The Vanbulance was brand new when Tim Dwight, Tavian Banks, and Matt Sherman were Freshmen. Iowa was 5-5-1 that year, but at least we beat Iowa State. And the Vanbulance is old enough to remember that we didn’t have to win the game. We could just tie and pretend for a bit that we are soccer fans. Let’s not do that.
Please don't call it a food truck. College Football Enquirer, we're looking at you for that comment (fast forward to minute 37:12 of the podcast). Are the songs tasty? Yes.
All that said, it's lovingly referred to as "the Vanbulance" by the Band. Actually, it's a 1994 Ford E350 Road Rescue Ambulance that was originally painted white with a yellow stripe around it. For the first year, we had beautiful vinyl stickers on the side with the Van Hayden logo provided by Impact Vinyl Graphix.
Vanbulance New Uniform
Van Hayden Band revealed the new look for their custom converted ambulance in 2024. The beautiful vinyl wrap styled like Eddie Van Halen's guitar "Bumblebee" has been provided by thINK Custom in Elkader, Iowa. Storage for the Vanbulance is courtesy of MegaStorage in Tiffin, Iowa.
She’s a heavy ride, my friends. Here are her stats:
- Team:
- Ford
- Position:
- E350 Road Rescue Ambulance
- Rookie Year:
- 1994
- Weight:
(Gross Vehicle Weight / GVW) - 9000 lbs
- Interior Height:
- 5' 8" (watch your head!!)
- Body Width:
- 8'
- Body Length:
- 13' 7"
- Exterior Body Compartments:
- 6
- Length:
- 22' 1"
- Truck Height:
- 8' 7"
- Miles:
- 70,800 and going on up
- Engine:
- 7.3L IDI Diesel V8 (vrooooom!!)
- Transmission:
- Automatic
- Miles per Gallon:
- Let's not really talk about that, shall we?
- Wheels:
- 6 (Dual Rear Wheels). Brand new!! And yes, there is a backstory there we'll tell another time.
- Batteries:
- Dual 12 Volts plus more to run the Band
- Past Teams:
- Rutland-Dundee Fire Protection District Support Unit Ambulance in Illinois