Need something for a band/gear hauler. We borrowed an E150 for a show a couple weekends ago, and it was perfect, aside from the predictably horrible fuel economy. Anything else I should be looking at? Needs to be reliable and comfy, as we'll be touring for a couple weeks at a time in it.
Like so?
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/3972228974.html
Or:
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/cto/3995700311.html
Or maybe this + trailer?:
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/cto/3911170733.html
http://m.grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/ford-van-pickup-conversion-1988-73-deisal-c6-at-13/68962/page1/
Cmon. Someone here needs to buy it.
Any reason its Fords only? IIRC up to a certain point they still had the Twin I-beam abomination front end. Then again I'm partial to Chevys anyway.
For ultimate style points do this:
Try and find a Club Wagon over a perversion van. It will hold up better than a conversion. There are some nice conversions...typically you can tell them because they use Flexsteel seats...most are sub-par. The OE Club Wagon will give you OE quality...
I've had a couple and they are the original flexible flyer. When you go over rough roads look at your back doors, you'll see daylight.
If the road is rough enough the doors will pop open.
I've grown to like Fords, but I'm not a fan of their vans.
There's a Ford van for sale here locally that I want in a bad way. 1982 long wheelbase swiveling chairs 302 4 speed 
$1900 obo. If i had $1500 cash it would be in my driveway.
All the E series vans from the 70s on have that twin I-beam suspension. Even some of the 2011 models we have at work have it. If you have a load on it a lot, like we do (back full of tools) your camber will go way positive and will eat front tires.
Other than that, great, great vans. There's a reason you see so many of them.
Junkyard_Dog wrote: Any reason its Fords only? IIRC up to a certain point they still had the Twin I-beam abomination front end. Then again I'm partial to Chevys anyway. For ultimate style points do this:
Not at all! I guess title should've read: Learn me: Band Van. The Ford we borrowed was nice. I have no preference. Big, reliable, good value, comfy, in that order.
i had a 4.3 chevy short wheelbase that was dead nuts reliable, and I think any domestic van will be. if you are talking band duty of hauling people, gear + a trailer possibly, maybe look into something a little more than a 1/2 ton?
a 15 passenger would give you a E36 M3load of room and moar load carrying capacity but I am not sure if they actually cost more or what.
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/another-van-thread-specifically-mid-late-90s-fords/25551/page1/
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/cargo-vans-ford-vs-chevy/59693/page1/
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/conversion-vans-gm-vs-ford-vs-dodge/21114/page1/
There's a ton more just type in whatever in the search spot to the left.
DO A SEARCH, N000000B! Thanks though. Those were helpul.
Raised roof. Don't underestimate how nice that additional 12+" of headroom is when loading and unloading stuff. BTDT.
Cargo van: Screams, "Expensive stuff inside!!! Break into me!!!" Conversion van: damn near effing invisible. It's berking amazing.
Ian F wrote: Cargo van: Screams, "Expensive stuff inside!!! Break into me!!!" Conversion van: damn near effing invisible. It's berking amazing.
Unless its this. Please PLEASE tell me your band name is "Free Candy"!
Ian F wrote: Raised roof. Don't underestimate how nice that additional 12+" of headroom is when loading and unloading stuff. BTDT. Cargo van: Screams, "Expensive stuff inside!!! Break into me!!!" Conversion van: damn near effing invisible. It's berking amazing.
Very good points. Already sold on the conversion thang. Couldn't care less about fading paint and E36 M3ty ground fx.
And thanks so much for making me waste hours finding awesome van pictures like this one from the 70s:
...oh wait, my bad. Tail lights say its pretty recent
DO WANT!
Mine were all E350 Club Wagons. I preferred the one tons, even empty, to the 1/2 ton. Every half ton I drove was a big scary marshmallow. The 1 ton would actually handle. How many people in the band? Mine with the seats arranged in 2+2 would hold a E36 M3 ton of stuff back there, while four people could be comfy and have their own space.
carguy123 wrote: I've had a couple and they are the original flexible flyer. When you go over rough roads look at your back doors, you'll see daylight. If the road is rough enough the doors will pop open. I've grown to like Fords, but I'm not a fan of their vans.
I've put over a million miles on Ford vans from a 1978 to a 2005 and never driven one that flexed. Even bouncing through job sites, jumping curbs and towing 8000 pound trailers didn't cause any flex, much less enough to make a door pop open.
