Hooniverse Asks: Will old conversion vans become collectible?

Back in the 1980s, it wasn’t uncommon for families to drive around in conversion vans. Conversion vans start life as large, windowless cargo haulers and end up as your grandmother’s living room on wheels. They are some of the most comfortable vehicles on the market, with cushy captain’s chairs, thick luxe carpeting, and a roof high enough for Robert Wadlow to stand up inside.

Eventually, conversion vans became uncool. Vans themselves became uncool. People started buying SUVs to haul their kids around instead. And your neighbor’s high-roof Chevy G20 was replaced with a 1991 Ford Explorer. The trend was dying. Everyone got the memo, except Chevrolet, whose dealers still often carry dozens of converted 2020 Express vans. (Side note: yes, the Express is still in production).

Recently, however, vans have begun to make a comeback. The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter has become the vehicle of choice for overlanders and beach-goers. The Ford Transit is popular among extreme motorsport enthusiasts. And a clean 1993 Volkswagen Eurovan is now worth even more than its annual maintenance costs.

The trouble is, though, that these vans are quite expensive. A converted Sprinter is often in the ballpark of six figures. A brand new Chevy Express converted by Explorer asks seventy grand. Even a Metris is spendy. Moreover, 1980s cars are beginning to gain value, as the demographic that grew up with them becomes more financially endowed.

Weirdly, this phenomenon has not yet driven up the prices of 1980s conversion vans. They are still all over online classifieds for as low as a couple grand, which is about the minimum price for a drivable vehicle these days. SUVs from this era, meanwhile, have skyrocketed in value. Generally, when a certain type of modern car becomes popular, classic examples gain value as well, but conversion vans have so far missed the boat.

Still, these old vans are cool. They’re supremely comfortable, incredibly practical (save for fuel economy and size), and a bit out of left field. Now that their modern counterparts are desirable, isn’t it only a matter of time before the effect trickles down to older conversion vans?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 64 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

24 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: Will old conversion vans become collectible?”

  1. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    Everything goes in cycles, so yeah, probably.

    Good point about modern vans being surprisingly pricey, I really liked the commercial Transit Connect my wife used to drive as a company van and idly looked up passenger versions on Fords website – more expensive than a Focus. I guess it sort of makes sense given that modern vans are more sophisticated and carlike, but this sort of stuff used to be popular as a cheap option in continental Europe, e.g. the 1st gen Renault Kangoo as a “hose down” kid hauler in the spirit of the original Renault 4, but no more. They’ve figured out they can charge for the “lifestyle” aspect of these too.

  2. Wayne Moyer Avatar
    Wayne Moyer

    The low tops will fit into a garage. The high tops have some issues with leaking because of the fiberglass roofs. I see no reason that they shouldn’t make a come back though. They are comfortable and have a lot of room inside. The eighties is in style right now as well and these are as eighties as a mall arcade with Space Ace. So you can outfit it with an Atari and all kinds of fun stuff.
    I really liked mine when I had it. I wish I had kept it. I wouldn’t own an RV now if I had.

  3. mdharrell Avatar

    Having firmly established that the converse is true, I infer that because I don’t have one, the value will soon skyrocket.

    1. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      I’m sure there’s something you could do about that: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b0/27/11/b02711eb9bcacc7c99fbc6ae16c41b41.jpg

      1. mdharrell Avatar

        A Commer camper van was available locally a few weeks ago; the fact that I know this should not sit well with long-term investors.

  4. I_Borgward Avatar
    I_Borgward

    Caveat emptor, x10! I’ve done deconstructions on a few conversions in junkyards and one in my driveway, and construction quality often ranges from “okay” to truly appalling. Openings for windows cut with no finishing work or repainting to seal edges (rust!), sheet metal screws to hold down particle board flooring (sharp screw ends sticking out underneath, more leaks, more rust, lots of wood to absorb water), structural ribs removed and not compensated for, etc.

    While there are good conversions still out there in the wild (Starcraft comes to mind), you’ve really got to give anything you find the hairy eyeball of doubt when you go to check it out for purchase.

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      But … people do collect Alfa Romeos, too.

      *runs away with an evil laughter*

      1. Lokki Avatar
        Lokki

        But….. even in advanced states of decay, Alfa Romeos are still beautiful –

      2. crank_case Avatar
        crank_case

        I had an old Alfa, a 75 T-Spark, they’re pretty tough to be fair, though it had to go because the fuel tank developed a leak. Still miss it sometimes, yes the rust is cliche, but really, they’re not worse than Japanese cars of the same age which also rot like crazy.

        1. Travis Jon Powell Avatar
          Travis Jon Powell

          In the early 80’s before there became only 3 or 4 mainstream conversion companies (Mark III, Tioga, Starcraft etc.) Often, dealers had local shops do the conversion jobs. Some were kinda RV-ish, some were a bit much with funky color combinations, some were just right! Here’s the thing though… No two vans were the same! If you bought one at that period it’s a guarantee it was the only one on the planet like it.

