Hey, nobody got hurt, nobody got arrested. We just had a good run.”

John Vitkevich

PORTSMOUTH — It was the best of times, it was the best of times.

That’s pretty much how members of the Island Vanners look back at their exploits during the 1970s, when they hit the road every weekend in souped-up vans on their way to the next big adventure.

And when they stayed put in Portsmouth, the motley crew whooped it up with “mini-Woodstocks” complete with a “bombfire” — more about that later — and wet T-shirt contests.

One of the founding members, toll-buster John Vitkevich, said he’s grateful for the good times club members had — and for all the stuff they got away with.

“It’s 40 years ago, man. I think the statute of limitations has expired,” Mr. Vitkevich joked during a recent reunion party at Tremblay's Island Park Bar & Grill. 

The Island Vanners were pretty much a product of their time. 

“Custom vanning in the ’70s was fun — and it was good business,” said Mr. Vitkevich.

It all began back in the mid-’70s when Danny Jackson, who was selling cars at a Toyota dealership in Middletown, introduced Mr. Vitkevich to the owner, Steve DeMello. Steve knew Tony Reise, who owned East Coast Custom Vans, which he started in 1974. 

When John and Tony finally met it was in a hospital; Tony had busted himself up after falling asleep at the wheel on East Main Road. Later, John became Tony’s sales rep at his van dealership, which was located across from where Clements’ Marketplace is now. 

“John said to me, ‘There’s a lot of interesting vans out there. Let’s start a club here on the island.’ And we did,” recalled Mr. Reise.

And voilà, the Island Vanners club was born. Members went on road trips and entered their vans into numerous shows, such as the King of Vans Show at Asbury Park, N.J.. 

“To be invited to that show you had to have won three best-in-shows. I won 11,” said Mr. Reise, who took home a first-place trophy in Jersey, too.

“It was just good times,” recalled Dave Farias, who was vice president of the club and only a senior at Portsmouth High School when he joined the Vanners in 1976. “We used to go away every weekend — New Hampshire, New York — and there’d be 500, 600 vans at every one of them.”

PHS grad Jeff Keeney was just 17 when John pulled him to the side of the road one day and convinced him to join the Vanners. “I was the baby,” he said. “I was one of the only ones in high school with a van.”

Was he the cool guy in school? “No, I wouldn’t go that far!” replied Mr. Keeney, who got back into it last year after buying back a van he originally purchased in 1986 “as a piece of junk.” He’s still working on it — and his 19-year-old son is now a van guy, too.

First splash: Oktoberfest

The club had its first meeting in September 1976 at the former Founders Memorial Grove off Boyd’s Lane (not to be confused with the similarly named park on the other side of the road). The local club had about 40 members and started hosting small meets at Glen Farm or Glen Park. 

But it first made waves — and raised a few eyebrows — when it decided to throw a large-scale bash in October 1976.  After getting approval from a nervous Town Council — members grilled the club over security, traffic and alcohol — the Island Vanners threw an Oktoberfest rally complete with live bands on the late Charlie Silvia’s farm property off Bramans Lane.

The Portsmouth Volunteer Fire Department was there selling beer, hot dogs and hamburgers. A schedule for the weekend included events such as a “chug-a-lug,” egg toss, potato sack race and a “Miss Oktoberchest” contest.

“It was a wet T-shirt contest on Sunday afternoon,” Mr. Vitkevich said. One contestant had to be disqualified, he noted, because she lifted up her shirt but had nothing on underneath.

Ka-boom!

Then there was the infamous “bombfire.” 

“In the middle of Charlie Silvia’s field there was a drainage pit and it was dry in October. Charlie had an old barn on the property he wanted torn down. Me and my buddies went to work and pulled down the barn,” said Mr. Vitkevich. Club members scavenged for more wood at the old Island Park dump and filled the pit. 

“We had a five-gallon can of gas,” said Mr. Vitkevich, who started sprinkling it around. Unbeknownst to him, Dave Farias picked up the can and dumped the rest.

“This happened 40 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday,” said Mr. Vitkevich. “I lit a rag and tossed it and it caught the tallest piece of wood and that acted like a fuse. I turned around and started to run. It didn’t blow forward, it blew backward. It was this major ka-boom! I got drilled into the ground and I was picking dirt and grass out of my teeth.”

Jeff Keeney got caught in the crossfire. “It picked Jeff up and threw him about 50 feet,” said Mr. Vitkevich. 

State Police showed up, but were told by firefighters that the club had secured a permit.

Mr. Vitkevich laughs about the 2015 New Year’s Day polar dive at Island Park Beach, in which he helped set a bonfire under the watchful eye of firefighters.

“I had Dave Farias, my co-conspirator in the ‘bombfire,’ on one side, and Fire Chief Mike Cranson on the other side. And Dave is saying, ‘Hey, John, let’s just get it going with the gas,’ and here’s Fire Chief Cranson telling me, ‘John, you can’t use gas!’” he recalled. “I’ve learned to always be careful with gasoline around fires.”

The next year over Memorial Day weeked, the Vanners held another big outdoor party at Charlie Silvia’s. Members also started up the New England Van Council, which included the various van clubs in Rhode Island and beyond. 

Mr. Reise said he marveled at John’s ability to remember names back then. “There were no computers; it was all in that afro,” he joked.

“My RAM was up there,” Mr. Vitkevich replied, pointing to the top of his head.

Interest wanes

The custom van craze, like most others, was a fad. It ended around 1981, when interest shifted to campers, said Mr. Reise. “No more glitz, no more bling,” he said.

Still, the Vanners have never forgotten the good times they had. That’s why they still get together from time to time to reminisce about all the law-skirting fun from the past.

“Hey, nobody got hurt, nobody got arrested,” said Mr. Vitkevich as he clutched a cold beer at Tremblay’s. “We just had a good run.”