Unnecessary van shopping, not down by the river.

"ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com" (ita97) 07/06/2019 at 23:20 • Filed to: None

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With today being a rare treat of *not* being hotter-than-balls in Southern NM, I went for an evening nature walk in Soledad Canyon, but was stopped by this on the way up. Normally I wouldn’t give much notice to an old v an for sale, but a front differential caught my eye as I drove past. There was no choice but to stop and check it out.

It was left unlocked, so I po ked around the inside a bit. Anticipating the smell of hippie sex, I was surprised to find it looked like a blank slate for an overland build.

I’ve heard of these before, but this is the first one I’ve ever seen in person. Some google fu suggests they sell for a lot more than 3k in good shape. I don’t know what I would do with this besides go camping, but I’m intrigued buy the idea of it. It could be cool, although a project like this is probably the last thing I need.

I see two big problems. The first is that 460, which means this thing probably gets 6mpg. Since I already have a tow vehicle, it seems like a 351 would be a better engine in this application. That might have some possibility of double digit mileage on the highway.

The second big problems is reddish flaky stuff, which means this thing hasn’t lived its life in the de sert. We don’t do rust here. It’s just not a thing.

This is probably the rustiest vehicle I’ve ever seen for sale in Las Cruces. They may have really hard time finding someone who will deal with it here. According to some friends that live up here, it’s been for sale for a couple of weeks.

I dig the old California plate. This seems like it has some potential, but probably not for me. Were it not for the rust, I might have made a questionable decision tonight.

My nature walk was nice, though.

MrDakka > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/06/2019 at 23:39

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Wacko > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/06/2019 at 23:45

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Looks like that is surface rust and everything looks solid. My 2017 forester seems to have more rust than that 84 van does.

smobgirl > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/06/2019 at 23:46

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This thing looks awesome, it sucks about the rust.

atfsgeoff > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/06/2019 at 23:55

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Rust? I don't see any rust. 

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Wacko 07/06/2019 at 23:58

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There’s a couple of holes in the roof and around the windshield, which also has a whole bunch of silicon caulk around the bottom.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Wacko 07/07/2019 at 00:00

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There’s a couple of rust holes in the ceiling and around the windshield.  I could buy an NM vehicle 30 years older than it without any rust at all.

Wacko > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/07/2019 at 00:01

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The rest looks solid

Didn’t notice that pic    

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Wacko 07/07/2019 at 00:05

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What I thought was interesting was all the significan’t rust was up top along the drip rail and around the windshield, but the under body looked like mostly surface rust (with enough on fasteners to tell me they wouldn’t be fun to remove). Maybe this thing spent lots of time parked in a climate where it rains on more than the rarest of occasions ?

shop-teacher > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/07/2019 at 00:12

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Around here we call that rust free.

NP.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > shop-teacher 07/07/2019 at 00:14

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You need to shop for used cars in the desert southwest. That rust is something few people would choo se to deal with out here, and I’m going to say it probably has to have working A/C to have a chance of selling for more than about $1500.

shop-teacher > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/07/2019 at 00:20

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Gadamn. I bet that’d s ell for $6-8k here. That’s just a gut feeling. I have zero research to back that.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > shop-teacher 07/07/2019 at 00:29

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Google suggested that is what they sell for in good shape. It is certainly cool. Something tells me that pulling the trim around the windshield would reveal one hell of a project, and I’m guess that replacement metal probably has to match pretty damn well to end up with a windshield that actually seals. The five or six small holes along the dripline in the roof seems like something that could be fixed with a lot less precision needed.

shop-teacher > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 07/07/2019 at 00:53

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Its very fixable.