When Vanzilla seems too broken down to ever drive again, Lana, Dad, and Gramps band together to fix her.
Synopsis[]
The Louds are holding a funeral service for Vanzilla, as the vehicle has completely died out. After having Flip tow the vehicle back to the Loud House after being stuck in a car wash for seven hours (to which the family was stuck inside throughout the entire ordeal, being pelted by the brushes and being drenched in water and soap), the Louds suggest that they finally get rid of Vanzilla, but Lana and Lynn Sr. refuse to let her go, calling her a part of the family. The two beg Rita to let them fix it, and she agrees, but tells them that if they can't fix it by the weekend, they'll get a new van. This prompts Lucy to walk to the backyard to tell Boris, who is digging a grave for Vanzilla, that the funeral is on hold.
Lana, Lynn Sr., and Gramps band together to repair Vanzilla.
Later, Lana and Lynn Sr. bring Vanzilla into the garage, ready to oversee what's wrong with the vehicle. At that moment, Leonard, having heard the news of Vanzilla dying out, arrives, ready to help out as well. The three commit several tests in order to determine the sole cause of the problem, such as rolling the van down a steep hill to see if its pistons are faulty, or having it get a surge of power from lightning to see if it's an electrical problem. Unfortunately, none of these tests prove to be successful. After having the van slightly disassembled, Lynn Sr. plays with a rusted block that he believes is a cowbell. However, Leonard realizes that it's actually the left crank cylinder gasket, and seeing how rusted and worn out it is, the three conclude that this part is the cause of the problem. With this information, the three decide to go to Flip's, as he sells used car parts.
At Flip's, Lana, Lynn Sr. and Leonard ask Flip if he has a left crank cylinder gasket for a Fung family van, but Flip says that he doesn't... because that brand of vehicle doesn't exist, as the real manufacturer of the van is called Fungo. However, Flip breaks the news that the part is extremely hard to come by now, as the company went bankrupt many years ago. Luckily, he says that the inventor of the van and namesake of the company, Freddy Fungo, is nearby, as he lives in his abandoned factory outside of town. This prompts the three to immediately head there.
Arriving to the abandoned Fungo manufacturing plant, Lana, Lynn Sr. and Leonard request to be let in, but Freddy angrily tells them to go away. Undeterred, the three decide to break in. After several failed attempts, the three manage to enter the factory, but the second they enter, Freddy prepares to have them kicked out, thinking that they came to say that his van sucks and that they're going to mock him. Fortunately, just before they get thrown out, the three state that they love the van, and even have personal photos of it as proof. This causes Freddy to state that nobody has ever said anything good about his van before, explaining that he originally invented it to accommodate his large family, but by the time he tried to sell it, sports cars had become all the rage, and as a result of nobody buying his van, he was forced to shut his company down. Now reinvigorated over hearing that his van made one family happy, he decides to help them out. Unfortunately, Freddy doesn't have a spare left crank cylinder gasket in his inventory, but he does know how to make one from scratch, so the four decide to get to work on building the car part together.
Vanzilla's back up and running.
The next day, after installing the new left crank cylinder gasket into Vanzilla, Leonard turns the van on and, miraculously, it starts running up again, much to the excitement of the Louds. Leonard then takes a group photo of the family and Freddy, to which he gives to Freddy as a memento. Because of Vanzilla's successful repair, Lucy tells Boris, who is standing over the grave alongside the Loud pets, that the funeral is canceled, prompting an exhausted Boris to jump into the grave to get some rest.
Lynn Sr. and Lana both have grips strong enough to bend metal.
A toad has been living in Vanzilla's rear speaker since before Lily was born.
Whenever Lynn's baseball teammates were too scared to play with her, she used Vanzilla to catch her balls.
Rita used Vanzilla to vent out her frustrations, with the van's soundproof windows blocking off her shouting.
This makes Rita the second Loud to use Vanzilla to vent out their frustrations, with Lincoln being the first in "The Sweet Spot" and "Season's Cheatings".
