**** Not mine --- just passing this listing along ****
Intrigued by non-Sportsmobile Penthouse top (he lists it as a "contempo" top.)
Looks like a lot of beast for the buck!
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Ford E350 V10 4x4 Econoline Van "Competition Orange" like Sportsmobile - $17500 (Temecula)
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/cto/4691078099.html
It's unfortunately time to see the "Baja Bus" which has been a member of our family for 3 yrs and taken us to some of the most amazing and remote places in Baja California.
Where do I even start?
It's a 1997 Ford Econoline E350 with a rebuilt 6.8L V10 engine in Ford "Competition Orange" paint. In a word, mechanically it is BULLETPROOF. It's setup to sleep 5 people comfortably with a custom rack on top, General Grabber 17-ply tires, best available window tint that blocks 90% of heat, rock-solid transmission with brand new fluid and Hughes high-capacity ribbed-aluminum pan and Ford gasket, new oil, oil cooler, just-service this week with new plugs, coils, boots, radiator, new hoses and belts (tags still in place), tires rotated and balanced. Dual steering shocks up front and new, upgraded front shocks.
Top pops up almost 3' and I have (2) Optima AGM batteries isolated on frame rails with a 5000 watt clean inverter to power with 100% clean power. I spared no expense on the battery setup and you can tell.
I have always run 2 qts of Lucas Oil in with Mobil 1 full synthetic oil and full synthetic transmission fluid. Never towed anything or ever abused the engine. Just passed Calif. smog with flying colors and compression test showed 190 even across all cylinders.
4x4 is clean as a whistle and 100% functional. Dana 60 in front and 10.5 Sterling axle in rear with 3.73 gears which are super economical. Top on this van is Contempo top like Sportsmobile.
You can see a video of the 4 wheel drive in action here:
(not sure why he said "diesel" in title but you see it's my van)
The only things I did after buying the van is building the rear deck (all welding done by famous Mike's Precision Welding in Temecula) and added the police lights in the front. Also had Steel Nutz in Temecula beef up the top. No expense was spared and you can tell by looking at it. We never thought we'd have to sell this van and my son actually cried about it.
Sorry for the pics; they don't do her justice at all.
A couple of more videos from Baja: