Max...The Road Warrior

Buying a new vehicle was a very difficult decision but I had to man up and do it. I've loved Troy, my 1986 VW Vanagon Westy, with all my heart. But it got to the point where I was unable to leave town for climbing trips. Kind of defeats the purpose of having a camper van if you can't leave town to camp! So I was faced with the difficult decision of either putting 1000's of dollars into a full restoration or spending 1000's of dollars on a new rig. I bought a new rig.

This is Max...the Road Warrior. Obviously named after Mad Max. Max is a Dodge Sprinter cargo van with a 2.7 liter turbo diesel Mercedes engine that will supposedly run up to 400,000 miles at about 30 MPG's. Sick. He is an empty shell of a rig that was used as a work truck in Iowa. Note the shelving, ladder rack, and bulkhead. I flew to Iowa to pick it up, filled up the tank across the street from the dealer, then drove it home, only stopping for gas once! It has a big tank. 800 miles on a tank and a quarter.

I plan to share the details of the conversion on this blog. My beta is not only ironclad in climbing but in all aspects of life as well, including van conversion. And so the effort begins. Here are some pics of Max in his current state.