New for Me van!!

[Jacksonricher]

Two days ago I was gifted with a 2004 Ford E250 van. It was a wheelchair lift van w the lift still in it. It walso has a huge 24" high top so I can stand up in it. Wow what a crazy 13 days itsi been since I had to move out of the apartment.June 16 I was officially homeless hopeless and living in my Hyundai Elantra. I was planning on buying avan from CarMax and getting huge payments and 29.9% interest on a newer van that didn't really thrill me to say the least. I came on this site and wow what support and amazing advice. That night I prayed for a miracle. Three days ago I received a call from a total stranger who heard about my situation. I went to look at the van and they gave me the van for free. It runs, looks great, they just did some brake work and new tires. They even paid for all the DMV for me and a full tank of gas.
Now I own a 2004 E250 Ford van. I gave my Hyundai to my son and daughter in law who are also with me for now.
My son hooked up my Cpap machine so it will work, making simple bedframes tonight. We took out of storage some mattress pads. Hescooki g on the camp stove andhasnamice camp led lightfor night time. The owner of the company he works for said we can park in the back of the business property where it is safe. 
Amazing whirlwind it's been.
We still have to figure out the potty stuff, his wife refuses to have a camper potty in the van, period! Lol.
We will save up money asap so they can rent a room then my new life begins.
But first we need bed platforms tonight and slid out bins under to make room.
Then dismantle this huge heavy lift. I have it on Craiglist for free. I don't want to scrap it.
Then start planning insulation and upward. 

PS: the van does have lots of miles at 198,000. It's a 5.4L and they gave me a stack of receipts for common maintenance. Carfax checked out fine as well as the VIN (1st thing I checked).

Jackson

 

[deadwood]

Wow!!! What a great story to read. I remember your posts from the other day. I'm glad to hear you didn't end up paying too much for a van and then having an astronomical interest payment on top of that.

It looks like a nice van from the pic. There sure is a lot you can do with that. And I second the opinion on being able to stand up in a van. That was one of my deal breakers. I had to have a high top.

The other good thing about your new van is that there will be plenty of parts for it and almost any mechanic can work on it. Enjoy your new journey.

 

[frater secessus]

That's awesome!

 

[ChezCheese:-)]

Great stroke of luck for you! Congratulations!

 

[Beeps and eats]

That's a great story! And I hope others that think they won't get a break read it. I believe that if you have a positive attitude and never give up on yourself, somehow it all just comes together. Faith or what you personally call it has a big influence on the outcome of our lives. You my friend have obviously learned how to "surf" those positive waves! Best of luck with your build and your future.
Beeps.

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

 

[azmike9]

Great story, thanks for sharing. Best of luck to you.

 

[bigskybob]

That's great.

 

[Starr]

That's one beautiful new home you have there!!

 

[Trebor English]

The lift doesn't take a lot of space. The weight saving by removing it won't improve your fuel economy enough to actually make a difference. In your original post you mentioned that you are big. If some part, foot, knee, hip, starts to bother you having the lift instead of 3 steps will be a life saver. Consider keeping the lift.

 

[DesertRose]

Jackson this is awesome, you're an inspiration and I agree with Trebor English, you never know when you may need that lift. Maybe the space it takes up is more a problem than the weight. I recently had a Stor-Mor cargo box on top of my minivan. I didn't notice a huge difference in gas mileage traveling from CA to NM, maybe 2 mpg less. Had the thing taken off by a handyman a couple weeks ago, no real difference in gas mileage without the weight of the cargo box and tons of stuff in the minivan and the drag (it's not aerodynamically shaped).

So think about the time when you might need it... spoken by someone who was extremely healthy in younger years but has faced, off and on, several unexpected health challenges in the past 10-15 years. Not sure how old you are, but with your stated size you may face issues sooner than later that require the lift.

 

[rm.w/aview]

What a great turn of events! Thanks for sharing!