Big murals, wild custom work and OTT paint are hallmarks of the Aussie panel vanning scene, and Jaime and Allison Cramp’s XW Falcon van features none of them. Instead, it earns its place among the van pantheon with subtle style and some of the smartest engineering ever stuffed into a sin-bin.

First published in the November 2024 issue of Street Machine

Jaime’s dad bought the van back in the early 90s, soon trading the factory six-pot driveline for a mild 302 Cleveland, Top Loader and nine-inch. “Dad gave it a bit of a resto in the 90s, but as a panel beater, he made a great cabinet maker, and some sins started showing through,” Jaime laughs.

Jaime bought the van from Dad and drove it daily for a few years, taking it off the road in 2000 when the tinworm started getting out of hand. Between then and the start of the rotisserie resto, it had got worse again. “The car looked pretty good to start with, until it came back from the blaster, so we knew that the bodywork would be a bit more involved from that point,” Jaime says. “Luckily, I had Anton from Muscle Car Restorations [MCR] on the Gold Coast doing a turn-key build for me, so it made the process a lot smoother from my end, as I didn’t have to deal with the day-to-day issues with the car.”

Jaime and Ally weren’t interested in the GS or GT stripes that often find their way onto hot Falcons, instead focusing on the interior to deliver most of the wow factor. “We wanted to have that classic vanner vibe without being cheesy,” Jaime explains.

For the exterior, they landed on era-correct Raw Orange paint and a windowless conversion, which Anton sank more than 200 hours into blocking.

However, the magic really starts when you drop the tailgate to reveal the innovative and super-stylish rear fit-out. Perhaps most impressive is the bed itself, which is electric and fully adjustable. Beds like this are easy to source for a bedroom, but finding one thin enough to comfortably fit in a panel van wasn’t so simple. Jaime and Ally own and operate Bedzzz in Tweed Heads, so they were well-placed to find a 90mm-thick prototype unit through supplier TrueMotion.

You’ll also find cup holders, USB charge ports and programmable LED mood lighting, all powered by a 200-amp-hour lithium battery with a 240-volt inverter. “It gets tricky when you’ve got an adjustable bed in there,” Jaime says, referring to making everything both show-quality and accessible. “Luckily, the trimmer, Daren Kemp, is a good friend and a wizard at what he does, so we’re very happy with the result.” The degree of functionality in XDUB’s rear interior fit-out is head and shoulders above ye olde crushed velour and archways– not that there’s anything wrong with that – but it still pays tribute to the vibes of original custom vans.

Ben Graham at Coastwide Mechanical rebuilt the Cleveland, bumping its capacity to 351 cubes in the process. It wears 208cc CHI 3V heads and runs a hydraulic-roller cam with Holley Sniper 2 EFI on top. “It gives the drive a good feel of reliability, with the retro look of the air cleaner that’s been part of the van since the early 90s,” Jaime says.

HPC-coated Pacemaker extractors run into a 2.5-inch MagnaFlow system featuring air-operated cut-outs. They’re quite necessary when Jaime and Ally want to hear XDUB sing, thanks to the comprehensive deadening job inside. Anton liaised with a BMW-trained acoustic engineer to nail the soundproofing; there’s extra bracing through the hoodliner, and varying styles and thicknesses of material underneath the trim.

No individual part of the van is the wildest to feature on these pages, and that’s really the point: it’s all been thought out with liveability and comfort at the forefront, while retaining the surf-bred heritage of Aussie panel van culture. Bright thinking from Anton and the MCR team abounds – for example, the a/c compressor uses a 12-volt Tesla unit hidden under the front guard, powered by its own lithium battery to avoid draining the main supply.

Up against some stiff competition, XDUB scooped Best Van/Wagon on its debut at Rockynats 2024. “Allison was a little apprehensive about the reveal, but once she saw it completed – which was when the covers were pulled off – she was in love,” Jaime says. If you see the van at a show, look for Ally sneakily operating the adjustable bed and taking in the crowd’s reaction. “It also made Top 20 Street, but the big surprise was the invite to Meguiar’s Superstars at MotorEx,” Jaime adds. “It’s only done those two shows so far, but we plan on doing plenty more.”

Beyond that, the couple are hanging for some trips to the drive-in, and Ally is hunting for a Peacock Green XT to replicate her first car – this time as a race-ready sleeper.

JAIME & ALLISON CRAMP
1970 FORD XW FALCON

THANKS
Anton and Tan Duval at MCR Gold Coast; Daren Kemp at Kempcraft Marine Upholstery; Ben Graham at Coastwide Mechanical; Scott Barlow at Scott’s Marine Auto Electrical; Darren and Reece Simpson; Fossil Fuelers Inc Car Club; Sam Green; Graham; Corey Tate at T8Spec; Chris Simpson at Auto Art Signs; TrueMotion; Bedzzz Tweed Heads.