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Old 01-16-2021, 12:35 AM   #1
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2000 Ford E350 Knighthill Clydesdale 4x4 Camper Van like smb sportsmobile

2000 Ford E350 Knighthill Clydesdale 4x4 Camper Van like smb sportsmobile On Ebay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2000-Ford-E350-Knighthill-Clydesdale-4x4-Camper-Van-like-smb-sportsmobile/303849280154?


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Old 01-16-2021, 04:13 PM   #2
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Very cool. Rare make, at least in the US anyway. I have a 17 foot '01 Travelhome van built by Knighthill. It's a very well built van - Knighthill does (did?) good work.
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Old 01-16-2021, 10:27 PM   #3
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I checked the Clydesdale site. They don't do TTB 4x4 conversions anymore; only straight axle coil or leaf. So that makes it even more rare. I wonder how close their approach was to Agile's?
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Old 01-18-2021, 08:05 AM   #4
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Something like this is exactly what I keep telling myself I want. Classic van style, shorter, already has 4x4, offroad capable, ready to hit the road with little to no modification. Under $50K with room for any needed initial expenses.

But every 15-25 year old van I've test driven reveals its age from behind the wheel, or upon closer in-person examination, than is apparent from photos. I recently flew to SLC for one that seemed like "the one", but, alsa, in person, she was a bit rougher than the photos had led me to believe, and also failed the mechanical check-out.

I think if I wasn't just a retiring white-collar guy with no mechanical aptitude and could some DIT mechanical and build chops, this would be perfect. But now I'm starting to lean away and thinking about a new(er) van that I pay someone to build for me, exactly how I want.
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Old 01-18-2021, 08:18 AM   #5
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Something like this is exactly what I keep telling myself I want. Classic van style, shorter, already has 4x4, offroad capable, ready to hit the road with little to no modification. Under $50K with room for any needed initial expenses.

But every 15-25 year old van I've test driven reveals its age from behind the wheel, or upon closer in-person examination, than is apparent from photos. I recently flew to SLC for one that seemed like "the one", but, alsa, in person, she was a bit rougher than the photos had led me to believe, and also failed the mechanical check-out.

I think if I wasn't just a retiring white-collar guy with no mechanical aptitude and could some DIT mechanical and build chops, this would be perfect. But now I'm starting to lean away and thinking about a new(er) van that I pay someone to build for me, exactly how I want.
It took me 6 months of looking through "junk" before I found a good used one. The guy I bought mine from told me he looked for a full year. Apparently, that is not uncommon.

There certainly is no free lunch. The options are either spend a lot of money for new, or spend a lot of time for used, and be willing (and able) to roll up your sleeves and turn a few wrenches as well. I like doing the latter because that way I also get to know the vehicle inside and out, which is advantageous.

The replacement cost of my van is about 6 times what I paid for it, so the answer for me was simple.
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Old 01-18-2021, 08:46 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by N147JK View Post
It took me 6 months of looking through "junk" before I found a good used one. The guy I bought mine from told me he looked for a full year. Apparently, that is not uncommon.

There certainly is no free lunch. The options are either spend a lot of money for new, or spend a lot of time for used, and be willing (and able) to roll up your sleeves and turn a few wrenches as well. I like doing the latter because that way I also get to know the vehicle inside and out, which is advantageous.

The replacement cost of my van is about 6 times what I paid for it, so the answer for me was simple.
Thanks for putting it so succinctly! "... spend a lot of money for new, or spend a lot of time for used". I already know all that but hearing it rephrased by someone else is very helpful. It reflects what I'm coming to understand.

My use case is "just retired" and I want to hit the road full time 1-3 years and "see the country" while living in/out of the van. I'm not so hard core that there won't be some Hilton nights slipped in, but I also love Urban exploring (post-CV19) so want something easy to get around inside a city as well as USFS/BLM expanses.

I started with my Jeep Rubicon + Ursa Minor popup roof tent, and "Overland" setup, but after roughly 40 nights and 1,000s of miles in that form factor, it's just a bit too minimalist, even for a minimalist like me.

The next logical step up with rational compromises for more creature comforts without totally giving away offroad capability seems to be a 4x4 van. Maybe I should in fact inquire about this one.
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Old 01-18-2021, 09:16 AM   #7
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I started with my Jeep Rubicon + Ursa Minor popup roof tent, and "Overland" setup, but after roughly 40 nights and 1,000s of miles in that form factor, it's just a bit too minimalist, even for a minimalist like me.

The next logical step up with rational compromises for more creature comforts without totally giving away offroad capability seems to be a 4x4 van. Maybe I should in fact inquire about this one.
I don't care for tent camping and the canvas (penthouse) design felt too much like a tent to me. A short, high-top van was what sounded perfect. One with a simple, open interior and simple, easy to work on systems. Best of all worlds.

Here is another example that was around for sale a long time ago. These are really hard to find.

https://www.rvtradesok.com/inventory...smobile-rb-12/
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Old 01-20-2021, 11:44 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by bravelion View Post
I started with my Jeep Rubicon + Ursa Minor popup roof tent, and "Overland" setup, but after roughly 40 nights and 1,000s of miles in that form factor, it's just a bit too minimalist, even for a minimalist like me.
I went the other way and moved from an SMB to my JKUR + Ursa Minor. My wife an I are approaching 150 nights in it over the past 2 1/2 years.

Finally thinking about going back to a van but we love the pop top SMB's they're just so hard to find without 4x4 which we don't want.
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Old 01-20-2021, 01:01 PM   #9
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There is middle ground to locating a Van - Consider converting a Roadtrek to 4x4. Originally equipped 4x4 Roadtreks are very hard to come by, but the rest are plentiful...and many with very low mileage. The good part is the interior is pretty much already in place.

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