Whatever Happened to the Cool Vans of the ’70’s?

I grew up in Hampton VA and used to marvel at the really cool vans parked outside of the Van House in Buckroe back in the 1970’s. The mural artwork was outstanding, esoteric and fantastic. I seem to remember some vans painted with a Pinball Wizard theme or Zodiac signs with lots of smoky swirls and starscapes. Below is a great example of awesome artwork.

I even used to have a small HotWheels Car collection of the SuperVans. Then, sadly, painted vans went the way of silk shirts with big collars and disco. No one bought those vans anymore and they eventually quit making them. The Van House is still there, but they don’t do pinstriping and painted murals. They do handicapped conversions of minivans. I wonder what all those great artists who painted murals on vans do for a living now? And how is a modern mini-van better than the classic Chevy SuperVan?