easy roller - iconic or shark jump?

[delrazor]

Since I was 14 I have been in awe of the coca cola easy roller.
It was my most wanted item at the time, and I have told many youngsters of this awesome machine over the years.
Lately (since owning my own bedford) I have been thinking about the easy roller. Windering what happened to it, what it was really like and whether I would want it as an adult.
A few years back I hired a Kenny everit video, explaining to a young friend how funny it was. Well it wasn't. I was 16 when it was first on and was obviously swayed by Carla and ... the naughty bit.

Anyway, this seems like a good place as any to gather info on this van. Keen to know old school vanners opinion of it at the time. Was it a commercial abomination of a culture that was cool? was it a sign that society accepted that vans were cool?

so far I have found some info from ozrodders, etc...
thanks dave from ozrodders
"They built 3 identical vans, one for Melbourne, one for Perth and one for Sydney. They were sponsored by Coca Cola Bottlers in each of those states and I know 3XY were on board in Melb and possibly 2SM in Sydney? The Melbourne one was built first from a Bedford CFS and was black with red bubble windows, they had a 'disco' interior complete with red crushed velour and mirror ball (acrylic plastic), colour TV etc. They had a 202 engine.

The Melbourne one was drawn on 25th Feb 1980 but I have no idea who won it or where it went. I can't say that I ever saw it since! It was certainly called the 'Easy Roller', at least initially here in Vic and Brocky was involved in the promotion. I cannot remember the promotion itself now but it may have been something like 'Win this freedom machine' hence the other name. I don't know any of the details of the Perth or Sydney promotions but believe they followed shortly after the Melbourne one and again both vans were built by Vancraft pretty much identical."




derek

[SkippyThBushKangeroo]

intreeging. . good narrative..sound knowledgebase... dunno but.    woz back in whinge island way back them days    know owt about the missin green one but  seriously though  woz th pic under, a recent one of newly discovered evidence ,or an oldie razor ?

[SkippyThBushKangeroo]

the more i look at th photo...somewhere back in th furtherest echelons of my childhood memorys i seem to recall . .not the actual vehicle or promo in W IsLE itself though sure it woulda run there too but a recollection of having a dinki or corgi toy van of that black colour an 3 coloured strips  in exact duplication within me boy things , loved  brummin th 50 n 60 models more, specially  th wiv the slidy door  hav u found th melb 1  razor an wrestling th urge for resurrection 

[delrazor]

according to a flicker site the pic went up in 08.
there are more...
i lost the link bugga!
in a close up you can see the remnants of the text "freedom machine" apparently that was the name of the perth version.
derek

[mezzmo]

Like you, i have always wanted the Easyroller, loved it and entered the competition so many times but alas, didnt win. When i was 18 (about a year after the van was won, i was heading to albury from Melbourne and spotted the van outside an auto garage in Wangaratta Victoria, i was with a mate a we pulled over as this was a great opportunity to see this beast close up for the first time. I remember taking a heap of pictures and being a little disapointed in the condition - still black and shiney, but dirty. i then asked the owner (who worked at the garage) if i could take some pics of the inside - he was happy to oblige and opened the side door - AAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH - there was a transmission sitting on the carpeted floor oozing tranny fluid all over the place - the interior was mainly sr=tripped (from memory) - i was gutted, absolutely gutted!

Since i have been able to afford a beddie in my later years, i have kept an eye out for the easyroller hoping to buy and restore it......too late, one of the guys on here has got it, he found it up in ballarat in a car port - it belonged to a chippy and apparantly after much negotiation, he bought it - for a bloody song i think. (he says he paid too much but its all in the eye of the beholder) the good news is i spoke with him the other day re another issue and he advised me that he is hoping to have the restoration finished by the hot rod show in melbourne. Brilliant.

I dont mean to be vague here, i havent mentioned names or prices as this is a privacy matter - the good news is that it has been saved and will ride again and Delrazor, its still a horney beast!!!

[weasil]

hey
ihavent seen a easy roller since the late 70s  as they were a coka cola van does anyone remeber the gold can of export cola or even stud cola yeah yeah
ps i loved export cola.
weasil

[Jilybean]

the perth one is still going strong and called black magic a use of the search engine should turne up a ton of photos and subjects on our site

[Bedfordcrazy]

hey mezz, can you talk to your mate and see if you can get a stack of pics for us, so we can perv on how its going. PLEASE.
george

[SkippyThBushKangeroo]

this woz the link i found it on                                                                                                   http://www.flickr.com/photos/doctor_keats/2259336391/in/photostream/                                                                                                                                                                                         seem to recognise th area in melb too  as had contracts down that way at moorabin airport for a good few years before comin to my senses an movin here to th hub of the known universe    shame to hear bout th tranny oil mez,tis a shockin substance my least favourite liguid, can still recall that revolting feeling of that stuff runnin down my arms an poolin in my armpit, as tried desperatly to get yoke back in after unwittingly pullin it out!  sigh!  took two showers and an armpit trim to remove yeeeuuucch. yes more piccys of these beasties please .

[rossie]

when l first shifted to Ballarat l saw it rough and then l think it was painted purple, l believe it was the same one. Went in it when 3xy had it