/ Mark Frauenfelder / 7:03 pm Sun Nov 20, 2011

Rich New Yorkers buy plain black vans with plush interiors

New York Times reports that rich New Yorkers are buying cargo vans that look plain on the outside but are lavishly furnished pleasure palaces on the inside. Some cost $500,000.

As the economy limps along and more attention is paid to the so-called 1 percent, some of the richest New Yorkers have taken to driving around in vehicles that ooze neither wealth nor privilege. But on the inside, the vans may be as lavishly decorated as the private railroad cars owned by turn-of-the-century industrialists.

Some owners use them as mobile offices, outfitted with fine leather chairs and Persian rugs; vans may also double as a child’s playroom on wheels, complete with a built-in vacuum to clean what the children dirty.

…

The most popular model is made by Mercedes: a stripped-down, basic version of the van, the Sprinter, starts at $41,315; Mr. Kantor’s version, which Mercedes-Benz Manhattan arranged to have customized, is fitted with satellite television, a Wi-Fi network and flat-screen monitors, and sells for $189,000. Even that is not quite enough for some New Yorkers, who employ designers to install even pricier custom details that easily drive up the total cost to $500,000.

For the Rich, Cargo Vans on Steroids (Via William Gibson)

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  2. Reminds me of that old SNL sketch (which I can’t seem to easily find a clip of) — Phil Hartmann introducing the “Chameleon” – luxury interior, but shitty outside.  Even a “fake oil leak”.  Classic.  Once again – parody presages real life.

    3. Yes.  It reminds me of the rich Italians that dress down in basic black to avoid being snatched for ransom.  It also reminds me of some of Gibson’s stories too.

      Maybe Sci-fi is too prescient sometimes.

      1. The best part of that commercial is the fact I died laughing at it the first time I saw it 20 years ago, and it’s still so funny today.

        1. You know these companies are just dying for the chance to sell robot insurance to their rich & paranoid customers, as well.

  7. Going from “conspicuous consumption” to “You’ve got to hide your wealth away” is a slippery slope to solving some big problems, right?

    I mean, the only reason most rich people get rich is so they can show it off.  Isn’t that why they don’t stop when they’ve got enough to be infinitely comfortable for the rest of their lives?

    1. I mean, the only reason most rich people get rich is so they can show it off.

      Megalomaniacal power is much more important to them than showing off on the streets to strangers they pass by on the road.

  8. Great. Just GREAT.

    Now, to avoid the cruel, unjustified attacks by “Occupier” fanatics on their private property, these poor people will have to switch to internally tricked-out WHITE vans.

    Are you hipsters happy now?

  10. What’s sad and depressing isn’t that the rich would buy these vans, it’s how boringly unimaginative they are:  

    “Hyde Ryan, a designer who worked with a wealthy New York family on decorating the interior of their Mercedes Sprinter van, said that the family wanted gold-plated fittings for every button that would be pushed.”  Gold-plated.  Some sort of symbolic Midas touch, right?  The other touches–like the vacuum cleaner and two widescreen TVs–are just…priceless.  

    Anyway, I think we already hit that button with Goldfinger.

      1. Heh, somewhat. There is more then one middle eastern home that is unassuming on the outside but gaudy as can be on the inside. The same may well apply to the ladies of the region, at least the ones that require to dress in a burqa before leaving home. While the outer layer is neutral as hell, underneath they may be all jewels and finery.

  11. I’m honestly a bit baffled by the motivation here, unless this is just another NYTimes “trend” that they made up out of a few anecdotes.

    If you just want to blend in with the littlish people, a midrange generically sporty compact of your choice will move easily with traffic, park nearly anywhere parkable, and attract minimal attention.

    Your $500,000 van, by contrast, is going to look approximately nothing like a typical work van(no equipment racks? no logo? perfect wax job? Is it Gordon Gecko or the Feds?), but carry all the disadvantages of being big, somewhat hard to integrate with traffic, difficult to park, etc, etc.

    1. personal driver i suspect, so who said anything about parking locally? Likely the van can be circling the block until the owner is leaving, if so required.

    2. “unless this is just another NYTimes “trend” that they made up out of a few anecdotes.” I totally agree, this is a growing concern with many newspapers and magazines, even here in France. 

      And about this article, how do you indentify a “trend” among such a narrow slice of the overall population?

  12. Shrug. If they want a nice vehicle without rubbing it in everyone’s face? More power to them. Which is worse, this, or a gaudy, tasteless, and blatant display of wealth?

