Vandemonium 1

Escape Campervans was a company which customized camper vans, then rented them to tourists. They went out of business, and their vans were fire-saled! We picked one up cheap. This is its story. They'd named ours "Crayola". It's a 2012 Econoline with 337k miles on it. We went to collect it at a weird facility in Antioch; it had no plate or title, but we'd determined through VIN snooping that it had been registered and smogged in California. So, we embarked upon a less-than-legal drive home. I got it smogged pretty quick – easy pass. The first real roadblock was just how much of a pain in the butt it is buying an auctioned car in California. Even with the smog pass, AAA wouldn't touch it, and the DMV was a fuss with wanting counter-signatures from Escape (tricky, when they no longer exist). However, we got it registered eventually. The first step was to clean up the dashboard. The power plugs were all chewed away, and covered in duct tape, and it had a poorly-mounted radio. - We hit on the idea of finding black plastic, cutting it, then using it as a "faceplate" for the accessory plug. Doesn't look factory fresh, but it is very solid, and it was three dollars. I'd backed both that and the existing cigarette lighter with epoxy putty, so they're very rigid. (Fun Van Fact™: The "12v hole" on the left is a cigarette lighter, but the "12v hole" on the right (and the one hidden in the glovebox) apparently cannot support the amperage of the cigarette lighter accessory, so the manual is explicit that there is only one lighter! We don't smoke, so hey. I wish they were hot on ignition, not hot all the time, so that's something to address in the future.) - I put in a cheap ($100) wireless CarPlay headunit, and ran the rear camera stuff. "Power Akoustik" is *not* the best brand, but it works rather well, and it did allow me to do a custom boot-up image. Crucial. At the same time, I also replaced all the interior bulbs with LEDs. The second step has been to clean up the interior, which was worn and rather gray. Good fundamentals, though, and the kitchen was designed pretty nicely. We'd set a low budget, and got started. - For the curtains, rather than pay for new blackout fabric Sam decided to get nice tulle and just sew it right over the top. Great! - For the floors, I'd cleaned them up, then laid down cheap peel-and-stick wood. - For the table, I'd cut a new one out of ply, covered it in contact paper, and done some edging. It also gained a little trick – countersunk rare-earth magnets to hold lamps/etc. steady. Cheap stuff, but it feels a lot nicer indoors now. This was all maybe $100. Really quite pleased with how all this has gone. It's currently getting all its fluids changed, and it will have its first trip in a few days. After that, I have new suspension parts will go on, and the van will inherit the Geolandars off of my Element when that car gets new tires shortly.