Looking appropriately sunburned and faded for the desert southwest, this one-family-owned 1978 Dodge B200 Xplorer 212 camping van would be a fun winter project. I used to dream about traveling around the country in a vehicle like this. The seller has it posted here on craigslist in Tucson, Arizona, a city that I should have moved to by now, and they’re asking $3,200. Here is the original listing.

Daytime temperatures are still in the mid-90s in Tucson right now, while ours are in the mid-60s here in the upper Midwest. That dry heat takes a toll on everything, especially vehicles as you can tell here. Dodge’s B200 van is a 3/4-ton model and this is a Maxivan with an extended rear portion. When you’re spending a lot of time on the road, that extra space is critical.

Xplorer Motorhomes built camping vehicles and a lot of them were based on vans, which are referred to as Class-B motorhomes. Class-A motorhomes are big motorhomes such as the classic Winnebago where a custom body is placed on a chassis. Class-C is typically where a van chassis is used with the cab intact and a camper is placed on the back portion of the open chassis. That little white door behind the rear wheel houses an external propane tank which the seller says may have a small leak. Major safety things like that obviously have to be fixed before any cosmetic work gets done on a van this old.

Speaking of cosmetics, it’s time to move inside. After changing the gas tank which leaks from the top, fixing the propane leak, installing all new door seals, and buttoning up a few other exterior body and mechanical issues, the interior will need an equal amount of updating. As you can see, it’s in fairly rough condition due in part to the incredible heat in the Tucson area and also just the age of this Xplorer.

It needs almost everything inside so this will be a labor of love, I can’t imagine that anyone would just send this van to a shop to have it restored given the condition and its restored value. The seller says that this one has been in the same family since it was purchased new. You can see the unique dropped floor in this one, an Xplorer feature for giving a bit more headroom in a low vehicle that can be parked in most garages.

The seller says that this van has a 360 cubic-inch V8 and it hesitates when first started but runs well after that. The transmission was replaced five or six years ago and there is a new fuel pump. There are a couple of critical repairs needed on this camping van, can it be saved without breaking the bank?