Just an update on my little saga. I tried to sell the van locally and got surprisingly few bites. I brought it snowboarding and everyone drooled over the rig, asking me tons of questions... Some folks wrote down the number from the sign in the window but no one called.
I decided to give in and put money into the van. Just before taking the ad off Craig's List, I had an interested buyer contact me and wanted to come view the van. He no-showed and when I returned the call the next day cut me off with, "can I call you back." I took the van in to be repainted the next day. He called a week later, apologized, said he lost my number, but didn't seem interested once I told him he'd have to cover the cost of the paint job if he wanted to buy it.
Who knows how long it's been since this van shined like this:
I'm running a spreadsheet on all my costs so far. I tracked the cost of the initial pickup including travel expenses. I have done a pile of minor things from getting a spare tire to fixing the oil pressure sender. Current total investment:
$6,363.25
It's in the shop today getting the rear diff rebuilt and getting estimates on the slews of other repairs needed. This will bump me up another $1700 or so.
There's no end in sight. I'll probably break $10k before I'm ready to start on the inside.
Should be solid van when I'm finished. I wish it would have sold so I could just buy
the Big Gray Whale.
Anyway, I'll stop posting to this thread now. When I have any progress to show, I'll start a thread over in the home builds forum.