What a time capsule. Bought new in the San Francisco area by the seller’s parents, the van and family moved to the Pacific Northwest, and both have lived there ever since 1982. It’s easily the best area of the U.S. to find solid, non-sunburnt survivor vehicles, and this 1977 Ford Econoline E-150 van is one of those. It’s posted here on craigslist in Redmond, Washington, and they’re asking just $5,000. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Barney for the tip!
In keeping with Ford’s tradition of being pragmatic with color names, this one is called Dark Brown. Hey, it makes sense, why create some fancy name where nobody has a clue what it means? Burnt Sequoia? No, Dark Brown. I like it. And I sure like this van. I can’t imagine driving one today, but for anyone with a hankerin’ to get out on the open road (two-lanes for me), this one is ready to camp in with a bed in the back.
Ford made the third-generation E-series vans from 1975 through 1991, and as much as I like the second-gen stub-nosed Ford Vans, the sticking-out-nose Ford vans of this era have to be just all-around better vehicles to drive, work on, and live with. Not to mention having more room inside for hauling duties and camping duties. This van is rust-free, according to the seller; that’s fantastic. It sure looks great, doesn’t it? There is a dent by the left tail light as you can see above, and there’s no catalytic converter, and the tires are old, but that’s about it.
The seller says that after his parents bought this van new in the SF Bay area, they got to work fitting out the interior with custom vinyl (as seen on the door photo above, and also a seat that converts to a bed in the back. That wouldn’t work for me, but for any of you under six feet in height, that would probably be a good spot to stay when you’re out in the woods. I had a long, 3-foot-wide padded bench behind the driver’s seat, and it did double duty as a bed with storage under the cover. There was a smaller one (about a foot wide) on the passenger side because of the side doors to use as a seating bench. I camped a lot in that thing back when life was easy. Here’s the rear passenger seat, by the way. Please check out the seller’s listing; they have included a ton of great photos, saying they were thinking of running this van on an auction site. Hey, what about Barn Finds?!
An engine photo in a craigslist ad?! An engine photo of a van engine in a craigslist ad?! Very well done. This is, as you can see, Ford’s 300-cu.in. OHV inline-six with around 120 horsepower, and it’s backed by a three-speed manual with a column shifter (cool!), sending power to the rear wheels. The seller’s dad is no longer driving, so that’s why this van is for sale. They say that after having sat since 2001, they drained the gas, changed the oil, squirted oil in the cylinders, put the plugs back in, and it started right up! The venerable 300-six is such a great engine. At $5,000, this is a steal, even with it needing tires and whatever kind of massaging it’ll take to fix the dent without repainting it. Any thoughts on this ’77 Econoline van?
This has period-correct written all over it, along with a great history, on a very basic E-Series. The homegrown interior mods are fun, it’s brown, it has dog dishes, it has the bulletproof 300 six, and (the topper) a three-on-the-tree. One-family owned. Not perfect, but I doubt there is much seriously wrong with it. And it’s cheap.
Good write-up Scotty.
This takes me back. A good friend of my fathers who passed awayvlast year had a few of these from the later 70’s thru the 80s. This grill looks so familiar. Except his was two tone green. One of his was brown with a 4 speed overdrive too, that was neat. I like the fact it has a known ownership history and the 300 straight six and 3 speed on the column is icing on the cake. The interior is just soooo period correct, that back seat has to be original. Love the plaid !!! Those door panels remind me of JC Whitney catalogs items from the 70’s. I’m hoping it stays as original as possible and gets a good new home, it deserves it. Great write up Scotty. And a great find too Barney.
Always loved these dent side vans. Drove some during my career as an HVAC tech.Amazed any are still around that haven’t been all used and abused plus rusted. Price is definitely fair.
Milk chocolate brown, it was on every other car in those days. I agree, a very good price.