Is Interest in Your Van Increasing?

[ctb]

Hey Beasty!Living in Des Moines, Ia, grew up in Peoria, Il...Love the midwest, grown to hate the winters around here (90 miles north of Peoria [lattitude] so the winters here are way more icy and cold that P-town) or the hassle to get anywhere by plane, train or SMB...AK is our wish living state...except for the cold dark winters and the mosquito bate you become! So, SnaDiego?...Man I wouldn't know what to do with all that PERFECT weather! Sis lives in Redding and is always on us about moving to Cali...LOL...someday! A friend of ours husband has been driving trucks/semis around the Quad Cities for many years, maybe for Eagle Grocery stores then some others...lives in Viola, IL, Terry (just in case) thanks of the shout out! Maybe see you on the road!

[SMB123]

Originally Posted by Beasty Boy

You got issues don'tcha??

Why's that?

[Slicks]

Originally Posted by ctb

Hey Beasty!Living in Des Moines, Ia, grew up in Peoria, Il...Love the midwest, grown to hate the winters around here (90 miles north of Peoria [lattitude] so the winters here are way more icy and cold that P-town) or the hassle to get anywhere by plane, train or SMB...AK is our wish living state...except for the cold dark winters and the mosquito bate you become! So, SnaDiego?...Man I wouldn't know what to do with all that PERFECT weather! Sis lives in Redding and is always on us about moving to Cali...LOL...someday! A friend of ours husband has been driving trucks/semis around the Quad Cities for many years, maybe for Eagle Grocery stores then some others...lives in Viola, IL, Terry (just in case) thanks of the shout out! Maybe see you on the road!

Pretty funny, grew up and lived in the Peoria area (Chillicothe) then my wife and I travelled all over the US for my work. Stayed in California for quite a while and have now been in Alaska for 2 years. It does get cold in the winter, but we like it a lot for now.

[BVerhulst]

I wanted a livable van when I was attending university, but I didn't have the ways and means to make it a reality. By using my limited funds combined with an already-paid-for pickup truck, I started living in a 18' trailer as soon as I graduated to live the "dirtbag dream", moving my living quarters between employment opportunities without ever having to actually change my living space and always having my dog with me. Strange, perhaps, but it was a permanent road-trip between jobs, long-term stays at coveted climbing destinations, and parked in driveways of friends back when 'pound' was a non-numeric feature of a telephone keypad. Remember the one's with cords? Good times. Anyhow, it was NOT cool to live in a trailer in the early 2000's. Trust me, I know. But I was no semi-permanent vacation in my 20's and the desert southwest was my squatting grounds. I had the great fortune to spend my winters in Indian Creek at a time when a guy couldn't find partners because desert climbing was scary to the masses.
Well, the trailer eventually got sold for a house, and adventures were had in the bed of a pickup truck (that sounds kinda kinky). Still wanting a van, but having a good time along the way (yeah, definitely...). Enduring the struggles of winter ski trips, ice climbing wetness, alpine starts, all under a leaky, cold, cramped truck topper, I longed for heat and a place to stand up while living on the road.
Finally, the stars aligned, I got a van close enough to exactly what I wanted for a price I could afford. I realized when I bought it, having traveled cross-country to see it, that I wasn't going to blend in at the Camp 4 parking lot anymore... which also isn't a priority to me these days, so that point becomes moot. Shortly after, van travel got popular.
Now, when I travel with my van, or just drive it in town, there's confounded amounts of innocent curiosity, and there's some more deliberate nosiness. To be fair, I live in a tourist town; if I posted a picture of every modified van I see daily up to this forum... I digress. Never does anyone intend to be rude, but I very much dislike people looking inside. It's my home. It's my living space when I'm traveling, and I don't want people to see the things I have in there (go ahead, use your wildest imagination). What more is there to say than I like privacy and anonymity (although you wouldn't know it because I don't hide my name but that's another premise).
I'm friendly in a minding-my-own-business way but I'm usually busy and trying to buy gas or tend to my daughter or change my clothes in my van because I can or check my oil because it a Powerstroke and I'm not interested in giving tours although I am deliberately stand-off-ish because I'm from a place where people steal your stuff and I rarely trust strangers who rush up to me, so there's that. Departing, they ask if I instagram but I never have any candy for sale.

[LindaDV]

We had a Eurovan camper for 17 years so we are used to getting lots of curious questions about our vans. A '69 VW camper started our van adventures. I had to put a "nonhippie van" sticker on the Eurovan to keep kids from hanging out of car windows to yell "Woohoo" when it was the daily driver. The camper kept it's value so well that we sold it last year at nearly the same price we paid for it new.

The Sprinter low roof RB with a Sportsmobile conversion and PH attracts lots of attention. Gas stations, campgrounds, the driveway, friends, neighbors anywhere and everywhere. My husband gives them a full tour with all the details of the vehicle and conversion. We've met some very nice people and don't mind the attention.

[Jdkh2001]

Hey fellow SMB, So I just got my first Sportsmobile and was wondering if anyone knows of a Kelly Blue Book type service for SMB. I realize what someone is willing to pay is the real value indicator, I would however like some way to independently estimate value based on condition and option upgrades etc..like we are able to do with cars. If any one is an expert or has an idea how to go about this I would really appreciate it.

[REF]

Originally Posted by Jdkh2001

Hey fellow SMB, So I just got my first Sportsmobile and was wondering if anyone knows of a Kelly Blue Book type service for SMB. I realize what someone is willing to pay is the real value indicator, I would however like some way to independently estimate value based on condition and option upgrades etc..like we are able to do with cars. If any one is an expert or has an idea how to go about this I would really appreciate it.

