I've heard them all!
Long story: back in 2017, my wife and I rented an RB converted van from Opt Overland named Magilla to try out the campervan with our two young girls (1 and 2yo at the time) and see whether we liked it. Opt Overland had purchased a number of Quigleys from a fleet that used purple vans, so it was purple (owner of the fleet's company is an LSU fan, I'm told).
We took a grand 10-day journey around my home state of Colorado, visiting places I've always wanted to go but never been despite living here my whole life. My girls had such a great time, and we all have such wonderful memories, we knew we had to buy a van. Dai at Opt just happened to have one EB left...so we bought it!
My 2yr old daughter couldn't pronounce "Purple Truck", so it came out "Puplguk". And it was so cute, we decided to keep the van purple and memorialize the name with custom plates. We're not the only purple van around--Magilla is still purple, and at least one other in FtC wasn't repainted. As far as I know, the others from the fleet were repainted though.
If you had told me 18 months ago that I'd be purchasing a 15-passenger van, let alone one that's purple, I would have asked what you're on... But to be honest, the color is quite endearing. People assume that anyone driving a purple van must be nice, and we've had lots of positive reactions and nice conversations (usually starting with Barney, Purple People Eater, Scoobymobile, etc.). Even if people laugh, I count that as a positive reaction. Oh, and it's super easy to find a lifted 4x4 pop-top purple EB van in even the largest parking lot!
On the topic of bias: while I was unloading the van on a recent trip to WI, a teenage-ish girl rode by on a bike and called out "I support your choice!" And of course, I just waved and gave her a thumbs-up, because I knew she was talking about the van color.
Edit: forgot that there's another upside to the purple color. Finally, a use for that purple eggplant emoji!
1997 Ford E350 EB 7.3L
Linear Mode
