Lately, I’ve been giving more thought to the possibility of one day owning a Sprinter-type van with four-wheel drive and an upfitted interior. It’s a bit of a pipe dream at the moment, but after a recent trip to Iceland where these rigs were everywhere, I can certainly see the appeal. It’s amazing in retrospect to consider how far ahead of the curve conversion companies were in the 1980s, creating the likes of this 1985 Dodge Ram Van B250 listed here on Facebook Marketplace. While it was never intended to go off-road, it was built to make on-road travels more pleasant.
The Ram Van was already a solid basis for a high-end van experience. Dodge may have built it to support tradesmen and other commercial ventures, but with the van craze being one of the more significant trends in automotive expression, the OEMs and aftermarket clearly saw an opportunity to make more dough with their existing vehicles. If private owners were creating wild custom vans with couches on the inside and murals on the inside, history has shown there’s usually a large cohort of owners who want the same thing but will gladly pay someone else to do the work. Hence, companies like National Traveler are still in existence today, actively upfitting vans like the Ram Promaster.
Well, it may not be quite that simple; it appears the National Traveler name is now used by a company called Regency Conversions. Regardless, it goes to show you that Americans have liked the idea of a van you can travel in for some time. This one features second row, fully-adjustable captain’s chairs, blinds on the large windows, and what was likely a state-of-the-art entertainment system at the time. The carpets are in remarkably good condition, as are the door panels. While it likely has just over 100,000 miles on a rolled-over odometer, it appears that this Dodge was truly used as a special occasion travel vehicle as opposed to a daily driver.
Even today, this looks pretty spectacular. The second row seats have a swivel function that allows them to rotate and sit face-to-face with their friends on the couch. That couch folds out into a bed, and there’s storage underneath. There’s also a variety of speakers mounted overhead, enhancing the experience of the TV/VCR system. From what I can find, the carbureted 318 under the hood produces 140 horsepower and 265 lb-ft of torque, channeled through a lazy 3-speed automatic transmission. It looks good, runs well, and still looks like a comfortable place to spend the night – how can you go wrong with a van? Thanks to Barn Finds reader Lothar… of the Hill People for the tip.
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