Somewhere during my career as a licensed car driver I changed from needing a sporty car to a utility car. I remember thinking while I was a sporty car driver that I would never own an SUV, minivan or any other family-like car. Then motorcycles happened and I learned that the best way I can get me and my gear from A to B is with a van. I don’t even think about wanting a sporty car anymore I guess because I get plenty of thrill satisfaction from motos.
I bought a used 1997 E350 in a nearby town a few years ago. It had 292,000 miles on it then and knew it wouldn’t last very long. But the price was right and it has served well. I striped the headliner out, installed a wall just rearward of the side barn doors, hung some pegboard on the inside of all of the doors and created a tiedown system that allows for 3 bikes to ride side by side in the rear end of the van. So far it has worked out great.
But, Joe and I have put 30,000 additional miles on it over the past two summers so its time to abandon it before it costs me more money. I thought finding a replacement would be easy since there are thousands of E350 vans on the roads. Based on the fuel economy and power of a diesel I started searching locally for one of those but learned they are far and few between. Might be that Ford offered the 1-ton vans with the 5.4 gas engine as standard and the PowerStroke engine was an option (an expensive option at that).
After an extensive and time consuming search I finally found a guy in San Diego with two E350 PowerStroke-powered vans. Long story short, another moto buddy of mine bought one and I bought the other. Trouble is that I have to make time to fly out and drive it home. But the pros are that it has no rust and it was a fleet vehicle so it ought to do us just fine.
Filed under: Scott's blog
