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OK SINCE A FEW HAVE ASKED MORE ABOUT THIS JEEP. ALL I CAN TELL YOU IS WHAT I KNOW. GLAVAL IS IN ELKHART, IN. IN 96 THEY DID THESE CONVERSIONS ON THE XJ CLASSIC. IT HAS A TV, VCR AND A RADIO. MOOD LIGHTS. AND WOOD PANELS. I GOT THIS USED IN AUGUSTA, GA. 2 YEARS AGO. I AM THE 3RD OR 4TH OWNER. HERE IS A ARTICLE I FOUND FROM THE NY TIMES. AS YOU CAN READ THEY WERE GOING TO DO THIS CONVERSION ON THE GRAND CHEROKEE. MINE IS A CLASSIC.
Conversion Van's Converts: Pickups and Sport Utilities
By DAN NEIL
Published: Sunday, July 7, 1996
THE conversion van emerged in Southern California in the early 1960's when crusty beach bohemians modified their Volkswagen and Ford Econoline vans, adding beds in the back, gluing shag carpet to the floors, the walls and sometimes even the steering wheel and building in wooden consoles and tables.
Naturally, it being California, the inevitable exterior treatments included alloy wheels, wooden bumpers and murals of, say, the Malibu Pipeline.
Van conversion remained largely a goofy cottage industry in California until the oil crisis of 1973. Buyers of recreational vehicles then began looking for smaller, more fuel-efficient alternatives that could take up the traveling and towing duties of their gas-hungry Winnebagos. Some makers of recreational vehicles, with supplier relationships in place, took the leap to van conversion.
But recently, the conversion industry itself has been shrinking. Sales of conversion vans fell 17 percent last year, and the industry has lost about three-quarters of its capacity in the last 10 years as many small, boutique operators have gone out of business, according to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, a trade group.
So, unlike the vehicles they make, van conversion companies have had to stay light on their feet.
While conversions were traditionally done on midsize and full-size vans, the most popular conversion items these days are mini-vans, as well as sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks. Virtually no conversion pickups or sport utilities were sold 10 years ago; last year, they accounted for one-third of the sales of conversion vehicles, or about 76,000.
"The van conversion industry has not had any exciting growth in the past 10 years," said Charles Craig, the chairman and chief executive of the Tiara Motorcoach Corporation, a conversion company in Canton, Ohio. "That's why converters are looking to diversify."
This year, the Chrysler Corporation is letting the Glaval Corporation of Elkhart, Ind., convert Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicles, Chrysler's most popular vehicle. Glaval will raise the roofs of the Grand Cherokees, creating space for a television, a videocassette player, a Nintendo machine, a high-end stereo, indirect lighting, a cabinet and other trimmings of the conversion trade. The converted Grand Cherokees will join the Ford Explorer and the Chevrolet Suburban and Blazer in the ranks of the sport utilities turned limousines.
But what can a converter add to a pickup truck? How about polished steel running boards, bed rails, bed liners, tonneau covers, bug shields, sliding windows, pearl-finish paint and fancy wheels?
Unfortunately for converters, when it comes to doling out popular vehicles like the Grand Cherokee or the Suburban, the manufacturers generally satisfy the dealers first.
"The rule is, if it's hot at the retail level, the converters have trouble getting them," Mr. Craig said. "Take Suburbans. They are almost impossible to get. I'd be surprised if we get 150. We could sell 10 times that.
"The uncertainty of what you're going to get controls this industry," he added.
The Big Three auto makers are squeezing the conversion industry in other ways. Factory-installed options now include many features once available only through a converter: heated leather seats, rear stereo systems with headphone jacks, wiring for cellular telephones, running boards and a slew of cup holders.
Also, sport utility vehicles, trucks and even some mini-vans can handle the towing tasks that once drew people to conversion vans. And as the abilities and varieties of vehicles straight from the factory increase, dealers tend to take more of their showroom stock directly from the Big Three, bypassing converters.
And yet, some industry executives are upbeat.
"We will remain a key ingredient in the full-size van market," said Larry Lincoln, the chief executive of Mark III Industries of Ocala, Fla. "We offer a unique, upscale image and content beyond what the factory can create."
Besides, said Steve Kesler, vice president of the Explorer Van Corporation in Warsaw, Ind., the buyer base remains relatively constant: middle-class consumers, most of them parents or grandparents, who have many children and who travel often.
"Mother Nature is one of our best marketing tools," Mr. Kesler said. "As long as people have kids, we'll have customers."
Photo: Conversions of utility vehicles, like the GMC Jimmy, have grown in popularity. (Starcraft Corporation)
A version of this article appeared in print on Sunday, July 7, 1996, on section 11 page 1 of the New York edition.
IF ANYONE KNOW OF MORE INFO ABOUT THIS CONVERSION PLEASE PASS ALONG THE INFO.
Few pics...
http://www.cherokeetalk.com/forum/attachments/f18/1593d1259800170-96-xj-glaval-corp-conversion
http://www.cherokeetalk.com/forum/attachments/f18/1592d1259800061-96-xj-glaval-corp-conversion
http://www.cherokeetalk.com/forum/attachments/f18/1591d1259799944-96-xj-glaval-corp-conversion
