Totaled 1998 7.3 Quigley

[Jhisk]

Hi everybody I’m new to the forum, so if there’s a thread on this already I apologize for starting new one. I have a 1998 4x4 sportsmobile with a powerstroke. Last winter I hit black ice, and we ended up on our side😩. We put the integrity of the pop top to the ultimate test and 2 adults and 5 kids with only minor bumps and bruises 🙌. However, I’m now trying to decide what to do with the rig.

Fix it?….to do it right I imagine it will be $20k+.

Find a clean van and transfer everything? Hard because these are so rare and quickly being considered classics. This one was never anything but sportsmobile, drop shipped with 3 miles on it. So keeping it all together weighs on me.

Sell it as is? Any ideas of what I should as for it?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated! Will attach photos.

Thanks,
Josh

[Grampswrx]

It would help if you could post some pics of the damage to better assess what we are looking at. Some people have repaired heavily damaged stuff.

[clicker44]

Hi Josh. Bummer to hear about your van but glad to hear everyone is OK. You are not alone! Two winters ago my wife and I hit black ice near Mammoth, CA and slid across 4 total lanes (2 of them oncoming traffic) spinning 180 degrees in the process before rolling onto our side after hitting the snowbank. Scary for sure but we both walked away with no injuries. Van was totaled by the insurance company.

1. Dumb question considering the timeframe but....Do / did you have insurance? If so was it "stated value" insurance? If not its a hard lesson learned for you...but next time around make sure you get stated value insurance. There is a guy a ton of people have used on this forum with Safeco Insurance. I think his name is Christopher Gainok.

2. I am assuming the insurance window is closed being that it was last year and you still have the van. Depending on what is damaged and what your skill level is I think would determine price to fix. If you were going to pay somebody to do it in this economy it could be brutal. Check out this thread. This guy DIY'd it and made money when he sold -- https://www.sportsmobileforum.com/fo...i-p-23386.html

3. Your parts (drivetrain etc...) are worth money for sure. Again depending on your skill to remove etc..will dictate if its worth it. Looks like you are in Oregon? There is a legendary guy on this forum named MG that runs a shop called MG Metal Works somewhere near Portland. He would be the ultimate resource if you could get his input. MG Metalworks

4. There are tons of crafty very highly skilled people on this forum, or the greater internet, that I am sure would love to buy your van as it sits.

---

YMMV just my $0.02 after going through all of this myself. I almost bought my old van back from CoPart and went down the road you are but my wife gave me the reality check that I have nowhere near the skill set to take on a project like this lol. Ended up getting an insurance check and waiting patiently for another van to come up for sale. Good luck!

[boywonder]

How many miles are on the van?


Did the pop-top survive unscathed?

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by Jhisk

Sell it as is? Any ideas of what I should as for it?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated! Will attach photos.

Thanks,
Josh

Interested in seeing photos too. Good questions asked above. My question would be how handy are you? Are you up to the task of swapping all of this to a different donor van? If you are, that's what I would do. If you want to make money, that's what I'd do, then sell it. Even if it's an easy to find 5.4l donor van, you can make money off of any Sportsmobile these days.

Parting it out is also a great idea especially if you are in a decent population center in the western US. Rising shipping costs make this less attractive than it was a few years ago if you are in the sticks.

[JWA]

Without seeing somewhat extensive photos and/or an estimate of visible repairs its nearly impossible to offer any sort of actionable advice. To your knowledge was the damage equally spread over the body and drive train or more on just one part?

I'd be fascinated to see the damage----as a former body shop owner those always pique my interest.

[Jhisk]

Thanks for all the replies. The van has roughly 165k miles. Pop top survived. The latches bent from impact, but it still functions. I’m still working on photos. I actually started and drove it to have the guys at dirt road garage look it over and it seemed to drive ok. Suspension and chassis checked out fine besides some minor repairs and alignment that will be necessary.

[1der]

Body swap and transfer top and interior?? Frame and axles look
like they would be okay.

[BrianW]

Do a search for “moose gooser” (pretty sure that was the name) here in the forum to see a totaled van that was resurrected.

[JWA]

Originally Posted by Jhisk

Thanks for all the replies. The van has roughly 165k miles. Pop top survived. The latches bent from impact, but it still functions. I’m still working on photos. I actually started and drove it to have the guys at dirt road garage look it over and it seemed to drive ok. Suspension and chassis checked out fine besides some minor repairs and alignment that will be necessary.

From the view showing this van on the flatbed from the front I think I see the the upper structure involving A-pillars is greatly damaged---better photos of that area would be helpful. From the front and of each side perhaps with the front doors open.

Depending how extensive the interior build-out is a body swap might be in order however that'd be one very large labor-intensive project.