    Neither is criminal…its all good.

  14. Typical new york trend with 2 data points and then some unrelated data.

    They have 2 families and then claim that 20k undecorated vans have been sold.

    Seriously NY Times why do you bother.

    1. Sorry, what is your argument and point?  I see nothing  about 20k stripped down vans.  In fact, they explicitly state that the base starts in the low 40s.
      But here is the other thing:  it is based on 2 data points and interviews that are relevant.  If you’re not happy with 2 data points, then how many do you need to see?  This is a newspaper story, not a book about the topic. 
      I can attack any topic by arguing that the evidence isn’t enough for me.  In this case it seems you’d made up your mind about the NYT and use every story as proof of the conspiracy.

      1. I think he meant 2 examples being used to claim 20,000 additional events making a trend, not $20,000 vans. The former is a Friedman Special (or should it be Brooks?) 

        If $20k can get me an Ark outfitted for Damnation Alley, sign me up.Anyway, no references to Stripes yet, or did I miss one?

      2. I was just going to say — by NYT bogus trend story standards, this one is actually fairly well backed up. They actually give several examples and seemed to have talked to multiple people (though there is a lot of un-backed-up “some people” stuff). Usually these stories are based on 1-2 anecdotes and a lot of weasel words and are pretty much disguised ads for the person who supplied the anecdote.

  15. Surprised no one has already threw out a “short buses for the special rich” quip yet.

    I prefer vans to the traditional stretch limo, which are very uncomfortable and hard to get into and out of unless you’re in the very back seat by the door. You can get more people into one of these with a much shorter vehicle, and they can be seated more comfortably. Most hotels use these style vans, as they are much easier to enter and exit and are easier to make handicapped accessible. Even your basic 15 passenger Econoline van is more comfortable than most limos. The view is better and you’re less prone to motion sickness.

    1. I thought everyone drove trucks, muscle cars, k-cars or hummers.

      No, we drive trucks, have muscles, fall into k-holes and get hummers.

  19. Let’s not forget that jobs are created by these vans being constructed.

    I, for one, am glad to see money spent on such projects.

      1. If I ran a vehicle customization shop, I’d be more than willing to take on project from a ‘super wealthy’ person.
        What is with this misplaced elitism? Don’t you want money to move around in the economy or are just content for it to stay in a bank?

    2. Let’s not forget that jobs are created by these vans being constructed.

      What is the obsession with jobs? Growing cotton in the South also created plenty of jobs in the 18th and 19th Centuries, and so did the feudal lords’s decisions to let their serfs farm their lands.

      We do not need more jobs, we need a system that is better at matching productivity capacities with needs.

      1. What’s with the elitist nature of that attitude about jobs?

        A job is a job. But $500K paid to a company for outfitting a van is an amazing amount of money for a traditionally not so luxurious task.
        I would concentrate your scorn on those rich people who DON’T spend their money.

        1. You missed the point.

          The point was that there are many ways for jobs to be created, including through ways in which a handful of elites exploiting everyone else. As a result, one’s benefit to the economy cannot simply be measured by the number of people one deigns to have as servants. It makes no sense, in other words, to praise someone for dutifully ‘trickling down’ if that person was the one who dammed the river in the first place.

          The problem is not with poor people surfing every which way they can. The problem is with rich people positioning themselves as saviours of mankind by pointing to all the people they pay to do their bidding. A job is most certainly not a job. The reason for its existence and what could exist in its place are incredibly important things to consider. This does complicate the world a little, but the enthusiastic battle cries (presently coming from one part of the US political spectrum) to unquestioningly cherish and coddle our each and every of our precious “job creators” are thoroughly misguided.

  21. This is actually pretty awesome. It sounds like a mini-RV for the post-apocalypse that would get better than 5 miles a gallon. Now… just need to find out who owns one near by for when the day comes…

    Of course, I think the UNIMOG is probably one of the most perfect vehicles for survival – http://www.mercedes4x4store.com/dieselmogs.htm

  22. I don’t see what the big deal is.  Those ‘vans’ have far more room than a town car or SUV.  If I were rich, busy, needed to be mobile, a specifically decked out van would be a pretty great thing to have access to.

    Though, painting the vans black is not incognito or “plain” in the slightest.  All high-end executive limo-type autos are black.  White is incognito…  Or beige.  Black says “rich person inside” or “luxury transport for hire.”