      3. Lokki Avatar
        Lokki

        But….. even in advanced states of decay, Alfa Romeos are still beautiful –

    2. Dabidoh_Sambone Avatar
      Dabidoh_Sambone

      “Hairy eyeball of doubt” is either a scary sprite in DOOM or my next band name.

    3. salguod Avatar

      This. Back in 1988, my dad was shopping for a new van. He wanted a Grand Caravan but stopped to look at a relatively high end conversion van. Fairly elaborate custom paint work (not decals), the full interior, big windows, etc. It was the same price as the mid level GC SE he was looking at. He passed. There was no way that they could add that stuff at that price without cutting a lot of corners.

  5. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    I’m no germophobe, but a 30 year old conversion van full of absorbent fabrics that was probably used in hot summers by a family of puking toddlers and sweaty teenagers, then closed up and stored for months, year after year, seems like a gross-out. Or what’s the alternative? One that’s been lived in constantly for 30 years?
    Also, maintenance history can be quite sketchy. Leaving for vacation doesn’t wait for the oil to be changed, and maintenance issues that come up are ignored and then forgotten about, or hastily dealt with on the road.

    When I was looking for a cargo van a couple years ago there were conversion vans available for cheaper than a shell van, and with less miles, but the above issues and the amount of work to tear out all that RV crap kept me away from them. Wheel bearings dry out, oil cooler lines rot, radiators gum up; it’s a huge can of worms.

    Nostalgia won’t drive a market for these, either. Airstream is the only RV I can think of that has a market for “classic” equipment, but even then most buyers get a modern, retro-styled trailer.

    1. Oak Tree Avatar
      Oak Tree

      Leave it closed tight for a couple days in a Houston parking lot in the summer, and the temperature will get high enough to bake the little germs into dust. My problem with them, is working on the dang things. Every important bit is hidden away in an inconvenient corner someplace. If you get one, you really have to take it apart completely, restore the individual components, then put it back together. Just not worth it. Save the grief and get a new Transit. Then build it how you want.

  6. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    They’re like second-generation F bodies. Comfortable and affordable when new, but a lot of the were pretty scuzzy after a decade, with many of them going to junkyards despite being functional as transportation. The ones that survived either had an extra ration of care and preservation, or were treated to an extensive restoration. Those will bring decent money.

  7. smalleyxb122 Avatar
    smalleyxb122

    Dammit, I had just recently convinced myself that I don’t need a van.

    After spending an inordinate amount of time looking at vans for sale over the past year, I can assure you that the prices are trending up. That they are still somewhat affordable is really a testament to how little they were worth just a few years ago. The van that you find listed for $2k today you couldn’t have given away 2 years ago.

    I guess I’m back to perusing marketplace and craigslist until I can convince myself again that I don’t need a van.

  8. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
    SlowJoeCrow

    Considering the sorts of things people already collect I think both conversion vans will start being collected as artifacts of a time and place and not just cheap useful transport like the Curbside Classic contributor. Custom vans already show up at car shows so I expect their respectable brethren to follow.

  9. Fuhrman16 Avatar
    Fuhrman16

    I swear half of these Chevy conversion vans from the 80’s were that purple color.

  10. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/KBQAAOSwVFVcw86O/s-l300.jpg

    Matchbox makes something approximating a conversion van, so in theory there’s some desire. That said, just as old wagons are only niche collectible, conversion vans won’t likely be much different. The image is just a little too “stale McDonalds fries and Happy Meal toys” for widescale desirability. And if the vanlife aura (since old domestic vans are what most people actually seem to use) hasn’t rubbed off on them by now, it probably never will.

    Anecdotally though, the desire for any sort of socially distanced travelling seems to have driven up values of pretty much any sort of quasi-RV vehicles.

  11. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    I’m with the skeptics. Most of them around here seemed to go from (1) respectable family road trip machine to (2) the a/c broke so it was given to the cousin with four kids from five different dads to (3) impromptu ice cream trucks/narcotics trafficking/drywall repair contractor vehicle over the decades. One would have better luck with something that was beaten on by a series of apprentice plumbers over 20 years.

    But the whole Dajiban thing – sign me up.

  12. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    I’m with the skeptics. Most of them around here seemed to go from (1) respectable family road trip machine to (2) the a/c broke so it was given to the cousin with four kids from five different dads to (3) impromptu ice cream trucks/narcotics trafficking/drywall repair contractor vehicle over the decades. One would have better luck with something that was beaten on by a series of apprentice plumbers over 20 years.

    But the whole Dajiban thing – sign me up.

  13. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    Not by me, they won’t. I’m not saying I wouldn’t ever make a conversion van for my own use, but I wouldn’t “collect” them. They’re tools, not art. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to own one that had been used by someone else. That’d be like buying a used mobile home… there’s something decidedly unclean about it.

  14. Bill Avatar
    Bill

    I have a 1997 3500 Chevy turtle top conversion van.
    Has a full rear bed on a platform and a smart flat panel tv, custom lighting and inside power.
    214,000. Ran great until last week trans slipping between 20 and 45 mph. Can’t afford a new trans.
    What could I expect to get if I sell it?
    Geengi@hotmail.com