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Mild to Wild Vanz was not always the van club it is today. In 1974 best
friends Dennis Bergstrom (Ruff –n-Redi) and Dan Walker (Diamond Dan)
started a van club in Pinehurst, NC called the “Tar Heel Truckers”. These two
were getting on the bandwagon of what every one else was doing, Vannin!
With a little hard work and a lot of fun, the club grew almost overnight to
twelve vans. Now that an official club has been started, the club hit the road.
The Tar Heel Truckers traveled all over the country to vannin events and
even made several appearances at the Nationals. The Tar Heel Truckers
were member's of The North Carolina/South Carolina Van Council,
supporting over 30 different van clubs.
The Tar Heel Truckers club stayed active until 1984, and then everyone
seemed to go in different ways (real jobs, families, kids, moving to other parts
of the country). Many members were selling their vans for work trucks and
kid haulers, unlike the two original members who did not have it in there
hearts to give up on there vannin' passion.
Dennis and Dan were in the van customizing business, Mild to Wild Custom
Vans. and Diamond Dan's custom Vans. As the van craze went away, Dennis
kept his shop open a few more years, doing custom pickups. Dennis slowed
down from the vans after he got married, but always kept vanning in his
heart, working at different jobs. Dan, now with a wife and child decided to
take a job in Houston with the power company (a real job) and took break from
vannin. The guys never lost the thrill and passion for vannin'. Dan
continued to build hot rods throughout the years, but it was never the same
as a unique van.
In 2002 Dennis passed away from wounds he suffered in Vietnam. Dennis’s
wife contacted Dan to let him know about the loss. She was concerned about
what to do with the old ‘76 Chevy van that was parked out back, for years
rotting to the ground. Dan knew it was his brother vanners' passion, so he
bought it and had it shipped to Texas. This was a van that they built together
as teenagers, it possessed great memories. This made the restoration of the
van a mission for Dan.
Dennis' wife told Dan he always had a dream of coming to Texas to visit.
Dreams can come true even after you leave. When the van arrived she had a
note telling Dan to look in the console. She had sent her husbands ashes to
Texas with the van. Dan had them put in a sealed container with a bible and
placed in pillar on a bridge leading up to the new van shop at Dan's house, in
Texas. The bridge was appropriately named “Dennis’ Bridge”
After many years, hours of sweat, and money well spent, the Ruff-n-Redi now
called “ZOOMIE”, is ready to hit the road !! Today after thirty years of vannin,
the Mild to Wild Vanz Club is starting the next generation of passionate
vanners. Many of the old members have come and gone, but plenty of new
faces are joining the vannin' craze. With new generations of vanner's coming
aboard it has shown that you are never to old or young to start vannin. Mild to
Wild Vanz, is a growing club, with members that are new to the passion, and
members that are rekindling the old dreams they had in their younger years,
everyone enjoying a common passion!!
Keep on Trucking!
Diamond Dan