This is Van Story: Part 1 where I detail my need for, and finding a van to build the ultimate track hauler. For the build and current status, jump over to Part 2 as soon as you finish here:
If you look around the paddock – One of the more common setup progression is to Phase 1) Drive to the track. Phase 2) Buy a cheap truck and open trailer or dolly. Phase 3) Lease a pickup truck and use an open trailer. Phase 4) When the lease is up, upgrade to a ¾ ton truck and buy an enclosed trailer. Phase 5) Run out of money and quit.
I needed a new towing setup.
I’ve been doing track days for a long time. Nearly everything has changed since my first first event in 2012, when I was stuffing my daily driven Miata to the gills and driving out to the track. I’ve gotten married, got a better job, had two kids, and most notably… got 13 years older. I am entering the chapter of my track day story where comfort is a rising priority, beyond even good racing. And while my budget has grown, I’m still not interested in leaving the track to go sleep in some hotel. I tried daily-driving a truck and hated it, so I can’t justify buying or leasing a brand new truck just for track duty and occasional house work. RV/Camper rental is a great option, but also not in my budget.
When I began doing track days, I stuffed a tent and any other weekend items into my comically cramped Miata (At one point, bolting a tote box to the trunklid for extra hauling capacity). As years went on, I eventually made the jump to a trailer with an old midsize pickup. From one rusty 2001 Dodge Dakota, I bought a much less rusty 2007 Dakota (Which, ironically, ended up being the more problematic of the two). I eventually worked out a deal to borrow a Ram for track weekends. The Ram performed great for a couple years, and it got me to the track when I didn’t have another option, but it was no help with sleeping arrangements… and it wasn’t mine. The added step of fully unloading, then making the hour round-trip to return it after getting home became too much.
For the years I used pickup trucks, I tried to come up with some way to sleep comfortably within my setup… Reclining seats, sleeping across back seats, in the bed under a leaky cap, in the bed under a tonneau cover, sleeping on the trailer deck, etc. I slept in friends’ empty enclosed trailers. I’ve even spent a few nights in track classrooms and garages when the track didn’t lock them overnight. A truck did a lot well, but sleeping was always an issue.
The next most normal progression here was to buy a heavy duty truck and enclosed trailer, building the trailer out to be part hauler, part sleeper. The problem is: Heavy duty pickup trucks are insanely expensive for what they are, and I’d need to totally redesign my driveway space to accomodate an enclosed trailer (Vs my open that just gets shoved under a tree).
Enter: The VAN
Part 1: Finding and securing the van
I schemed endlessly. Always looking for some overlooked solution to have a hauler that was also a comfortable/convenient place to sleep… that also fit into my comically small budget. My shortlist of creative options (A list that included a wedge-style ramp truck with a tiny sleeper under the car, RV’s, and school bus conversions) also included large SUV’s and heavy duty work or passenger vans. I came so close to making the questionable decision to buy more than a few vintage trucks, retired work trucks, and even tow trucks to forgo practically altogether and build something undeniably cool.
At some point during my planning/research, I found a cheap van on a motorsports classified page that I frequent. An Extended Chevy Express, 3500 with a 6.0 gas v8. Asking only $3,000. It ticked all the boxes, and was just a few hours away… but it was rusty and had a transmission issue. Transmission I can fix (well, replace). Rust, however, makes everything on the vehicle into a problem to fix and maintain. Looking at the interior pictures and the sheer size (SO MUCH ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES), and seeing just how much capability $3,000 could get me… I wanted it. Ultimately, the rust and transmission were just too much of a question mark so I balked on that specific van. It planted the bug though, and I kicked my van search into high gear.
While trucks are just insanely priced for what they are. Vans seem to be largely immune to truck tax, despite essentially being heavy duty truck with a box on top vs an open bed. Similarly, While a full size SUV could do the job of being a race hauler similarly well, they also suffer from high pricing. If you can put up with the “creepy van” jokes, and store one of these things in your driveway, their value is untouchable.
Alex is a good friend and local Honda Challenge racer, he also is an absolute wizard for finding great deals on cars. Whether that makes him a great friend or a terrible friend depends on how much self control you have, how much cash you keep under the mattress, and how big your driveway is. In any given week we share probably 10 cool car+truck listings with each other.
