OK, think this might be it - but I need to know what y'all think

OK, so I’ve been looking for my first van for a bit, not alot of money to throw around, and was planning on converting it myself, [some of you might recognize, who have helped me out with advice once or twice already - def appreciated!] and then I found this guy who started a conversion, and had to abandon it partway through. It’s older, but seems to run ok (odometer def rolled over once, but still remarkably low miles for its age) Guy is really cool, and willing to take me through what he’s done already, which is basically just build a shell, run wires, and a little insulation. I’m thinking it looks good, like what I was going to do anyways. I kinda did want to do all that myself (so I would know it backwards and forwards) but I think I can work with this…
What do you think?








Any feedback would be appreciated, thx!!!

Greetings!

Wow, $8k… That’s a lot of green… That being said, if it’s got the 318 engine, they’re darn near bullet proof, and since it’s a camper, those could be original miles. Mine’s a 1973, and I’m approaching 500k miles on the original engine & transmission, and it still passes the smog tests.

Looks like the top was installed right, keeping part of the front & rear roof & ribs intact.

Get the front end & steering checked out good. Some of them had age related steering problems in the 85-88 year range. Safety first you know…

If it’s got 16.5 inch wheels, you may have to swap them out for 16" ones. The 16.5 inch tires are nearly impossible to find now. I had to swap mine out, but the tire shop had the right tires to keep everything working as original including the height, ground clearance, load range, and speedometer.

Overall, I think these old Dodge’s are among the best vans ever made.

Cheers!


"There are those who learn, and those who wish they had learned." ~ Good2Know


Why don’t they teach people to stagger seams anymore? I would have to tear that ceiling down and fix it or it would drive me insane.

That being said, is that real tile and hardwood on the floor? If so I would be concerned about the added weight or that the tile will simply shake apart. I cannot tell if it is a 350 or 250 but it’s probably ok if it’s the 350.

I would really want to see what the engine looks like under dog house there. If all that was done was work on the inside, I would be concerned with the price. In the description it states about changing the oil and the belts. Those would be some of the first things that should be taken care of when you buy something at this age. Also plugs, wires, filters, distributor etc. To me that is a red flag that none of this is mentioned in the post. Who cares what it looks like if it doesn’t go down the road.