    I’ve got a buddy who transports lots of very expensive musical equipment around to various LA recording studios.  His van looks like a well worn, slightly dinged, average white utility van on the outside but it’s engine, tranny, suspension, and all mechanical/electrical systems are upgrades and perfectly serviced, and the vans security system is top notch – Though the security system’s never been ‘tripped’ because that van is truly incognito.

    1. re: “Though, painting the vans black is not incognito or “plain” in the slightest. ”

      This is true. If they want that, you paint it white with a ladder on the roof. Personally, I’d have some sort of funny fictional company, like “Gary’s Knob Polishers – 9 out of 10 of our clients say we are  just like your mom!”

  23. Thing is, these Benz Sprinters are big, they aren’t just “black vans.” They’re more like shuttle-buses, which if you figure seat 12+ people makes for a pretty nice six-seater passenger area.

    1. They’re not *that* big, although I suppose it depends on the model.  The smallest Sprinters are kind of “9-seater minibus” size, a little bigger than a Ford Transit.  They *do* go up to massive 5.5 tonne models about 7 metres long, though.

  24. Two funny things about this. One, some savvy huckster managed to convince a bunch of rich morons to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to ride around in cargo vans. Two, cargo vans get broken into alot more than luxury vehicles.

    1. The problem is that because the vans are so big, they’re probably not parked much as seemed to be alluded to in the article.

      My biggest gripe about people who have the money is not the conspicuous, or inconspicuous as the case may be, consumption it’s that they seem to think they’re better than rest of us, that their money seems to make them above the law. “I’m driving around in a vehicle I can’t legally park so I’ll just have my driver park illegally until the cops show up. Who cares if I’m tying up traffic?”

      It just makes me want to buy a beater and ding as many of these vehicles as possible.

    2. RE: “Two, cargo vans get broken into alot more than luxury vehicles.”

      Yeeeaaahhh – you aren’t thinking rich enough. Like limos and town cars, they have drivers.

  25. I saw one for the first time today, and this was on the business street of a town 50 mi from NYC. The vehicle was a visual abomination in the style of a poorly designed, black, glass skyscraper. The young blonde woman driving it, at a fairly high speed, was quite beautiful.

  26. The tragicomic joy of internet marketing gnomes have chosen to stick an ad for those very vans along the side of this post.  The snarky chuckle I get from clicking one (and thus having a small sum sent to Boing Boing) is as much fun as clicking on google ads for pro-lifers when reading articles written by pro-choicers.

    1. RE: “The tragicomic joy of internet marketing gnomes have chosen to stick an ad for those very vans along the side of this post. ”

      I didn’t see that. Most of the ads I see online are for penis enlargement pills or surgery. *scoff* yeah, like I’d need that, right? I mean of all the people in the world out there they are wasting their money advertising that to me – the last guy in the world who would want that. Yeesh.

  27. Nothing new. When iPods were new but already the glowing white hit they quickly became (and then stayed for most of the decade), and it was still a pricey thing to have in your pocket, stories were printed about New Yorkers who were well enough off to afford an iPod who bought crappy generic black headphones to avoid being spotted with the trademark white earbuds by muggers.

    Then shortly after, there was a story about affluent New Yorkers going to dinner parties in completely drab and common street clothes, but packing their finery as a change of clothing.

    I don’t know how widespread either phenomenon actually was and how much of it was slow news day/sensationalism, I should point out. Only difference is that this time the writer can tie it to the OWS/1% situation.

  28. A new pet peeve of mine: [fitted with satellite television, a Wi-Fi network and flat-screen monitors].  Y’know what?  All monitors are flat-screen.  I get that it’s the 1%, ooh they’re rich and all, but jeez louise, big whoop.  Surprised it didn’t mention the satellite-controlled computer navigation system.

  29. The description of the article is a bit misleading – most of the article isn’t really about how the vans are inconspicuous.  In fact, it makes the point that they are so large that they are incredibly obvious and non-subtle.

    The interesting bit is this: “It is nearly impossible to find a parking space for such a large vehicle, so [the driver] often waits for his boss in illegal spots, and moves when the police come by.”

    In other words – Rich people pay servants to break the law whenever it is convenient.

    1. In parts of London, parking charges are approaching the level where it might actually be *cheaper* to pay someone minimum wage to do that.

      And can you truly say that you drive and have never stopped in an illegal spot to wait for someone?

  30. As Chester J. Lampwick said, “I don’t need anymore money. I’m not greedy, as long as I’ve got my health, my millions of dollars, my gold house, and my rocket car; I don’t need anything else.”

