finalist for America’s Most Beautiful with Good Guys. Still, more importantly, it succeeds in its most challenging mission – capturing attention across demographic lines.
“It’s neat seeing the different people it grabs,” Goolsby says with satisfaction. “From the hot rod guys to the family people – it grabs everybody’s attention.”
As for the owner who started this journey with a simple phone call during SEMA over a decade ago? He’s already lined up his next project with Goolsby: a four-wheel-drive Scout. The golden age of custom vans may be behind us, but at Goolsby Customs, there’s always another horizon to chase.
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