Finding a Van

There are some pretty solid ground rules on buying a van for the sole purpose of living in it. It needs to be reliable. It needs to be cosmetically sound instead of some rotting, decrepit thing. Perhaps most importantly, it needs to blend in with the scenery if you plan on dirtbagging it and finding overnight parking in town. Personally, I gravitated toward one with minimal windows for stealth’s sake. I wanted something that a tradesman wouldn’t bat an eye at; something passersby would walk past and assume there were maybe a few power tools in the back at the very most. I wanted a tradesman’s van, so of course, I ended up contacting a retired tradesman on Craigslist in regards to his Ford E-250. These vans are built like tanks and will roll forever if you take care of them. This guy’s had a little bit of rust, which was a bummer, but I decided it wasn’t the end of the world, since 1: My uncle is an autobody technician, and 2: 90K is very low mileage compared to most other Craigslist finds. After a test drive, I was confident that the engine had a long, happy life ahead of it, so I bought it.