She Gave Her Van a 1970s Overhaul, Shag Carpet Included

Soumaya Majout Bent, 35, who lives in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Santa Barbara, Calif., and is a student planning on opening a restaurant in Santa Barbara, on her 1977 Dodge custom van, as told to A.J. Baime.

It was the week of my wedding, and my fiancé and I were driving in Chicago. We saw this van parked on a lawn with a “for sale” sign. I was always mentioning how I wanted a van to go road tripping. I yelled, “Stop the car!” When we approached the van, I noticed two other people looking at it. I thought, I need this van in my life. So we called the owner right away. The following day—Aug. 5, 2022—he met us with this van. It had over 90,000 miles on it, and we bought it for $12K. The next day, my fiancé and I got married.