In the world of vintage campers, we know who the dominant players are. The Volkswagen Transporter / Bus / Westfalia is the go-to crowd favorite, and then you have the various Ford E-Series and Dodge B-Series vans that have been converted along the way. But if you want a vehicle that looks right at home with a surfboard on top and some beers in the vintage cooler, you’d be hard-pressed to find a camper van that’s quite as special as this Ford Econoline “Supervan.” According to the seller, this is one of the rarest camper vans out there, as this Supervan is equipped with a little-known factory upgrade called the Cam-Pact high top. Find it here on eBay where bidding has crested $20,000 with no reserve.
Seriously, how cool is this? The Supervan was already an obscure model in Ford’s lineup, and I wonder how many of them ever became true campers on wheels. It would seem more likely that commercial businesses would snatch them up for a hard life as a tradesman’s vehicle, especially given the cavernous interior and barn doors. The option to equip one of these like a Westfalia-built Bus must not have gotten a lot of play in the marketing collateral or by the dealerships selling the basic van model, as I can’t recall ever seeing one of these for sale before. Even the Dodge A100-based pop-top seems to appear for sale more often than this obscure factory camper conversion.
The list of improvements is too vast to capture here. but it’s wide-ranging, from mechanical to cosmetic. I have a 2003 Volkswagen Eurovan that underwent a fair amount of improvements in the past two years, and I really pumped more into it than I would normally allocate for in an annual maintenance budget. The reason for this is I cart my whole family around in it, including my young kids, and I’m exceedingly paranoid about a breakdown. This build sure feels the same way, as the seller didn’t leave a single stone unturned as it relates to the improvements we see here. The interior has been completely restored, and there’s a fresh 300ci 4.9L six-cylinder engine with a seven-year warranty!
Now, if you yearn for the open road but the current bid price is outside your budget, may I steer your attention to this project-grade Supervan camper? Sure, it’s not a factory model and it’s not nearly as posh inside, but it’s also a heck of a lot cheaper. There’s also a 302 under the engine cover so it may even sound a bit better than this completely restored example on eBay. Of course, you’re going to need to make quite a few improvements to it before it’s road trip-ready, but that’s half the fun (I guess) – building the camper portion to your exact configurations. You can see this Supervan and more barn finds for sale on the Georgia property we recently featured as a Barn Finds Exclusive.
Now I’d rather have that than any over priced, overrated, VW those things are dangerously slow ill handling things.
You obviously haven’t driven the ’84 and up water cooled VW vans. Good power, good handling.
Not true of the Eurovan though. I have owned and my 99 GLS Camper for 20 years and very stable unlike its predecessor. Even had a rear blowout at 80ph last year and maintained stability without any loss of control. I keep mine up to date and garaged with a top end rebuild and full insulation and in the vehicle. I am in no hurry to sell as the value continues to escalate.
I’d like to see the 7yr engine warranty.
Really nice. Had the pleasure of peeling around in something like this with a half dozen inside. So what’s it worth???
Very nice restoration owner.Nothing not to like about her.
Located in Talent,Oregon,just South of Medford.
There’s nothing prettier in the van world, than a flat front Ford.
I had a girlfriend once with a flat front.
Very cool.
Having owned a 67 Super Van (HD with the 240 engine) I can say that this is cool, but not without some detail issues. Even as a young guy, getting into the back over the engine lid was an issue. (EVERYONE put carpet on the engine box and used it as an extra seat) This van with the cabinet in the way has to be impossible to access the back w/o going outside in the bugs and rain. SPEAKING of rain, those rear door pop-out windows cannot be opened in the rain as they hinge on the sides, not the top. My biggest beef with these type of conversions is that you have to take down your table to make your bed. I love my VW Westfalia but even with that system you have “seat” or “bed” but not both. The vans rode well enough and if all was good it wasn’t too hot sitting next to the engine Limited to a 3 speed on the column, although I did see a factory 4 speed, on the column, with about 26 warning stickers about the operation of same. I cannot help thinking that it’s in such good condition as it was found to be so “clunky” to use that it mostly sat around. It is a “car show camper” where they looked good in the brochure but end up not very functional
Oh! and looking at the nose, I now recall that the grilles next to the headlights covered the air intakes for the cab. I don’t recall if one was for the heater and the other was just a square door with a handle, but you could open them up and get a serious blast of air in the cab, Maybe the one on the passenger side was the intake for the heater but if so, didn’t it have the vent door too?
Those, with the windows open and the vent wings flipped around, made the lack of AC a smaller problem than on some cars.
This is the one I built. The inside was really trippy and both outsides and the front and rear bumpers were carved redwood.
$25,700.00
Reserve not met
1966 Ford Econolines have a ONE bowl brake master cylinder.
The next year has a one year only two bowl master.
This is a heavy vehicle, you do want better brakes.
Camping is one thing, suffering is another. This would make a great camper, but living in it is another thing as I’m sure a lot of people recently can attest to. The Van life that has become popular over the last few years or so has really been thoroughly discussed in many articles and social media, with the realization that you do need a lot more room to survive in. BUT this Ford Econoline is very rare and desirable. 20k? Mmmm, yeah, barely. Good luck!