SFAngus

Howdy Van Fans-

I'm creating this thread to document the progress/updates that I make on my Chevy Conversion Van. If you're interested in following along, read on!

I just picked up my first van, a 2005 Chevy Express 1500 with an Explorer Van Conversion. I traded in my dream truck, which was a 2021 Ram 3500 Dually. I hated to sell the truck, but I have a 4th child arriving soon, so I needed more seatbelts for the kids.

Here's a picture of the truck that I traded in:






When I first started shopping for vans, I made a trip to Classic Vans in Hayward CA. This is a dealership that has been around for along time, and sells all kinds of new and used vans, including Class B's, conversion vans, etc. It was cool to be able to walk around the lot and sit in 10 different vans over the course of an hour. I was disappointed in the quality of their inventory however. All of their vans, (aside from the brand new ones) were very well worn, and in rough shape. Even the Explorer vans with only 40-50k miles on them were falling apart inside, the leather seats were flaking and peeling, etc.

I went there to look at one van in particular, because they had an AWD 1500 Explorer. Unfortunately, it was in rough shape inside, and had considerable rust underneath. They also wanted about $50k for it.

I stumbled across a 2005 Explorer van that was for sale at Vacaville GMC. I looked it up online, and saw that it was a one-owner van from Marin County, (Where I live), and it looked exceptionally clean. Here are the original listing photos from the dealership:


































I drove out to the dealership to check it out, and it was in great shape. One owner, only 25k miles. It drove great, with the exception of a front-end shimmy at 65 mph. I told the dealer to fix it and I would be back, and they ended up re-balancing the tires. I came back the next day, and the vibration was gone. I traded in my truck to the dealer, and drove the van home.

While researching these vans, I noticed that there aren't a lot of youtube videos on them, aside from some dealer videos from some of the larger van dealers, like Dave Arbogast and White Bear Lake superstore.

So, I am planning on making some YouTube videos to document what I do to the van, so that hopefully it will help others who are interested in doing the same thing.

Here's a link to the introduction video of the van, including an inside and out walk-around/tour:


More to come soon!

MitchM

that van is a great deal but they are very hard to find in such good shape.


anyone interested in conversion vans should also google Roadtrek / 170 P / 190 P 210 P. thy're built on Chevy express chassis. v8 8 - cyl vortec engine. twin beds, galley w propane stove , toilet/shower, generator, propane / 12 v refrigerator, heat pump/ AC run off generator, fresh water system, 12/v / propane water heater .

a 210 w 60 K miles on it, in good shape, is for sale by my neighbor right now for about 52 K in W PA. .