Let’s try to keep threads on topic and avoid posting the same inquiries on multiple threads, unless it’s relative, it just confuses things, looks like you’ve already started another for replies to this.......

Estimating value of a SMB conversion
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sha...4&share_type=t

[Poptopper]

HAHAHA Mike you are too funny and totally on point!

Originally Posted by MountainBikeRoamer

Well....it seems that there's at least two perspectives on this.
There's lame reasons to leave a pursuit....and there's legit (or at least understandable) reasons to leave a pursuit.

To wit:

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EXAMPLE SCENARIO A:
Hipster McBeardywitz has been dedicatedly down with The Flabberwockys for the last 4 years. (His favorite bearded indy band who plays in the Pearl District.) Owned all their EP's. Wore their shirts. Got himself more than a few dates with the ladies by claiming to be their number one fan.

THEN --
The Flabberwockys suddenly blow up. A random YouTube video of them (feeding pigeons while playing sitars and wearing Pope hats) goes viral. Suddenly everyone talks about the Flabberwockys. Social media lights up. Talk of a big record deal with Sub Pop comes true. Flabberwockys are on the radio and on Late Night TV shows.

SO, AS A RESULT:
Hipster McBeardywitz abruptly dumps all his Flabberwockys allegiance. Throws away all his Flabberwockys shirts, wipes their songs off all his media devices, stops talking about them, DONE....and then goes off in search of the next underground band that's an "undiscovered bit of awesome" so that he can maintain his identity as an edgy "ahead of the curve" cognoscenti of cool.

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EXAMPLE SCENARIO B:
Brandon McChill just plain loves to go out for rows on the lake in his grandfather's old handmade rowboat. He could certainly afford a new kayak or canoe....or jet-ski.....but for some reason he's immensely satisfied with the experience of rowing the old boat across the lake each day and listening to the sound of the water against the old boards.

Nobody ever paid him much mind as he rowed his old row-boat back and forth for years.....they were all far too interested in their motorboats/jet-ski's/etc (and in fact they all thought he looked quite silly in his "little dinghy" as he contentedly paddled along.....many jokes were made at his expense over the years, but of course he never heard any of them, as he was happily "in the zone".....rowing away and watching the lakeshore go by, slowly and peacefully.)

THEN....THE BIG THING HAPPENED:
Kanye West declared that he was suddenly a fan of old rowboats, and how nothing connected a man to his source like the simple act of rowing. People were puzzled at first. But then social media lit up with all sorts of live-streams of Kanye happily rowing across lakes, a look of smug calm on his face. Someone invented the hashtag #rowkanyerow and that led to #rowboatlife and then BOOM --- Outside magazine and XXL Magazine did a collaborative piece on the new "Rowboat movement".....and suddenly motorboats weren't cool....jet-ski's weren't cool....and the lakes were suddently FULL of social media selfie-posting rowboaters.

Poor Brandon McChill found that he could suddenly not go out for his relaxing rows very easily anymore --- the lakes were full of rowboaters who weren't even looking where they were going! All of them live-streaming/posting to instagram, hoping they were being seen/getting noticed. Boating accidents started happening almost three or four an hour. Brandon caught some lowlifes in the act of stealing his rowboat at least three or four times, and then eventually one of them succeeded. (It was then found a day later at the other end of the lake, a bunch of PBR cans strewn throughout it.)

And then there was the constant "Hey Bro, "hashtag row-row yo!!!" that he found being yelled his way constantly as he tried to row across the lake. The solace and relaxation he had once loved in the simple act of rowing was pretty well vaporized. Every time he took his boat out to go row, he was besieged by suddenly-enthused people who wanted to know "is that boat all original" or "is that a reclaimed barnwood rowboat?" or "did you build that in the style of Kanye's rowboat?"....it went on.....

At long last, he looked at the lake one day (by now full stem-to-stern with what looked like a demolition derby of colliding rowboats and selfie sticks) and he decided, at long last.....that maybe he wasn't going to go rowing today.

As he sat there contemplating this sad sudden realization that perhaps he was done with rowing......and his mind began to wrestle with the question of how he would now regularly go find refuge from the daily grind..... his eyes fell upon his grandfather's old pogo stick.

"Hmmmmm.........!" he said to himself.

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Just my humble take on this....
....but I would say that in Example B.....the reasons for backing away from a pursuit are both at least honorable (to oneself) and understandable.

[86Scotty]

Mike, you should write books......on vans. I'm imagining sort of a 'Zen and the art of van maintenance' or something, or perhaps a new Jack Kerouac adventure, instead of 'On the Road' it could be 'On #Vanlife'. I want royalties. Oh wait. I've got it. A book on 6.0 Fords called 'On the Side of the Road'.

[aluminess]

Originally Posted by shadetreevanman

Coming from a VW Vanagon we always got comments wherever we went. It sometimes surprises me when our mildly lifted Ford E350 gets comments at gas stations and campgrounds.

This past week we traveled along the Northern California Coast with our friends in the red van. We couldn't stop anywhere without multiple people commenting as they stared at the red van. People were taking pictures and one guy almost ran into my van while staring at Big Red. One lady approached us at dinner in a Crescent City Brewery, asking if we were the people with the red van outside? She had seen us the day earlier 60 miles away in Eureka parked at another Brewery and had to let us know how much she liked it. I'm like, "did ya notice the white van?" "No, sorry, but that red one...?"

....and that rear bumper!!