I had a pretty ambitious weekend planned. Turns out, my body is still not able to get everything done that my brain plans.

 More on that later. I now have a van. Yes....I guess I did just re-enter the world of vehicle ownership again. I will need a vehicle to work again. More importantly though. Need a vehicle in Marathon, FL. this fall. So here it is.

It was the very best GMC offered in 1994. The diamond executive vandura. It needs a little tlc.

I spent some time looking for the right one. It needed to be cheap. Run out good and not have a destroyed interior.

We actually drove 3 1\2  hours up to Saluda, SC. to look at one. I felt like the guy deserved knots on his head for the misleading ad. Seven hours driving to look at a piece of junk. I won't say more than that. I should have taken a picture.


That was last Saturday. April 4th. Tuesday we drove 3 1\2 hours to Durham, N.C. and bought this van.

We knew we had new neighbors before we had made last Saturday's drive. We had not seen them yet. When I walked out to the car with Vivian Monday morning, we found a green conversion van in their driveway. So Wednesday morning it looked like vans were overtaking the neighborhood.

Wonder what the rest of the neighbors thought? :-)



So with the great price of $1,200. The van needs a few repairs and paint. Not fond of the purple carpet and door panels but have a very good cure for that.
 It had a wheel bearing in the rear end that needed replaced.

I also needed to replace one axle. Since it was apart, I replaced bearings and seals on both sides. The home owners association would have had fits if I had done this job at home. I drove up to Mary Beth's home in Southport,N.C. to do it.

I should have got a few more pictures. Maybe at least one of the slide hammer bearing puller I used to get wheel bearings out. Or of differential while pulling clips out. But I didn't. Just know that there were several steps not photographed. Actually, you can see the bearing puller case opened up on the tire.

The rear end went together without a hitch.
 I had picked up about $500 in parts all totalled.

This was the first pile on the counter at parts place. The rearend parts were about $200. They were another pile. My back was pretty sore. I decided that the radiator hoses, rebuilding the power steering pump, serpentine belt(fan belt) and tensioner pulley, thermostat and power steering hoses can all be replaced at home. I am sure I missed something in the list.

Actually :-) I did forget to mention one thing. Dad taught us boys how to paint cars when we were kids. Small paint shop next to the house. We rebuilt engines and all kinds of things in that shop. I can and have painted vehicles for a living.
So when I tell you Dad will cringe when he hears how I am going to paint the van....I am not kidding.

I am going to roll and tip it with rustoleum. :-) :-) :-)
I gave it quite a bit of thought. Black is too hot. In Marathon, that thing would be like crawling in an oven. White will help. I need to practice roll and tip painting on something.  It is likely I will end up doing it on a boat. The van has some rust. Doing a standard auto paint job would be very labor intensive. I don't have the place or time for that. About $180 for the rustoleum primer, paint and accoutraments. You aren't going to buy all the materials for a car paint job for remotely close to that.

I watched a utube video where a guy rolled and tipped his pickup. The more I thought about it....the more I liked it. I do not even have to do it all at once. It will look fine when done. If you never knew how it was painted...you would never guess without close inspection

The van drives like a cadillac. Has a queen bed when rear seat is folded down. Can pull a trailer or haul full sheets of plywood. Not likely to own it for more than a couple years. Will look clean, bright and be reliable. Very important piece of the puzzle for our near future plans. Let's not forget me needing to just lay down when my back hurts.

Vivian and I jokingly call it a big horking van. Shortened to horking van. Gonna call it Orca. It is kind of a whale-of-a-van!

Last...and certainly not least. Went out to dinner at the Dead End Saloon in Southport, next to where I had Mary Lee while there. They got $18 out of me for dinner. My favorite.

Fish and chips. With the tip, it may be the most expensive fish and chips I have ever had. But, you know, fish and chips is my favorite. It was a pretty big plate of food. I was barely able to eat it all.

Next post should see van painted...or at least in process. For now...finishing coffee and then going grocery shopping with my honey bunchess in a huge black van.

I have been bragging. Although Vivian and I do not always agree on everything. We are at our two year anniversary and still not one fight(probably because neither of us cares for fighting). I sure do love this woman. We are two peas in a pod.