Just out of curiosity ......... what kind of VW Van are you going to
mutilate?
A good 89 Plymouth Voyager has a value of about 600$. Your friends van
sounds like it had reached the 198$ value base.
I'd be a little skeptical about the rigid base of the frame after some
radical cutting.
I noticed that on most Vans (Type 1 and 2) even the steel panels behind
the drivers seat back add structural support to the body.
As for Vanagons I can see that they are engineered differently but I'd
almost bet that if you get a good look at some Vanagon Single cab trucks
you'll find compensating structural members added for the pickup body.
Don't get me wrong, I'd say it would be a fun project to do.

Stan Wilder

On Mon, 14 Oct 2002 12:50:10 EDT JordanVw@AOL.COM writes:
> this weekend i was over at my friends place, and he has a '89
> Plymouth
> Voyager minivan..  the thing burns oil like crazy, he uses it for a
> work van
> and he was going to just junk it and get a newer pickup. jokingly, i
> said,
> "we should cut the top off and make it into a pickup truck"   and he
> said,
> let me get the sawzall !!!     3 hours later it was a "pickup truck"
>  we cut
> the roof off at the bottom of the window pillars and welded the
> lower part of
> the slider door in place to keep the body integrity, and left the
> roof over
> the cab (didnt cut A or B pillars)     all we have left to do is
> some finish
> welding,  and weld the back hatch onto the rear of the "cab" so it
> wont be
> open..  it wasnt hard at all..so yep ive decided to make a vanagon
> pickup
> truck..   all the canadian spec vanagon transporter pickups are WAY
> to
> overpriced, and just about all of them are no frills models with
> manual
> transmissions.   i want a automatic vanagon pickup with all the
> bells and
> whistles..
> has anyone done this before?  pics? ideas?
> this should be a fun project :<)
> chris
>
>

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