In 2008, British Columbia based business West Coast Leisure Homes closed the doors on its venture into overlanding vehicles, a company known as Okanagan. Okanagan not only manufactured truck campers and fifth wheel couplings, but they also converted vehicles, such as this 1989 Ford E-Series Okanagan that’s available here on eBay.
This E-Series is available in Ashland, Oregon with a clean title. The seller purchased the van from the original owner, who included plenty of documentation, such as maintenance receipts spanning its lifetime, and Okanagan’s build sheet for the conversion.
It’s impressive to see how well both the body and the period-correct graphics have held up during the years. The van also benefits from the recent installation of new tires.
As you can expect, the interior has all sorts of amenities that make it excellent for adventuring, and it also happens to be in great shape. Some of the features comprise of cold air conditioning, both a folding bed and a queen bed, a toilet, a shower, a microwave, and plenty more. Additionally, there is also a fridge that will receive repairs before the van’s sale.
There’s a 351 cu.-in. V8 engine under the hood, which pairs to an automatic transmission to drive the rear wheels. The drivetrain has 70,039 miles on it and the van runs and drives without any issues. This is partially due to a plethora of maintenance that was freshly performed at a Ford dealership, which includes new rear brake shoes, drums, and cylinders, a new brake master cylinder, a fuel system service that includes new fuel tanks and injectors, new spark plugs, and a new cap and rotor.
At the time of publication, bidding is at $13,100, and the seller requires a $1,000 deposit within 48 hours of the purchase. Would you go camping in this Okanagan?
Don’t be fooled. This is a Fiero based kit car. Of course that’s nonsense, but this is an awesome time capsule and somewhat ahead of it’s time. Today ‘van life’ is huge and class B vans and professional and hobbyist conversions are kind of a big deal. If you doubt this, do a Google search. It is probably priced right for its condition. Expect to pay +/- six figures for todays versions.
That’s OKANAGAN. It’s where I was born. After reading the ad and looking at the pics of the unit ( which has OKANAGAN written all over it) I’m wondering how the author could misspell this in the write up so many times. Sorry for the rant I’m just very partial to the area. Going there in a few weeks to get some much needed rest and Okanagan sun on a beach on Okanagan lake with a drink in my hand with a few friends. Have a good day everyone!
Maybe he was thinking of a Vanagon camper while writing about a Okanagan camper.
Thank you for the heads up, I’ve updated the article. The spell check on my computer incorrectly “corrected” those, and I apologize for the error.
All good Kevin. Going after something like that really makes me see I need a vacation lol. Thanks for the write up.
looks like he spelt it the way you did
Before I went Class A, I considered doing one of these. Looked at a few, even committed to buying one before I found that the seller had hidden a few very important facts about it.
The 351 is a good choice, as long as there is no plan to pull more than a canoe with it. Interesting feature that have never seen is wheel covers with 7 decorative lug nuts. I can’t tell by the photos whether this is a 3/4 ton E250 or a 1 ton E350. They would have had 6 or 8 lugs on the axles/wheels, depending on how HD the chassis is.
For myself, I was looking for the 460 engine, or ever rarer, a diesel.
If someone is looking for a compact traveler for one or two people, this could be a great option.
Edit: I guess this one does not have an on-board generator, which some do. A smallish one with 2500 watts was usually sufficient, and didn’t add much weight or take up too much room. So, “boondocking” would require carrying a portable generator for power, and fuel to keep it going.
Not sure if anyone else noticed, but someone stole their garage walls.
My wife and I seriously considered a Class B while we were looking for a reasonably priced camper a few years ago. We ended up buying a very nice, older Class C instead because we needed room for our twin grandsons to come along. If it had been just us, this would’ve fit our needs perfectly.