BenJJ-SMB
Senior Member
Alright I think its time I start an official build thread. Some background first:
About 5 months ago my wife and I decided that we wanted to upgrade our junkyard restored SMB pop-top to a high roof CCV pop-top. First van build thread here:
https://www.sportsmobileforum.com/forums/f24/2003-7-3-cargo-van-build-19704.html
We loved that van and were ready to commit to it long term. There were however a few things that were undesirable. No power options, no cruise control, slider instead of barn doors, etc. Pretty standard cargo van vs passenger van issues. So we agreed to move forward getting a quote from CCV but if a passenger van with all of those options popped up we would buy it and start over with the new van. I was not willing to swap to a different engine so that made the search challenging.
As luck would have it, just as we were finalizing our quote with CCV on Vanna White, I found the one. Enter Forrest, a 2002 7.3L passenger van with the Traveler's Package and only 118k miles. Only box it didn't check was it had a slider and not barn doors but I was willing to compromise. The leather chairs, power windows and doors, cruise control, and double captain setup was too good to pass up. It was also just immaculate inside and out for its age.
I just picked him up from CCV yesterday! I had them install a new floor, high roof pop top, two 100ah batteries and raptor liner both the top and the bottom rocker panels. I think it turned out incredible!
As far as the name goes my older brother came up with it due to the color and my favorite movie being Forrest Gump.
About 5 months ago my wife and I decided that we wanted to upgrade our junkyard restored SMB pop-top to a high roof CCV pop-top. First van build thread here:
https://www.sportsmobileforum.com/forums/f24/2003-7-3-cargo-van-build-19704.html
We loved that van and were ready to commit to it long term. There were however a few things that were undesirable. No power options, no cruise control, slider instead of barn doors, etc. Pretty standard cargo van vs passenger van issues. So we agreed to move forward getting a quote from CCV but if a passenger van with all of those options popped up we would buy it and start over with the new van. I was not willing to swap to a different engine so that made the search challenging.
As luck would have it, just as we were finalizing our quote with CCV on Vanna White, I found the one. Enter Forrest, a 2002 7.3L passenger van with the Traveler's Package and only 118k miles. Only box it didn't check was it had a slider and not barn doors but I was willing to compromise. The leather chairs, power windows and doors, cruise control, and double captain setup was too good to pass up. It was also just immaculate inside and out for its age.
I just picked him up from CCV yesterday! I had them install a new floor, high roof pop top, two 100ah batteries and raptor liner both the top and the bottom rocker panels. I think it turned out incredible!
As far as the name goes my older brother came up with it due to the color and my favorite movie being Forrest Gump.
