Vantastic Two Point Ooooooohh. (Wgasa Special)

[biffsgasgas]

      Being a car guy I have had many trials haulers. Not being deterred by size or original intent I have been known to show up at an event with various rides. The soon to be Mrs. and I decided this past winter to head on down to trails training days on top of our east coast nationals. For the past couple of years we have been doing this out of my Passat station wagon which can haul the gear but it can get a bit old when talking about a long weekend or even a longer trip. We have been known to say "we give" and hit up the hotel in trade of a nice bed and shower. 

 

      So several years ago I was towing to events with an MX5 Mazda Miata. Eventually that car met its demise and I quickly replaced it with a rusted out E150 Econoline. The Econoline was originally just a joke because it was cheap and i wanted to give the thing a try. I quickly found that i really really loved that van. It had a ton of problems but i worked them out and it was a decent trials rig. I would leave my gear locked up inside and when i got the bug to ride just grab the keys and wallet and go. Now its not dating material so eventually i got a "real" car again but it was a great trials rig. Now we have these trips coming up and I thought i would try and one up that experience. 

 

May i present to you all "Vantastic two point oooOOoohh" (Fyi these things are a dime a dozen here in the states)

 

 

 

 

 

Little bit of Downton Abby action going on here.

 

Yes that's a fire place on the back wall.

 

 

Noteables:

 

1. I can put one bike inside with the queen size bed folded out in the back and no coffee table

2. I can put two bikes in with bed up and no coffee table.

3. I can put a bike on my hitch rack.

4. It smells of rich mahogany on good days (better than the last van)

5. We have streaming video and wifi

6. It was in an attempt to surprise the Mrs when she showed up last weekend.

7. She was not surprised.

8. It failed a German inspection based on handling alone with three analogies she made accompanying the review:

      A. "Handles like a cathedral"

      B. "Its a great van.... when parked."

      C. "It amazing how the steering wheel and driving wheels don't seem to know each other."

 

 

So with all of this i am happy and have some work to get the handling back to a reasonable level but whats another project right?

 

I'm off to go install a drag link now. Have a good one and see you all out there!

 

--Biff

       

[lineaway]

That`s funny! A full size van rides better than most things on the interstate. Around town, that`s another animal. Halfway home from our trials last weekend, I lost my power steering (in my conversion van) on I-40 while doing 80 mph in a pretty good crosswind. That thing drove like a sinking boat all the way home!

Edited April 8, 2016 by lineaway

[zippy]

OMG that whole post is just GOLD!!!!!

 "Vantastic two point oooOOoohh" is a huge improvement over the first.

 

"So several years ago I was towing to events with an MX5 Mazda Miata. Eventually that car met its demise"

Many good stories to go along with this statement!

[biffsgasgas]

tonight i replaced a drag link and tightened up the steering box. we are now golden!

--biff

[darmst6829]

With my E250 I can crawl in between my Matchless and Enfield and still have room for the dog. when the wife goes i drag a 5000 pound travel trailer no problem. The big Fords get stuck on slippy surfaces, my Chevy vans never had such problems. something to do with fueling injection I suspect.

[copemech]

A LOVE MACHINE! If it's rock'n don't come knock'n!

 

I spent my youth driving Ford vans. I had a '62, a '64, a '69 and a '75 when the long nose came out and still similar to todays.

 

Hard to beat a good van!

[axulsuv]

Trials events /camping/ kids/ dog ...All the reasons I bought my Nissan NV1500 van ...(and 19mpg around town , low 20's on the open road ...)!And reliving my high school days ...66 Dodge , V8 and carpet and paneled (a Fathers nightmare !!)

[dmartinson]

Ah yes.....the memories of a good moto van.My dad had an old Ford van we rocked for several years and hundreds of thousands of miles. Bought it for $1000, drove it for about 6 years and 200,000 miles, and sold it for $1400. Absolute bullet proof. Just normal maintenance items. I did recently find a 2012 Chevy cargo van with a Duramax.......that could be a good one for travel.