Vans Authentic are a casual 'deck shoe' that first came out in the late 1960's. Known as model #44, in the 70's they became the go-to choice for skateboarders.
In terms of heel thickness, I measured the Authentic's at JD Sports and found they gave in the 18mm range or around 0.7 inches of height, when new. The sole design is similar to the classic slip-on, which I measured in this video below: