Top 5: Vans that made a name for themselves

Van do not have to be uncool. Here are five vans that have plenty of fans.

The A Team's GMC van was destroyed at the beginning of the movie based on the TV show.

Only Fools and Horses

Often mistaken for a Robin Reliant, the vehicle used by Derek 'Del Boy' and Rodney Trotter was a Reliant Regal van. The van was used as the work vehicle for Trotters Independent Traders in the BBC sitcom that ran from 1981 to 1991, with occassional specials until 2003 - the final episode was watched by 21.3 million people. In 2007, the boxer Ricky Hatton purchased one of the vans used in the show for £44,227 (Dh265,000), double the amount expected at the auction.

Scooby-Doo

The crime-busting team - Shaggy, Scooby-Doo, Fred, Velma and Daphne - used a colourfully decorated 1966 Chevrolet Sportvan 108 to travel to haunted houses and abandoned theme parks. The Mystery Machine, as the van was known, was a hippy-styled vehicle and has been used by the team since the cartoon debut in 1969, as well as in the live-action films in 2002 and 2004 starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Matthew Lillard. It proved helpful in netting countless mean old men posing as ghosts.

The A-Team

They were a crack commando unit sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit, but escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles undergound. So, naturally, BA, Face, Murdoch and Hannibal needed a large, flashy and powerful van to help hide out from the authorities, not to mention help get them out of jams with the bad guys. The black, grey and red GMC was a staple of the 1980s TV show and made a brief appearance in the 2010 film, only to be destroyed in the first 15 minutes.

Little Miss Sunshine

The cinematic family - mother, father, two children, uncle and grandfather - go on a heartwarming, 1,200km road trip trip to attend the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty contest in a yellow-and-white VW camper van. The writer of the film chose that particular vehicle as he had been on a number of trips in a similar one. But the cute VW didn't agree with everyone; the actor Greg Kinnear, who drove the van in the film, described filming as the most dangerous he had ever been a part of.

Postman Pat

"Postman Pat, Postman Pat, Postman Pat and his black and white cat, All the birds are singing, And the day is just beginning, Pat feels he's a really happy man. Everybody knows, his bright red van." Well, maybe not everyone knows the stop-animation character, who, as the name suggests, is a postman. Pat made his debut in 1981 with a van based on a Bedford HA, with the registration plate "Pat 1". Since then, Pat has gone on to have an eco-van, a mini van, a motorbike and a helicopter.