Ahh, the 1970s in Australia: a time when radio was king and your favourite station might just give away something as cool as a custom van!

First published in the June 2025 issue of Street Machine

Our story begins in 1976, when Coca-Cola commissioned a bunch of pre-release Valiant panel vans – each dubbed the Denimachine – to be porned out with mags, sidepipes and flames, along with a denim-stitched interior. In cahoots with radio stations around the country, these vans were given away as competition prizes, setting the airwaves buzzing while boosting Coke’s already whopping market share.

The van scene was big back then – no, huge — so the competitions were a great success – hot enough for Coca-Cola Bottlers in Melbourne and its Victorian radio partner, 3XY, to give it another Victoria-only lash in 1977. The brief for the giveaway van this time was to allow total freedom and creativity and truly make it a ‘vanner’s van’.

The new build was dubbed the Coca-Cola 3XY Freedom Machine, based around a CF Bedford van and built in the workshops of John Evans (Legends, SM, Oct ’11) from Vanmakers Australia.

John grafted Manta rear flares to those big Bedford quarter panels and added XC Fairmont headlights with a custom grille to give it a unique identity. A white base was then laid down; black, yellow, orange and red stripes were added; and a Garrett turbo on the 202 and a set of wide Sunraysia rims got the van hopping and handling better.

The Freedom Machine van promotion went gangbusters, so the following year, Coke decided to kick it up a notch and return to a multi-van deal. John Evans, now working under the Vancraft banner, was again given the nod to design and build three new black Bedfords.

The Victorian van was dubbed the 3XY Easy Roller, while the Freedom Machine moniker was retained for the NSW and WA versions. The full-custom fibreglass bodykit included a restyled nose and guard flares, and the vans’ black paint coupled with red, white and blue graphics made them hard to miss. Fat Aunger Hotwires were fitted at each corner, while the interiors scored the requisite TV along with couches and a bar, all dripping in red crushed velvet.

This third and final Coca-Cola van giveaway was another roaring success, but sadly, only one van survives from that entire program. The Valiant Denimachines are all lost to time – although an excellent replica buzzes around South East Queensland – and the first white Freedom Machine was scrapped at a Byron Bay wreckers in the early 2000s. The WA-based black Freedom Machine did the Perth show scene as ‘Black Magic’, but it’s since disappeared, as has the NSW version.

The black 3XY Easy Roller Bedford you here is the sole survivor – a true icon of 1970s Australian culture, if you will, and a testament to one man’s dedication and love for the trappings of his youth.

“As I’ve got older, I’ve become more nostalgic,” says the van’s owner and pop culture buff, Peter Robinson. “The 70s heyday when Radio 3XY ruled Melbourne’s airwaves was a great era of music and such a poignant time of my formative teenage years; there’s so many great memories from that era that still resonate today.”

Around six years ago, Peter decided he needed an Easy Roller in his life. “I’d busted my arse to try and win the real thing back in the day,” he recalls. “So, I hunted out John Evans and asked if he’d help me to build a replica.” As the veritable godfather of Australian vanning, John was only too happy to get involved, so Peter bought himself a Bedford and the pair set to work.

The replica build had been on the go for around 12 months when not one, but two spanners were thrown in the works.

“John and Don Hailes are great mates who had paired up to build the ‘Freedom Roller’ tribute Bedford [Van Wheels special, SM, Jun ’15] for the 40th Van Nationals in Bathurst in 2015,” Peter says. “When Don toyed with the idea of selling his van, John knew I’d be keen, so a deal was struck.”

A few months later, Peter was enjoying a coffee with his good mate Frank and Frank’s friend Eric, who casually dropped a bombshell. “Eric said he knew the whereabouts of the original Easy Roller – yep, spanner number two, much bigger than the first!”

The sole surviving Coke promo van had been nestled in the safe hands of vanning historian James Ellis for a number of years, so Peter did the deal, and the mission to restore it to its former glory began in earnest.

Bedfords and rust go together like Forrest and Jenny, so brothers Rod and Scott Konndouras of Chief Customs got the nod to strip the Beddy back to its bare bones, sorting the panelwork and repairing the original fibreglass bodykit before slathering all surfaces in the must-have gloss black. A custom grille and headlight covers were made, before the trademark Easy Roller graphics and Coke livery were expertly recreated and applied by Dave Greene and his team at KustomKraft.

The original 202 six-cylinder donk was freshened by Mark at Gasoline Automotive, who added a mild cam and tickled the head before backing it with a Trimatic auto to send cruising power to the stock Bedford rear end. Custom twin pipes ensure the Easy Roller makes all the period-correct noises, while the front brakes have been upgraded to Hoppers Stoppers-supplied VT Commodore discs, which work in conjunction with standard rear drums. The original 15×10 Hotwires still reside out back, but the front 14s were replaced with 15-inch items necessary for brake clearance. A set of BFGoodrich Radial T/A tyres were the only choice for a time capsule like this – white lettering facing outwards, naturally.

The interior was probably the hardest task for Peter and his team to navigate, with only the original headlining, television and stripper pole – no, I’m not joking –still present. “It was a blank canvas, no question,” Peter says. “There’s not many photographs of the original interiors to be had, so it was a matter of just piecing together what we could find from old magazines and the like.”

The complete interior was a joint effort from Rod and Scott at Chief Customs, along with trimmer David Higgins, and it’s fair to say it’s on point – how’s that Marshall amp fridge! That, along with the microphone shifter knob and extensive Bluetooth sound system, offer the perfect nod to the van’s 3XY radio roots and Peter’s own love of music, while perfectly befitting the era.

The reborn Easy Roller has only recently been finished, and Peter has wasted no time in getting it out onto the streets where it belongs. “The response has been overwhelming, and not just from those who remember it first-hand,” he says. “Putting a smile on the faces of others is the ultimate reward after investing a lot of time and dollars, along with the hard work of a talented team.”

VAN FAM

The first of the Coke giveaway Beddys was the white-with-stripes, turbo 202-powered 3XY Freedom Machine (right). This was followed by three black vans, with two dubbed the Freedom Machine and the third called the Easy Roller (top) – the sole survivor and the van featured here. Decades later, original builder John Evans created the Freedom Roller (middle), a tribute that morphs styling cues from all four.

BRAINS TRUST

While Peter and his wife Kirsten are retail butchers by day, they also run the Superheroes Foundation brain cancer charity to raise money for families dealing with the financial pressures associated with this illness.

“My brother Dean passed away from brain cancer a few months ago, after being diagnosed in 2020,” Peter says. “What shocked us the most was the out-of-pocket expenses that cropped up during Dean’s treatment, and how much is not actually covered by Medicare and even private health insurance. We run the charity at zero cost, so all monies raised go directly to individuals and families in need.”

The Easy Roller is a major attraction at the charity’s fundraisers, along with Peter’s genuine, Warner Brothers-commissioned 1960s-era Batmobile and Mad Max 2-spec Interceptor XB hardtop. “The cars are the glue that help make our events so successful, Peter says. “That, and the people, of course. Running a charity is a warm reminder that 99 per cent of people out there are good folks, and the world isn’t all about the doom and gloom you see on the news.”

If you’d like to support the Superheroes Foundation, why not buy an awesome Batmobile or Easy Roller T-shirt, cap or hoodie at superheroesfoundation.com.au.

PETER ROBINSON
1978 CF BEDFORD VAN

THANKS
Rod and Scott Konndouras at Chief Customs for going above and beyond; Dave Greene at KustomKraft for the graphics; David Higgins for trim; Mark at Gasoline Automotive; Barney and Fastfit Car Centre for sorting the exhaust.