ford econoline truck

You need an old Ford Econoline Van Truck so here’s one we found for sale

You want an old van. Do you know what’s cool too? Old trucks! What if you could buy a van… truck? You can, if you’re hunting for an old Ford Econoline. I wasn’t but I did come across this pretty sweet one listed for sale in Pahrump, Nevada. The listing says it’s in Orange County, but also says it’s in Nevada. Red flag? Potentially. But people scatter listings through a handful of Craigslist markets, so let’s roll the dice!

The asking price is $8,500. These days anything under $10,000 feels like a bargain, which is truly a bonkers timeline that we’ve uncovered. I just finished reading Recursion by Blake Crouch (Amazon affiliate link, FYI – but the book is great) and it feels like I’ve figured out how our current world is so messed up. Regardless, the Econoline in question as presented in the ad is short on details but looks to be pretty clean on the outside.

The seller says it’s a 1962 model packing the V6 from a Ford Bronco. That doesn’t mean much to me since both the Bronco and the Econoline could be had with the 170 ci straight-six. But the Bronco could also be had with a 200 ci 6 while later Econlines got a 240 ci 6. Either way, just make sure it’s a Ford engine in there… or don’t, and enjoy it because whatever, right?

This listing also says the van-truck is 90% complete. I wish the seller would elaborate, even a hair, on what that means. Interior and engine photos would be nice too. Even in the absence of literally any more effort at all to sell something worth a not insubstantial amount of money, this thing looks pretty sweet. Sure, just 5 years ago it was $3,500 sweet. Now that’s $8,500 sweet.

Is it worth it? What would you do with this thing?

The full listing can be found here: https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/d/pahrump-62-econoline/7445315736.html

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4 responses to “You need an old Ford Econoline Van Truck so here’s one we found for sale”

  1. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    90% Complete means it’s missing two of its cylinders.
    The 2.9 Cologne V6 was available in the Bronco 2 in the mid-eighties, but outside of that I’m not sure a Bronco ever had a V-6. It’s got to be the I6, how would you even bolt a Cologne in there (and why?!?)

    Actually, maybe the 10% that’s missing is the interior. I’m seeing a lot of doorjamb through the windshield in that pic.

    1. OA5599 Avatar
      OA5599

      I should have refreshed the page before I posted below. The ad says the swap was “professionally installed”. That’s telling because a Cologne swap would need mechanical competence, but an I-6 in a 60’s truck has a pretty low threshold of difficulty.

      There isn’t a lot of interior to be missing from one of these. It does appear to be minus a tailgate, bumpers, and mirrors, though.

  2. OA5599 Avatar
    OA5599

    Early Broncos were manual trans only. The powertrain swap could be a Cologne V6 from a Bronco II, I suppose.

    It would be fun to build a Stoppiemobile, but not for an $8500+ budget.

    1. scoutdude Avatar
      scoutdude

      Of course one of the recomended videos was of the time GM pulled that stunt in a dealer training film for the Corvair Pickup. They too had to do some modifications to make it happen. They removed the standard tail gate and somehow fitted the shorter single wall tailgate from a full size truck. Presumably because it was lighter. they also removed the rear bumper which was originally standard with the Econoline Pickup. Then when they go to stop you can see that there is a passenger being active ballast, throwing himself against the windshield right as they start to stop.