While on CL this afternoon, I found a '76 Ford Econoline window van for sale for $750. I e-mailed the seller (no phone number in ad) and actually got a reply. For those who have read some of my posts, folks who do NOT reply to messages about their "junk" selling on CL is one of my pet peeves. Turns out that said van is 6 cylinder powered with "3 on the tree", to quote the seller and has a driver's seat and the 1 passenger seat.
In one of the photos, I see a "vintage" Florida plate on the rear. By vintage, I mean a color/design that Florida hasn't used recently.
Didn't ask seller too much about the van (didn't want to scare him/her? off) so don't even know if it runs...with the old/expired license plate, I suspect it hasn't been on the road in awhile.
Can anyone chime in here with knowledge about these vans? Also, advice about starting a car that has been sitting awhile to get it driveable (assuming it isn't).
I had a 76 ford Quadravan. When I bought it was filled with rat poop. It made my wife very unhappy. I had a few minor things done to it (such as having the body shop take out one of the homemade windows and putting sheet metal back in. Unfortunately I ran out of money and I just left it at the mechanics shop...it was rust free basically but it needed a ton of work... Mine had a 460 in it but I blew it up.
I also had a parts van, a 6 cylinder with a four speed trans. It was neat, I ended up selling the engine to an old school hot rodder. The engine and trans were great, had a lot of potential.
On a related note it came with a stash of hidden weed....
Parts van made my neighbors very unhappy....
The great thing about parts vans, they become a dumpster for the last week of their lives.
Shawn
The pix on CL of this van show a white van with kind of rough looking paint...like it was never waxed in it's life, and a few areas of "surface rust". Even the bumpers and wheel covers are rusty. No pix of the interior.
I went to a used bookstore today and found a Chiltons manual and a factory pre-sale/vehicle prep manual. The 6 cylinder was rated at 120 horsepower (under the old system) but had 229 lbs/ft of torque. GVWR is 5200 lbs, but I couldn't find a guessimate of gross vehicle weight: unloaded weight.
