Other than the usual pampering that an older vehicle needs, it's only let us down once. On our way to the Grand Canyon one year, the transmission went. Well, to be specific, it wouldn't shift out of first gear, so we could still move, just not very fast.
About 3 days later and around $1000 lighter, we had an excellent used transmission installed and we were on our way again.
However, as the years have progressed, there's been a bit of mild pressure to find something a bit newer. Something with a few safety features like air bags. Something with better fuel economy. Something where the engine doesn't need a rebuild.
So, the search was on.
A casual look at the local market uncovered the fact that anything similar but newer than what we had would be very hard to find. So we started looking at other options, finally landing on the newer cargo vans that are made mostly by Chrysler (Promaster) or Ford (Transit). Trouble was, there were almost none around our part of the province and I was reluctant to go down to the Lower Mainland just to start looking for available vans.
On a early fall trip to the Okanagan, however, I happened to find just what I was looking for, a 2014 Promaster 2500 with 159" wheelbase with low mileage. So we brought it home.
Now, of course, the fun begins. How to design a camper van, where to get all the parts, how to put it all together. In answering all of these questions, YouTube has been a big help. I am astonished at the number of videos out there that detail all aspects of van conversions. With this help and some discussions with a neighbour who has rebuilt truck campers, I started ordering parts.
Future posts will outline the building process.
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