  31. Better for the 0.1% to waste their money on these trinkets than for them to use their money like a weapon the way the Koch Syndicate does.

  32. Benz Sprinter vans are awesome.  You can get one that has plenty of power, yet very good fuel economy compared to regular sedan cars.  It’s unfortunate they don’t sell that type here in North America.

    Ask any TV station camera crew that uses these types of vans.  I’ll bet they love them.

    Sad about what the Rich do to these things.

    1. The “mobile office” van is popular in Europe- although there they often use the smaller Viano van which you can’t get in the US. It means that the person in the back can work or have meetings while travelling.
      You can also get versions tuned by Brabus, which are effectively a road-going private jet for Germany’s derestricted autobahns.

    2. Actually, the previous-gen 5-cylinder US-spec Freightliner/Dodge Sprinters get excellent fuel economy given what they are – a low-roof, short wheelbase one can push into 25 mpg territory.

      The current-gen 6-cyl ones suck, though, and on that generation, the math often doesn’t work out over the lifespan of the vehicle (purchase price is a lot higher), and many companies, if they don’t need the added height, are going back to 10-15 mpg Econolines.

      1. The 4-cylinder turbodiesels in the smaller vans have more than enough poke – they’re the same engine that’s fitted to the Merc E220 diesels but with different firmware.  You can blow E220 firmware into a Vito ECU and get 130bhp but you gain top speed at the expense of low-end torque.

        As I mentioned in an earlier post, I can get 38mpg fairly easily at motorway speeds, dropping to around 32mpg with a lot of town driving.  That corresponds to 32mpUSg and 27mpUSg.  Having a six-speed manual box makes a big difference, with 70mph coming up at 2200rpm and just touching the throttle.

        1. Ah, American van fleet owners wouldn’t dare get anything with a manual transmission – something like 90 or 95% of cars here are automatic, and most drivers have no idea how to drive a manual.

          Although a twin-turbo version of that 2.2L 4-cylinder is allegedly coming here, in the GLK and maybe C-class.

          (But, my understanding is, at least here in the US, the 2nd-gen Sprinter also has reliability issues, unrelated to the engine.)

    3. I have a Mercedes Vito, which is the size down from the Sprinter (the same size as a Transit or Econoline van).  If I stay off the second half of the rev counter I can get an easy 38mpg at a steady 70mph.

  35. This is the best argument yet for congestion pricing! I pay for the streets that these vans travel, and I don’t even have a car (I also pay $107/month for my metro card). If you want to have a fancy mobile office and conference room, then you have to shell out for it. Driving in Manhattan is not free. Just another example of how the public subsidizes the wealthy. 

  37. Oh man this article is REALLY reaching. Maybe just maybe people keep the vans incognito so they don’t get broken into? Like people do with just about every other car in every other big city in the world?

  38. I generally find the NY Times to be a very good paper (it’s the best English-language  newspaper I’m aware of), but even I have to admit they are notorious for fake outrageous trend pieces.  Stay skeptical, my friends.

    As for people making money just to show it off, I think that is simplistic. (Or maybe, since I don’t have nearly enough money to show off myself, maybe I’m just not familiar with that motivation.) One of the reasons I pursue money, in my weaker moments,  is not just because it would make me more comfortable (it would be nice to buy a house someday) but as a personal pride thing: it’s a proxy for success at my job. Both unofficially and officially (as in, explained to me by a boss with actual words), if you are regularly getting raises and promotions, you’re doing well, and if you aren’t, it is time to find a new job, before you’re forced out. I know money shouldn’t be a metric for success (it certainly fails when comparing between professions, e.g. teachers vs lawyers, and part of OWS is all about cases where it is uncorrelated with actual success) but I do have a lot of sympathy for people who fall into that trap, who compulsively keep playing in hopes of beating the high score.

    1. Quite possibly, but how many people are going to be driving a Merc Sprinter or VW Transporter fast enough to tip over in NYC?
      In fact, most vans have a pretty low CofG, and can be driven pretty quickly; I’ve followed Transporters along British main roads in my Skoda Octavia, with the same 1.9TDi engine, and just about managed to keep up at 60-70mph.

  42. As noted above, vans of this sort for exactly this purpose have been in use for a decade or more in other parts of the world. I’ve seen them in various Balkan countries, Greece, Turkey and the Emirates. Being broken into isn’t much of a danger–all of the ones I’ve seen have been chauffeur driven. Neither are they particularly inconspicuous as they normally sport blacked-out windows and shiny alloy wheels. 

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