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I'm a BMW technician, but that has nothing to do with my van (other than providing the necessary love it deserves lol)
We use Chubzilla primarily for when we want to take the dogs somewhere. 2 german shepherds tend to take up some room so we have a bench for each of them.
It's nice to have all the room that a fullsize has. Example: we were at Lowe's and decided we wanted to buy a sapling. No worries, throw it in the back, didn't lose any leaves on the ride home either.
I didn't know they put the IDI's in vans until I stumbled across one. Grew found of them after messing with the truck for a while. Found this one, drove it, and had to have it. Wife fell in love too after driving it herself a couple times.
Future plans including repairing all the rust and giving her the camper treatment
Our 85 is just for parts, cutting, ripping, and tearing
Who knew trim and misc items would be so hard to find
I'm a longtime IT guy, the van serves no business need. It's a 96 E-350 and it is my daily driver and the family cruiser. I have it because I have had Econolines off and on all my life and I love 'em, and it had been too long since I had my last one. I like to drive big vehicles and this one's like driving around in my living room. Bonus, the wife does NOT like driving big vehicles so I have the van all to myself. She drives a Durango, and in fact the van is my only vehicle. I am happy with that. I had a Ram but the van has a higher payload, and with a utility trailer behind it the van is more functional than the Ram could ever hope to be (with the sole exception being the Ram was a 4wd), so I got rid of it.
The van actually made me money recently. My job requires that I travel somewhat frequently. Last trip was to Kansas City, a 200 mile jog across the state. Since it was relatively close, work let me use it rather than having to fly, so with the mileage per diem vs. what it cost to drive, I put a few extra bucks in my pocket after that trip. Thanks Bubba!
With a bigger family (5+ a dog) 95% of the vacations/trips we take are road trips...too expensive to fly. The '88 E250 gives us plenty of room for everyone to move around and stretch out. The seats are comfy. Also, with it being an IDI, it does well enough towing for me. I use it to trailer my car to the track and then camp out in it. Get to have a semi-real bed and better weather protection that a tent.
On top of all that the price was good and a lot lower than comparable equipped crew cab truck.
I adopted my dad's 97 E250 cargo van when he retired and bought a 6.0 PSD Super Duty. He bought this van new and it has about 200K miles on it. 5.4. Bedliner on the floor. RV seats and carpet added up front with a canvas divider.
We've always had vans around since dad's business used them. Very handy. Had a 93 E250 with the 351 and various Chevy's and GMC before that.
I primarily use it for hauling ATCs to the sand dunes and re-living my teen years.
I can get 3 ATCs in it and all my camping gear. Everything stays dry and secure on the trip and I have a dry place to sleep when I get there. Not very warm though...
It's also my "truck" for any other work since I don't have another hauler.
It sits a lot since I drive a POS Civic every day to save gas.
Pic of 3 ATCs in the van. It's not an extended van. I bet I could get 4 in a long one.
Interesting. I would consider a Durango a big vehicle. But maybe that is because my daily driver is a Ford Aspire.
Well, inside space is important for me too, and the Durango has too much of a 'cockpit' feel. The van's nice and roomy, as we all know, save for a bit of intrusion from the doghouse. Nonetheless, I dig the open feeling of the large cab around me. The Durango is too closed in. By the way I drove a Festiva for a long time many years ago, so I know what you mean there!
I've been driving vans since the mid 60's.
I love them.
Won't put bark dust, gravel etc. in the van, so I have an old F150 for the moving and hauling.
My van is an '02 E-350 Club Wagon 15 passenger.
I removed the rear 4 pass. seat and built a platform that is similar to a pallet, Small tool etc. under and other stuff on top.
I also removed the front 3 pass. seat, for more storage area.
That still leaves me room for 7 passengers.
But I still want an F250 of this century, to replace my '83 F150.
Direct injection is more efficient, as it can inject the fuel directly into the cylinder head, rather than going through tubes, or ports and losing the velocity and shape of the droplets. I think that's it.
I've had big vans continuously since 1986 (and an F100 pickup before that which I bought new in 1978). We are bicyclists and musicians and carry stuff inside the van.
The vans were great when my son was in Cub and Boy Scouts (I went on most campouts with a load of boys and gear) and when we were his support crew when he was racing bicycles. Son is now on his own, and my wife and I have the van as a 4th vehicle aka "land yacht" for when we want to use it.
We can carry people, queen size mattresses, big furniture, etc in the van, so it's nice to have. Gotta pickup a big snowblower next week and it'll go in the van without a second thought.
My '02 E150 will probably be my last big van (will probably go for a minivan next time around), but its value to me at this point is far more than I could get selling it, so it stays for now. Runs great and I'd drive it to California tomorrow if I needed to. (Might be a great time for a big road trip in it given the cheap gas...)
1993 E150 disability retired me. Wheelchair conversion van bought 5 months ago
Same here, wheelchair user for almost 15 years. Bought a 93 E-150 with lift and hand controls about a year after my injury and still driving it. Its been a really great van.
01-15-2015, 09:16 AM