Leonard has a truck designed to resemble a ship, complete with a helm wheel for a steering wheel and a ship horn.
Royal Woods has a street that runs all the way up two steep hills.
The street appears to be even steeper than the steepest street on Earth, Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand, which has a 30° incline.
Lynn Sr. has the weakest stomach in the entire family, according to Lana.
The manufacturer of Vanzilla, which was originally thought to be Fung, is actually called Fungo; the "O" fell off Vanzilla some time ago, which Leonard found when he was little and, being unfamiliar with what it was, used it as a belt buckle ever since. The company has also gone defunct sometime prior to the events of this episode due to a lack of demand for the van, which was designed specifically to support large groups of people.
Flip doesn't mind people being in only their underwear at his store.
Lana, Lynn Sr., and Leonard all keep personal photos of Vanzilla in their possession. Leonard's shows he once took the van out fishing, Lynn Sr.'s shows his wedding day with "JUST MARRIED!!" written on the van's back window, and Lana's shows her as a toddler gnawing on the van's steering wheel.
Lana has never built a car part from scratch before.
The premise of this episode is similar to that of "Vantastic Voyage", as they're both about the family resorting to buying a new van after getting tired of Vanzilla's problematic issues. Unlike the aforementioned episode, where the family actually succeeded in getting a new van (though temporarily), Lana and Lynn Sr. wanted to keep Vanzilla out of sentimental value and even offered to fix it.
Coincidentally, Lola vaguely alludes to the climax of that episode when she expresses sarcastic shock for not having the van scrapped years prior.
Lori makes a brief cameo in this episode when Lana, Lynn Sr., Leonard and Freddy manage to fix Vanzilla. This hints that the episode takes place during the weekend, as Rita had stated at the start that she wanted the van fixed by that time.
Innuendo:
In the flashback of Rita having "mommy time" in Vanzilla, a little kid rides past the Louds' house on her tricycle as Rita's voice is completely inaudible due to Vanzilla's soundproof windows. This implies Rita was likely yelling a profanity word.
After removing his belt, Leonard's pants fall down and expose his underwear. In response, Flip allows it as he likes to keep it casual by not wearing any pants himself, prompting Lynn Sr. to shield Lana's eyes. Moments later, Lana removes her shoes and overalls to expose her underwear, under the impression that everyone was taking their pants off.
Boris falling asleep in the grave he and Lucy originally dug for Vanzilla is a visual representation of the phrase "dirt nap" a euphemism that's used when someone passes away.
Cartoon physics:
Lincoln burps out suds as a result from being trapped in a car wash Vanzilla broke down in.
Lynn manages to lift up Vazilla in order to shake Lynn Sr. and Lana from it.
References[]
Leave No Van Behind - The title of this episode is a pun of the phrase "leave no man behind" (also "no man left behind"), a common expression used in the military to encourage soldiers to help their comrades in dire situations.
Taps - The song Luna performs at the start is this bugle call commonly associated with military funerals.
The Flintstones - Leonard using a sail as a reverse windshield for his boat truck is similar to the cars from this Hanna-Barbera franchise.
Funko Pops- Freddy Fungo's name might be pun to the Funko POP mascot "Freddy Funko".
Moby-Dick - When Leonard suggests busting into Freddy Fungo's factory, he says, "By Ahab", referencing the captain of the Pequod whaling ship from this 1851 novel by Herman Melville.
SpongeBob SquarePants - The sound of the horn on Leonard's car before he, Lynn Sr. and Lana crashed into Fungo's factory is similar to the titular main character's alarm clock horn in this Nickelodeon show.
Plot hole: Lynn Sr.'s wedding photo implies he had inherited Vanzilla on his wedding day, when "Time Trap!" implies he inherited the van after siring Lori, as it glitches out of existence between Lori and Leni's disappearances.
Lynn Sr. refers to Lana's overalls as pants.
When Lana and Lynn Sr. give Rita the puppy eyes in order to save Vanzilla, Lana is shown with two pairs of eyelashes instead of three.
In the photo Lana shows of herself as a toddler, her pigtails are missing in the photo.
