by George Dyke….
Want a job for a few months taking an H van around North America? Well, apply here to the Union Wine Company in Oregon. They’ll be sending the one they own to festivals, store openings, and other outdoor events to promote their canned wine products.
I doubt these guys are planning to drive their H Van any great distance unless they have heavily modified the drive train. It seems to be missing the typical muffler you would see up front (just behind the front bumper). Given the 3-speed gearbox, interior noise and poor ventilation for occupants in the summer heat, I’m pretty sure there is no way they would drive it across the USA in stock configuration. They do mention the successful candidate will have to drive a truck and trailer, so that may be their transport solution, or the H Van may well be just a rolling Kiosk (missing the engine & gearbox).
Union Wine isn’t the first beverage company in the USA to adopt an H Van for product promotion. PicoBrew in Seattle, WA has been using my H Van for the past 2 years at major trade shows throughout the USA and in Europe.
Aside from showing their cool beer brewing products and serving beer from it, they crafted funky promo stickers with an H Van theme.
PicoBrew will soon be using it again to demonstrate their latest consumer product called Pico-C which is just wrapping up its product launch on KickStarter as the most successful food product of all time! (It’s a pretty amazing product to make craft beer at home, do sous vide cooking, distilling and more! Check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1708005089/pico-c-craft-brewing-for-all/).
Pico-CNo question, H-Vans are a cool factor that’s off the charts! At every trade show PicoBrew has done at least a dozen people ask if it is for sale and where can they get one?
If you are thinking of buying an H Van these days, do your homework very thoroughly. In fact, contact us at Citroënvie and we will help ensure you are not dealing an unscrupulous company that will take your money and deliver you junk, or nothing at all. I’m not kidding. We have had numerous complaints from people that sent substantial deposits in good faith to a company in New Jersey, (formerly Eurocar Imports and also known as Citroën Import Services), that purports to sell fully restored H Vans. Now these people are in litigation with the owner, Noel Slade, but their chances are slim, if ever, of seeing their money or their Citroën. So please, be very careful. If you want a decent one, we can put you in touch with quality H Van suppliers that deliver what they promise.
UPDATE: April 5, 2018 – Please, if you come across anybody looking to acquire or repair a Citroën be sure to point them to this article and the links below so they know to steer clear of Noel’s scamming business practices.
https://citroenvie.com/the-phantom-h-vans-of-noel-slade/
https://citroenvie.com/eurocar-imports-closes-or-does-it/
https://citroenvie.com/want-to-drive-an-h-van-around-the-usa-all-summer/
https://citroenvie.com/update-on-the-saga-of-noel-slade/
We have just discovered that Noel’s “other” old website, Citroën Import Services, has come back online. It does not appear to be updated, but to the unsuspecting viewer there is contact info and the impression that cars are available for purchase. It is amazing that this URL and his other site http://www.frenchclassics.us/ are online and have not been shut down by court order. Buyer beware!
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UPDATE: April 26, 2023 – Noel has reappeared with a Facebook page where he lists himself as a “Servant at Medford Golf Course” and lives in Medford, New Jersey. https://www.facebook.com/noel.slade/about