Van life?

[legion]

I've had a Chevy Express 3500 for over a year. It's much easier to pack for vacation for a family of five (whereas the minivan felt like a Tetris puzzle). We can even take a stray or two with us. I can easily fit three hockey bags behind the 4th seat. It now even doubles as a changing room given that our idiot governor will not let us use locker rooms.

[RWebb]

[Jeff Hail]

Motivational Speaker Matt Foley lived in a van.. down by the river.

[fastfredracing]

Oh man, vans are the coolest. I always had vans, I sort of gravitated towards hi top conversion vans, but had a couple of work vans, and 2 pimped out 70's style conversions, with flares, visors, chrome wheels, and fuzzy carpet, and paneling . They were my favorites My bud had one with red velour carpet, and a heart shaped hole to climb through to get back to the bed . Cragar mags, spinners, side pipes, chain link steering wheel, etc. Bow chicka wow wow .
The newer vans are the bomb as far as room, and being able to stand up , they just look weird ,
Super versatile , I moved the entire contents of my shop twice with a conversion van, and trailer, I used to haul my race car with my van, and I used them when I got started in the rental biz.
My wife and I did a couple of long trips, 3 weeks up the new england coast ,mostly camping, and van camping, and we did a month across the country, coast to coast . Great times
I also had a hippy van, and made some great memories in it, but logged a whole lot more miles on full sized Domestic vans
I always tore out all the seats except for the front 2, and even though it was still a conversion inside, it was left wide open to move and haul stuff, we just slept on the floor with air mattresses when we would travel .
I would still totally love to have a newer van , probably exactly like Legions . I think about it all the time, only I need a truck more

[cantdrv55]

https://youtu.be/mGvDwlzV0bY

[Rick Lee]

I had a utility van with a reverse beacon and no windows for my band after college. I really learned how to use mirrors with this one. Here we are, tailgating at an Aerosmith show around 1994. Oh, those were good times.

[Evans, Marv]

I've had a '64 VW camper, '67 VW van, '70 Chev. van, '71 VW camper, '89 Ford Club Wagon. Last February I bought a T-350 passenger van w/ the EcoBoost 3.5L. I took the seats out, except for the seats behind the driver & passenger seats. I can haul pretty much everything I could in my F350 (I wanted to be able to put 4x8 sheets of plywood in it) . We will be camping out in it some weekends on the desert this fall. I used to camp & put my kayak in my '89 Ford Club wagon, & it fit great. My wife loves to drive the new van & I have to tell her to drive her car. The EcoBoost puts out 310 hp. & 400 lb. ft of torque. That's amazing for 212 c.i., & it gets 17/18 mpg. I have to say the vans are my favorite. (The VW campers were the best for afternoon delights though.)

[Nostril Cheese]

You can do a lot with an old ambulance....

[911boost]

You can get the Ford one with AWD, used to be able to get true 4wd but I don’t think you can anymore. The Chevy you can get with a small Duramax motor but no AWD. Pretty sure the Mercedes and Sprinters come in 4wd with all kinds of power train options.

I love my Westy, but a full sized van would be cool.

[RWebb]

size matters

[Cajundaddy]

I had a Chevy longbed cargo van for 8 years that looked a lot like Rick Lee's. It was a great all purpose vehicle for an 18-25 yr old single guy when gas was $1.00/gal.

-I hauled motorcycles to the racetrack, rolled em out and dropped the bed down for a good night's sleep.
- I hauled the band gear to gigs
- I hauled the boat and friends to the river and slept in it while there.
- Went camping
- Wild date nights
- More than my share of cop interactions

I would do it again but wife has specific needs: Must sleep 4 and has a proper enclosed head and shower. I guess a more extensive rig is in the cards but for just me, a van would be great.

[Tishabet]

I have a 4wd (with front and rear lockers) 86 vw syncro westfalia and an 89 vw tristar doka (van with a truck bed) and daily drive both... Love them both and have done just about every job that you could do with these vehicles from panel replacement and paint to engine swaps. Have done a ton of climbing, fishing, hunting and more family adventures than I can count using the westfalia... I have an ultra-efficient refrigerator and a solar/house battery setup that lets me keep my beer cold indefinitely, and a propane heater (propex) that keeps it toasty inside even when it is freezing outside, it's the bee's knees. FWIW I swapped out the engine in the westy for a ford zetec for reliability/performance/parts availability at any FLAPS, I can cruise up any mountain pass I want.

If you want something modern I would look at the the ford transit or the sprinter, both are very popular for combo daily and adventures vehicle. Take a long hard look at the dimensions.of the sprinter though... They come in a variety of lengths and heights but all of them are large.

My rigs:

[KFC911]

^^^^ Nice!

[ckissick]

Originally Posted by Tishabet

I have a 4wd (with front and rear lockers) 86 vw syncro westfalia and an 89 vw tristar doka (van with a truck bed) and daily drive both... Love them both and have done just about every job that you could do with these vehicles from panel replacement and paint to engine swaps. Have done a ton of climbing, fishing, hunting and more family adventures than I can count using the westfalia... I have an ultra-efficient refrigerator and a solar/house battery setup that lets me keep my beer cold indefinitely, and a propane heater (propex) that keeps it toasty inside even when it is freezing outside, it's the bee's knees. FWIW I swapped out the engine in the westy for a ford zetec for reliability/performance/parts availability at any FLAPS, I can cruise up any mountain pass I want.

If you want something modern I would look at the the ford transit or the sprinter, both are very popular for combo daily and adventures vehicle. Take a long hard look at the dimensions.of the sprinter though... They come in a variety of lengths and heights but all of them are large.

My rigs:

Sounds like someone I know. (Me.)

[Tishabet]

Originally Posted by ckissick

Sounds like someone I know. (Me.)

A kindred spirit!

[vash]

Went and looked at a new ford van! Transit 150! Cargo van. Seats two. Damn near perfect. They only had the normally aspirated 3.5L but he says there ecoboost in the area he can poach.

It checks a lot of marks. Pull a tape and my kayak fits. Just barely. The nose will need to poke between front seats. My mountain bike! Perfect.

It’s perfect fir mountain bike trips. And kayak fishing trips. Sticker price was $35k. Not bad! I can sleep inside.

[vash]

KNAPVAN

[wswartzwel]

Crap. I just bought a Tacoma to be like Vash.... Now I gotta get a van too.

[vash]

Originally Posted by wswartzwel

Crap. I just bought a Tacoma to be like Vash.... Now I gotta get a van too.

Pics!

[wswartzwel]

From last weekends Camping trip. National Forest Islands.