Michael Moore
Titanium
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2004
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
I've been without a van for a half year now and I've got to get something fairly soon as I need to get some steel for projects and I hopefully will have a motorcycle together so that I can at least hit a few track days this year, if not actually get to a race. A half-ton van has always been enough; 2-3 bikes, two people, some tools and gear.
As some will recall parking in my area of SF is not noted for being spacious. The legal length I can park in front of my house is 192". One neighbor's space is about 5-6" shorter, the neighbor on the other side is about that much longer. The E150/B150 Ford/Dodge seem to have dropped the SWB models in the late 1980s or early 1990s. They fit as they were about 187/188" long.
I've not considered the Astro as I've never gotten a good impression about their reliability. Mostly "they'll nickle and dime you to death" types of stuff. But it appears that they do have a model with 111" WB and 190" overall length. I'm really squeezing for inches here, and might have to consider removing the rear "step type" bumper on an Astro as that adds an unnecessary 4-5" of length. I haven't been able to find out if that length of Astro will take a standard 4x8 plywood sheet lieing flat on the floor with the doors closed. That's pretty much my standard gauge for "does this van have enough room inside?"
I'd like to get something nice enough that I can not only go to the track (including out of state events), but also justify selling my Ford Focus and using the van on the occasional around town errand when I don't really need to haul something. I can do without power locks/window stuff, but AC would be nice but not a mandatory item. We'd still have my sweetie's Integra as the "family car" and since I don't have a commute anymore I don't have much justification for both a van and a car of my own.
Starting off with something 15-20 years old at the newest isn't real appealing. I've been offered a 1973 Dodge 1T by another racer, and in the photos it looks very clean. But he says it measures 192" so I don't have mcuh leeway if someone grabs my usual parking spot.
I need something that isn't going to be a mechanic's special because my garage is full of tools, with no space to work on a car except outside in the single-car driveway or on the street (with weekly street cleaning requiring it to be moved regularly).
The Astro appears to have been dropped from the model line a couple of years ago, but that still gives a much more recent batch of vans to look at presuming that they are worth having. There does seem to be a moderate number of them around in commercial use.
So was it just that the early Astros got a (deserved) bad rep and Chevy fixed them later, and if so when did they get to be acceptable? Or am I going to be better off finding an old SWB E150/B150 and dealing with getting it through smog every year or two?
If only the lots out here were 26' wide instead of 25', it would make things sooo much easier.
cheers,
Michael
As some will recall parking in my area of SF is not noted for being spacious. The legal length I can park in front of my house is 192". One neighbor's space is about 5-6" shorter, the neighbor on the other side is about that much longer. The E150/B150 Ford/Dodge seem to have dropped the SWB models in the late 1980s or early 1990s. They fit as they were about 187/188" long.
I've not considered the Astro as I've never gotten a good impression about their reliability. Mostly "they'll nickle and dime you to death" types of stuff. But it appears that they do have a model with 111" WB and 190" overall length. I'm really squeezing for inches here, and might have to consider removing the rear "step type" bumper on an Astro as that adds an unnecessary 4-5" of length. I haven't been able to find out if that length of Astro will take a standard 4x8 plywood sheet lieing flat on the floor with the doors closed. That's pretty much my standard gauge for "does this van have enough room inside?"
I'd like to get something nice enough that I can not only go to the track (including out of state events), but also justify selling my Ford Focus and using the van on the occasional around town errand when I don't really need to haul something. I can do without power locks/window stuff, but AC would be nice but not a mandatory item. We'd still have my sweetie's Integra as the "family car" and since I don't have a commute anymore I don't have much justification for both a van and a car of my own.
Starting off with something 15-20 years old at the newest isn't real appealing. I've been offered a 1973 Dodge 1T by another racer, and in the photos it looks very clean. But he says it measures 192" so I don't have mcuh leeway if someone grabs my usual parking spot.
I need something that isn't going to be a mechanic's special because my garage is full of tools, with no space to work on a car except outside in the single-car driveway or on the street (with weekly street cleaning requiring it to be moved regularly).
The Astro appears to have been dropped from the model line a couple of years ago, but that still gives a much more recent batch of vans to look at presuming that they are worth having. There does seem to be a moderate number of them around in commercial use.
So was it just that the early Astros got a (deserved) bad rep and Chevy fixed them later, and if so when did they get to be acceptable? Or am I going to be better off finding an old SWB E150/B150 and dealing with getting it through smog every year or two?
If only the lots out here were 26' wide instead of 25', it would make things sooo much easier.
cheers,
Michael