The I-beam suspension is definitely archaic, but it does work and is bullet proof. As long as it's aligned with the load it usually carries, front tire wear isn't an issue unless you want to run all terrain tires. I just replaced the tires on my E250. They finally wore out at 93K miles. Buy decent tires and rotate them every 10K-15K.
Poop, I'd buy the best you can afford. Ford or Chevy both make pretty good vans. If you go with a Ford, I'd look for something newer than a 1997. The ergonomics improved a good bit them. I would also look for a 4.2 V6. I get 17-18 mpg loaded to the gills and better than 20mpg empty. It won't be a powerhouse, but it will be reliable and more fuel efficient than the Triton V8s. My '02 just turned 350K
Me, I buy Fords and only Fords.
...and nothing on the outside of the van to even hint at the contents. Nothing to draw attention to the van AT ALL (sorry - no 70's Star Wars wannabes). This was my motto when I was racing mtn bikes and one of my bikes was easily worth double the value of the van. This is where a conversion van is nice: remove the rear bench and you have plenty of room for gear and still 4 comfy chairs for people to sit in. Dark tinted windows and shades pulled down keep the contents out of sight and out of mind so it just looks like one of a million conversion vans for hauling people.
Like Toyman, I never experienced flex in my 90 E-150 even with the steel roof replaced with fiberglass and areas of the rear floor rusting away.
poopshovel wrote: DO A SEARCH, N000000B! Thanks though. Those were helpul.
Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound that way!!!
Would a van based RV work in a situation like this? Lots of room, cheap to buy, insurance is usually real cheap, designed to live in, etc.
logdog wrote: Would a van based RV work in a situation like this? Lots of room, cheap to buy, insurance is usually real cheap, designed to live in, etc.
If you go this route, you could look for a used "short bus" school-bus. Our autocross club uses one for timing/support vehicle.
I have a 1-ton '98 Chevy and absolutely love it. It gets 17-mpg tops empty, or 10-mpg towing the Miata on an open trailer. Very comfortable to drive too.
Around here work vans bring pretty good money - must be all the perverts. 
I was lucky and a got a good deal on my van for 2-reasons: It wasn't equipped with A/C, and the PO(who ran a painting company) painted the whole interior of the van before selling it to "clean it up", so you damn near got high from the fumes. Of course, they finally subsided...or I just built up a tolerance.
Both of mine flexed so much we tried to get them declared lemons.
I swapped the last one out for a Safari van with the raised roof and loved it, well except for the fact that we couldn't keep key cylinders in the van. We went through 6 or 8 before we downsized.
I used to build custom vans in the 70's.
FSP_ZX2 wrote:logdog wrote: Would a van based RV work in a situation like this? Lots of room, cheap to buy, insurance is usually real cheap, designed to live in, etc.If you go this route, you could look for a used "short bus" school-bus. Our autocross club uses one for timing/support vehicle.
Funny. I was thinking on the way home, "I haven't done a 'church' or 'school' search on CL in a while." partly because I forgot. Partly because the judge suggested I shouldn't.
logdog wrote: Would a van based RV work in a situation like this? Lots of room, cheap to buy, insurance is usually real cheap, designed to live in, etc.
Lot's of room? Where? Class B RV's have damn near zero storage space. Designed to carry 2 people (sometimes 3) with minimal personal items. Definitely not enough for a band's worth of gear and people.
I looked into these a lot back when I was racing. Most had no place to put my bikes. I still want one, but have resigned myself to a custom build.
An old shorty school bus would have potential, but would be even less fuel efficient and would probably require some investment in time/money to build up. Granted, with some searching, it's not hard to find ones already converted being sold by someone who can't take the single-digit MPG anymore.
carguy123: I don't know what you were doing with your vans or where you were driving them, but that's the first I've ever heard of anyone complaining about a van being flexy. Hell, when I camped with mine, I used to park it on some really uneven and rocky spots (so as not to take up a potential tent spot) and never had trouble opening or closing the doors. And again - that was with a raised roof conversion on a 150 chassis, so if any van would be flexible, it'd be one of those.
I've worked with and on a great number of vans and I've never had a flexy van except for Fords. The old Dodges were my favorites and they were the tightest.
I had 2 different ones and had the same problem. The first one we worked with Ford to try to get it declared a lemon and while Ford said it wasn't they did make us a real deal on a newer one and it had the same problem.
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