A few weeks after my serious search for a van began, I got a frantic message from my friend Alex. Something along the lines of “Dude, buy this NOW. I don’t play around with marketplace, you know me”. He found the unicorn van: A not white 2003 Express 15 passenger, 3500 with a 6.0 and 4L80E… listed for only $3000 (a pattern?). From a church in Philadelphia, with only 75,000 miles and somehow zero rust. The catalytic converters were missing (Stolen from it a second time, a big motivator of the sale), and the driver side was dented from the front fender to the rear wheel on the church lot’s new lot gate (Another big motivator of the sale)… but beyond that, it just needed some regular maintenance and a lot of cleaning. After years of ferrying kids to summer camp, the amount of wear on the soft parts and spilled food + drink were downright impressive, but it was still nothing compared to the damage and wear of a used-daily work van. Most of the interior bits would be covered up, removed, or replaced when I build it out anyway. Despite what we gleaned from blurry ad photos, the listing was vague and didn’t have many details. It was listed as the (Default) 1500, not the 3500 that it was. There was no mention of the 6.0 or complete lack of rust, hopefully minimizing interest in the ad.
Coincidentally, the van was only a few minutes from Alex, who graciously set up a time to look at it for me. Within a few minutes of arriving he called to say it was even cleaner and more solid than expected, with zero rust. Absolute BEST case scenario. But, as he was on the phone with me, TWO more people came to look at the van, there with cash in hand. I started shaking the piggy bank to see if I could offer over asking to secure it. Desperate, and a bit defeated, Over the phone I offered a deposit, either cash from my friend or venmo/paypal/etc.
I figured I was cooked, because who would wait for me when he could get the cash at that moment? I would certainly take the first available cash myself. I asked, and he refused to take a deposit. My heart dropped. There was a short pause. He said If I wanted it, no deposit was needed. We were the first people there (And by “we” I mean Alex, who is the hero in this story), so it was mine, and I could come next weekend when I was ready with the cash and take it home.
The next five days were a cycle of “what the hell am I doing?” “I can’t believe this is happening” and “There’s no way this is going to happen”. Each day I expected the listing to disappear and get a text for “Sorry, it’s gone”. I carried on: I got the cash, arranged to drop off my kids at my parents, and called in a second monumental favor from another friend, Sal. Sal lives outside Philadelphia. He was going to drive me in to get the Van, then let me leave the filthy 21′ behemoth at his place so I could do some basic work before making the 1.5 hour drive home in it.
The evening before I got the Van, a forecast of overnight snow popped up. We were forecast a few inches, but Philadelphia was set to receive double. When I woke up, we had nearly 4 inches of fresh snow and I feared that Philadelphia got hammered. Knowing this deal was hanging by a thread, I woke up early, packed the kids into the car, and headed that way. The whole time, I’m getting no answer to my “on my way, are you good with this snow?” Thankfully for me, the forecast was flipped. As I continued south, the snow got lighter and not heavier. I realized Philly didn’t receive much of any snow right before he finally replied “no snow on the ground”. Phew.
Long story short still long, The deal worked out. I purchased the van and limped it to Sal’s nearby so I could do some basic maintenance. I confirmed that it truly was in great shape, a bit neglected but well maintained until being relegated to sitting for the last year or two. While parked at his house, Sal (The Delightful hoarder) raided his own spare parts pile and found me some high flow cats and a roof vent. A few minutes from Sal lives Phil, who is a welder and was the third hero in this story. Phil offered to toss cats in it so I could get home without the basically-open exhaust droning me or the floor to death. After doing some basic maintenance items, we ferried it to Phil’s to swap out the 12 year old tires and weld up an exhaust before the hour + drive home. Aside from an emergency stop to buy and install windshield wipers, the ride home went surprisingly well. Everything checked out, it was smooth, tracked straight, shifted great, and just generally felt way better than I expected from a 21 year old city van.
Once the van arrived home, the build began. Check out Part 2 to hear the Plan and execution of the Ultimate Track Hauler:
The Moral of the story: To get an absolutely killer deal on a hauler like a van, some things are exceptionally helpful: Patience. I spent years casually looking. If you want to find a deal you need to be ready to purchase but also be ready to wait for the right deal to pop up, when it does, you need the resources and network to jump on the deal. If you need to purchase something immediately, you’re stuck with what’s currently in the market, most of which have been for sale for a while, often for good reason.
Equally important are: A friend who is a Facebook Marketplace expert and is very generous with their time. Another friend who is very generous with their time and driveway space, and a third friend who is ALSO generous with their time AND welding skills.
And finally: Luck.
Want to see how the van looked when I got it?
Dirty and neglected, but “good bones” as they say.
Ready for the build? Check out Part 2:
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