Party van 2.0?

So last night after work I looked at a van that was listed on Craigslist.  There were several things that interested me about it.  It’s a 96 Chevy that only has 89,000 miles on it.  It also is a one owner vehicle and finally the price is right, he has it listed for $3400. 

The van is owned by a snowbird from Michigan.  The van, although it still has Michigan plates has been in Florida for the past 5 years or so.  They used it as their transportation when they are down here.  When I pulled up one of the first things that caught my eye were the green accent stripes that just happen to be really close to Eagles green, big brownie points for that.  I walked around the van and checked it out.  There are some minor paint blemishes on the wheel well and at one spot some of the fiberglass is damaged where the step and front fender skirt come together, nothing major.  Other than that, cosmetically the van was in really nice shape both inside and out.

The van was sitting at an auto repair shop.  I called the owner and he told me it was there to have the AC fixed, the system has a leak in it somewhere.  He said I could get the keys from the mechanic to open the van up, start it up and check it out which I did.  The seats in the van are super comfortable.  It felt like I was sitting in a comfy couch when I was behind the wheel.  It has all the bells and whistles and unlike the current party van, this one does not seem to suffer from all the little eyesores that the Ford enjoys.

The van started right up and sounded fine.  Although the AC wasn’t working I checked the air flow to the back of the vehicle.  One of the biggest problems with the party van is air flow to the rear of the vehicle is non-existent.  The Chevy did not suffer from this problem, air flow was blasting out of the rear ceiling vents.  The tires and brakes were recently replaced as well. Of course the van had the required folding bench into bed option, crucial to satisfy the dog’s cruising needs.

So after my thorough inspection I called the owner back and told him I would definitely be interested if the AC problem is fixed.  Supposedly the AC is going to be worked on today and the owner is going to call me back to let me know the result.  I showed Ali the pictures I took and described the van in detail to her.  She was into it, the only negative she saw was that it wasn’t an extended roof.

  To me, the normal roof height is an advantage.  Yea sure you have to duck a few inches when moving around in the van but you are able to park in a parking garage and you are less likely to be plagued by the drip rail rust problems that plague vans that have their tops chopped off to have the the extended roofs slapped on.  I also would be able to actually wash/wax the roof of this van.  This van has a roof rack that could come in handy to store luggage on instead of clogging up the interior with it on long trips.

So we’ll see what happens.  If the AC  issue gets resolved it could be a bang bang process, the owner is heading back north on Friday so I’m sure he would want to get the transaction completed before he leaves.  Luckily I am off Friday.