...but I'm not risk adverse at all. I'm interested in hearing how it works out, so emailed the winning bidder the following message:

Congrats on winning the SMB auction. I've owned two salvaged pick-up trucks and put 112k and 53k (and counting) miles respectively on them with zero problems. The SMB seems like a great value to me.

Are you familiar with the sportsmobileforum.com site? It's a great source of information. There's a topic regarding your van, and many members would be interested in hearing how it works out for you. http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/viewto ... highlight=

Good luck…

Sean

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Resurrected 2002 E-350 EB Quigley 4WD SMB
2003 Kawasaki KLR 650

Compared to a used price for a similar SMB with Quigley 4x I think that was a great deal. Even if the winner has to put money into down the road I'd say they're still ahead of the game.

And I don't know about the salvaged title, one of the Indianapolis Jeep dealerships tried to sell us a totally flood damaged Cherokee (when the high water stain is still visible and the seats are cold and damp...). It had a clean Indiana title. They "brought it in from Ohio" and wouldn't produce the Ohio title. I wasn't going to buy it anyway so I gave up digging around, but it makes me wonder how hard it really is to clear a title.

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it was good to be back

Hi all,
My wife and I bought this van. Inspected and drove before bidding and the sellers story checked out. I'm not going to lie though, it was a total nightmare getting it registered in NYS. Finally two months ago we got it on the road and 8k miles later have had no surprises. Absolutely love love love the van. Last month we left on the mother of all roadtrips.. from NY to Maine then all the way down the east coast to florida keys, up to new orleans, texas (visited smb in austin), nm, colorado, to where we sit right now at the canyonlands campground in moab. we are continuing toward southern ca and then up the west coast from there into canada. Have yet to see another smb on the road or trail, but hope to run into some of you soon.

Thanks for checking in. I looked at that van pretty seriously, but just couldn't get it financed. What's it get for mileage?

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Dreaming since 2000

we are averaging about 15 mpg, as low as 13 in cities or offroad and as high as 18 on highway at around 65 mph.