In the beginning...

For years I dreamt of buying a van and of camperizing it.  I'd always wanted a van to drive to a trailhead on Friday after work, arriving late I would crawl into the back of the van for a good night's rest, and early the next morning I would hit the trail.  Beyond this, there were many, many other adventures I could only imagine having in a van.  Pulling over at beautiful scenic overlooks and spending the night. Not paying for hotels. Roaming for a weekend, a week, or a month, following my gut and desire.

For years, I wondered what kind of van I should get... someday, when I might have sufficient means to acquire a van.

Being a student most of my life, my first constraint was money. The van would have to be inexpensive.  It would have to be reliable.  Ideally it would be a 4x4, but that was never a dealbreaker for me.  It would be good in the city and not too hard on gas.  It would be old enough that I, a very amateur mechanic, could work on it.

Like many people, I have been enamored of the Volkswagen Westfalia and Vanagon.  In the winter of 2010 I was finally done with grad school and had found work in Seattle.  In Seattle, as in Portland and throughout the PNW, you can find VW van after VW van on block after block.  I was constantly drooling, good thing for the constant precip to rinse my chin.  I started shopping. Craigslist, craigslist, craigslist.  But I didn't know what I was looking for.  A colleague at work drove a 1991 syncro and I talked with him about it.  He asked me if I was ready to spend 5K/year in repairs.  That was all I need to hear.  The expected, unexpected, repair schedule aside, I could not get over the price of the VWs.  They are SOOO cool, but SOOOOOO overpriced.  I went back to life with my 1994 civic hatchback, determined to make that car into a micro-camper.  I could have done it, too...

but I couldn't get vans out of my brain.  I just couldn't.  There are so many awesome, oldie but goodie vans in the Seattle area.  I turned my attention to the Toyota Van Wagon.  Produced from 1984 - 1989. Considerably cheaper than a VW, more maneuverable, available in 4WD, and reputed to be *very* reliable.  One major downside is that they are considerably smaller inside.  However, they are also lighter and get much better gas mileage.

My first van was a 1984 Toyota Vanwagon LE, 2WD.  She was a beautiful specimen.  97,000 miles, garaged her whole life. Nearly mint, albiet dirty, interior. Dealer serviced. This van even had the red Toyota coolant in her - she had never been changed over to green aftermarket fluid.  I paid bought her from the original owner for $2,500.

1984 Toyota Van LE. My first Toy Van.

I started planning my camper conversions, but couldn't stop searching craigslist for a 4x4 version. Didn't I have enough??  After a month or two I saw a 4x4 Toyota Van near Vancouver, BC.  In the Seattle area these vans sell VERY quickly once they are posted.  So I hopped in my civic and drove 2hrs north to check it out. I ended up buying the Canadian van, but before committing to buy I did a lot of research on importing vehicles into the USA.  Because the van was 25 years old, importation turned out to be very easy.  I paid an import duty of ~3% on the purchase price.  Across the border, in Bellingham, WA I registered the van and got WA license plates without a hitch.  This is where the real adventure began, in February of 2012.

1987 Toyota Van LE, 4WD. My second Toy Van. This is the picture I took the first time I went to view the van.