Truckin's 30 Year Celebration - The Way We Were

The opportunity to reflect on Truckin' magazine's past 30 years is a true adventure and a journey to yesteryear's custom van, mini, and truck phenomenon. Revisiting those early days of long hair, beards, and bell-bottoms, and seeing the changes in custom van and truck design trends makes us appreciate our hobby's evolution and progression. In the following pages, we will experience a flashback of Truckin' magazine during the '80s through a kaleidoscope of colorful features and informative tech articles. We will be taking a trip back into the archives of Truckin's soul and essence as we revisit pages of Truckin's timeline.-Editors

Truckin' magazine was initially launched in 1974 by the late Tom McMullen, who had recently produced his first publication, a motorcycle magazine entitled American Chopper. McMullen possessed the gifts of foresight and intuition to recognize the need for informative communication with custom van and truck enthusiasts. McMullen had a vision of developing Truckin' magazine into the number-one trend-setting custom-truck publication on the planet. It was his sensitive attention to blending the grass-root garage warriors and professional builders into one magazine.

In the Jan. '04 issue of Truckin', we introduced the magazine's first few years, through the '70s, when vans were the craze. As we continue our journey through the '80s, vans were still the mainliners, but mini- and fullsize custom trucks were increasing in popularity. While observing the latest trends of styling regarding vans and trucks, we found it just as entertaining to check out the so-called latest hairstyles and clothing fashions