Home On the Road
The story of getting on the road in the right vehicle.

Found One

    I finally found a 1980 3/4 ton Ford Econoline extended body van for sale up in Bangor. The ad said it had been used as a camper in the past, had a 300 CID six cylinder engine, a roof vent and captain's swivel chairs, and was insulated, carpeted, and paneled. It also came with a separate two-piece fiberglass high top, which the owner had found in a junkyard, but which had yet to be installed.
    I arranged to meet the owner, who was using it for his contracting business, hauling tools and lumber, and drove up to Bangor one afternoon to see if it was in halfway decent shape.
    Though the upper body had good paint, the body needed work down on the rocker panels where it had been poorly repaired. The big sixteen and half inch tires were bias-ply, not radial, which wanted to steer for you at any speed over 45mph, and it had big conversion van windows where I did not want windows. There were a few other little things going on that would need attention, too.The interior was definitely out of the past. Old and flaky shag carpeting, cheap wood paneling installed sideways, a broken roof vent, and captain's swivel chairs which had seen better days with their foam all broken down. But it was a big-assed, heavy-duty van with a great motor, a hell of a lot of room, and came with the separate high top. I wasn't finding much else out there. I could make something out of this, I thought. Though he wanted a fair bit more for it all, I offered him five-hundred dollars. He hesitated, then accepted and we wrote up an agreement of sale. I made plans to go pick it up the following Thursday.

    I got home that night and found another van in Uncle Henry's, almost identical to the one I'd just bought but two years newer, as far to the south as this one had been to the north.


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