sakurama
Adventurer
The first time I saw a lifted Sportsmobile was at the New Hampshire International Speedway when I was racing motorcycles. It was awesome...
...and so was the price.
The idea was shelved but not forgotten. Instead I owned a '64 Ford Falcon convertible, a lifted Land Rover Discovery and finally a reliable Ford F150 - the only vehicle I've ever bought new. That truck never saw much real off roading but it was excellent at towing race bikes from track to track, dirt bikes to Moab and finally me across country when I left NYC a few years ago to come to Oregon.
With two young kids my priorities have shifted. My father passed away last year and left me his Avion trailer which we love. The F150 struggles to tow the 28' trailer. My work as a photographer requires cases of equipment on location. A weekend camping trip with kids can fill the whole pickup. And it rains here in beautiful Oregon. It was time for a change and the major requirements were the ability to easily tow a 7000lb trailer, to carry a couple of motorcycles when needed and finally to be able to take the family on some good adventures.
As a kid growing up in Colorado my favorite memories were our annual 4x4 camping trips into the mountains surrounding the small town of Westcliffe. With my kids now 6 and 7 this is the prime time to travel and take adventures. My wife is fond of quoting the Idaho tourism slogan, "You only have 18 summers" and that is frankly our driving motivation - to make those summers count.
So last year I started searching for a Van. I have lurked here long enough to know I wanted an E350. I have wanted a diesel for as long as I can remember and the 7.3 has a reputation for being reliable. Other things were a higher roof, bigger windows and the extended body. To get the exact van I wanted was going to be nearly impossible. It would require building it but the base was important. After having a few snatched out from under me I was growing frustrated and started searching several times a day and finally found this:
I immediately called to get more information and got brushed off, "Call tomorrow and I'll try to answer your questions, lots of people are calling about this van..."
Okay, I said with zero information, I'll take it. Let me send you a deposit via Paypal. "No Paypal." how about a bank transfer? "No, don't trust the banks. Just bring cash"
To shorten the story I spent the next morning learning how to use Western Union and becoming increasingly sure I was being scammed. I found a person through my Garage Journal thread who was willing to take the rest of the cash to the salvage lot and pick it up. This was about as risky as you could get.
A week later I flew to Nashville and took a taxi to the mechanic - it was up on the lift when I arrived which wasn't exactly encouraging.
I wanted the van checked over before I attempted to drive it home and that was a good thing. It had been sitting abandoned for 5 years and needed help. On one of the test drives it had died and that prompted dropping the tank which was drained and flushed and all new filters and fluids were put in.. Finally after 6 hours the van came down to greet me and I got my first look. It was dirty. Really dirty. But it sounded great.
It was that last shot of the sign that put my mind at ease. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed. How could I go wrong?
A former airport shuttle van with only 166,000 and a recently replaced transmission it was actually in pretty good shape. I tossed my bag in the side door and pointed her west towards home. I was thrilled that she was ticking off tanks of 16-20mpg and I was getting over 400 miles and not even dipping below a quarter tank. My F150 can't go more than 250 miles on a tank so I was pretty happy with the range of my new road trip machine.
So of course the question is how am I going to build it out. I'm not sure. Exactly. I'm a motorcycle guy so I'm learning a lot right now and for the past month I've been just trying to get to know the van and see what it's like to use on a daily basis. One thing I can tell you that MG Metalworks is just down the road from me...
Gregor
...and so was the price.
The idea was shelved but not forgotten. Instead I owned a '64 Ford Falcon convertible, a lifted Land Rover Discovery and finally a reliable Ford F150 - the only vehicle I've ever bought new. That truck never saw much real off roading but it was excellent at towing race bikes from track to track, dirt bikes to Moab and finally me across country when I left NYC a few years ago to come to Oregon.
With two young kids my priorities have shifted. My father passed away last year and left me his Avion trailer which we love. The F150 struggles to tow the 28' trailer. My work as a photographer requires cases of equipment on location. A weekend camping trip with kids can fill the whole pickup. And it rains here in beautiful Oregon. It was time for a change and the major requirements were the ability to easily tow a 7000lb trailer, to carry a couple of motorcycles when needed and finally to be able to take the family on some good adventures.
As a kid growing up in Colorado my favorite memories were our annual 4x4 camping trips into the mountains surrounding the small town of Westcliffe. With my kids now 6 and 7 this is the prime time to travel and take adventures. My wife is fond of quoting the Idaho tourism slogan, "You only have 18 summers" and that is frankly our driving motivation - to make those summers count.
So last year I started searching for a Van. I have lurked here long enough to know I wanted an E350. I have wanted a diesel for as long as I can remember and the 7.3 has a reputation for being reliable. Other things were a higher roof, bigger windows and the extended body. To get the exact van I wanted was going to be nearly impossible. It would require building it but the base was important. After having a few snatched out from under me I was growing frustrated and started searching several times a day and finally found this:
I immediately called to get more information and got brushed off, "Call tomorrow and I'll try to answer your questions, lots of people are calling about this van..."
Okay, I said with zero information, I'll take it. Let me send you a deposit via Paypal. "No Paypal." how about a bank transfer? "No, don't trust the banks. Just bring cash"
To shorten the story I spent the next morning learning how to use Western Union and becoming increasingly sure I was being scammed. I found a person through my Garage Journal thread who was willing to take the rest of the cash to the salvage lot and pick it up. This was about as risky as you could get.
A week later I flew to Nashville and took a taxi to the mechanic - it was up on the lift when I arrived which wasn't exactly encouraging.
I wanted the van checked over before I attempted to drive it home and that was a good thing. It had been sitting abandoned for 5 years and needed help. On one of the test drives it had died and that prompted dropping the tank which was drained and flushed and all new filters and fluids were put in.. Finally after 6 hours the van came down to greet me and I got my first look. It was dirty. Really dirty. But it sounded great.
It was that last shot of the sign that put my mind at ease. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed. How could I go wrong?
A former airport shuttle van with only 166,000 and a recently replaced transmission it was actually in pretty good shape. I tossed my bag in the side door and pointed her west towards home. I was thrilled that she was ticking off tanks of 16-20mpg and I was getting over 400 miles and not even dipping below a quarter tank. My F150 can't go more than 250 miles on a tank so I was pretty happy with the range of my new road trip machine.
So of course the question is how am I going to build it out. I'm not sure. Exactly. I'm a motorcycle guy so I'm learning a lot right now and for the past month I've been just trying to get to know the van and see what it's like to use on a daily basis. One thing I can tell you that MG Metalworks is just down the road from me...
Gregor
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