Wow, a TV and a VCR??? Somewhere between luxury SUVs and mini-motorhomes, the conversion van was a luxurious way to travel. Check out our Retro Review of two different GMC-based models from Mark III.
Growning up my mom & dad bought a brand new fully loaded 1994 hi top gmc explorer limited se van with the fold down bed, 13in. tv & vcr in the back, I can't tell you how many times I fell asleep watching Lion King,Ninja Turtles & Star Wars during long road trips, now my kids fall asleep watching my 32in Samsung Flatscreen tv during long road trips in my 2014 GMC Savanna Southern Comfort Elite Van I purchased from a old retired couple back in May 2020 with 89k miles on it as of March 2021 even though we lost mom last year to breast cancer my dad tells me all the time how he wishes she could've been here to take a ride in it, then he take a step back, look at the van then look at me & tell me I'M PROUD OF YOU BOY!!!
I have a 98 Chevy conversion van and I have heard every child molester joke around until everybody wants to go do something and then I get asked to drive because its so comfortable for a group of people. I have 117k miles on mine and it has been totally reliable. The best part about it is that you can drive or ride in it for 12-16 hours in a day and not feel beat up when you get to your destination. It also gets 17-18 mpg doing it. They are just getting harder and harder to find now is the sad part.
coolcamaro12 dude, my parents had a very similar Starcraft conversion. It's forever ruined me for long car-rides in anything else. My comfy windows seat was seriously the best thing ever.
Kids today have no idea how lazy and convenient they have it. I remember my friends mom had one of these and we would beg her to drive us places just so we could watch a movie in the back! We found it so cool and so much fun. I miss when stuff was simple
I remember getting excited when my dad got a company car with a DVD player in it... A few times kids in the big ol rv would like taking a peak at what we were watching.
And not only the large vans (E-Series, Express / Savanna and Ram Van) benefited from the conversions, but both SWB and LWB Astros / Safaris and to a lesser degree the Aerostar were bought as conversions...
These 2000 era conversion vans were the last of dying breed. SUVs basically took over the market with the rise of smart phones and tablets the need built in TV's and video game systems disappeared. The heyday for the conversion van was really the 1980s and 90s.
Ok when I was a kid my mom bought one used back in 2004. It wasn't the exact same van & it didn't have everything featured but it did have the tv, VHS player so as an 8 year old kid this was 100% the coolest thing in existence! You better believe me & my family took full advantage of it while we had it, we'd always watch t.v. on car trips took those plug in arcade games. My brother & I also tried to figure out how we could plug in our PS2 slim in so we could play our PS2 games on the go but sadly we didn't have a the outlet to do it. Still 11 / 10 kid approval
Sorry, but depending what you mean with "creep vans" the large Nissan NV's would also qualify, as they're still "old-school", as in based on last-gen Armada SUV with their old gas (NA-4.0L) V6 and (1st gen NA-5.6L) V8 and no TD option yet (why?). And the USDM GM large vans are no longer available for '17 MY except for (3500+) HD versions. The E-Series (Econoline) Ford vans are still available for '17 only on HD Cab+Chassis versions (the ones RV makers used even in Y2K) with V8 and V10 gas engines and the Power Stroke (6.7L) V8 TD sold only by special order on Ford's specialized truck dealers. Other versions available at regular Ford car dealers have been transferred to the Euro-styled Transits and their (NA and EB'd 3.5L's) V6 gas engines and 3.2L I5 Power Stroke TD's. Those Euro-styled vans and their multiple lengths, heights and sets of options from the factories made the conversion van pretty much not needed... (I've seen yesterday locally a USED 4-row factory stock Mercedes Sprinter hi-rise passenger van on a used car dealer that's pretty much a modern version of a regular length conversion van, except for the TV and a few other thingies...)
The Peugeot-Fiat van>>>aka Dodge Ram Promaster, Ford Transit, and Benz Sprinter are unit-bodies and don't have the beam/torsional stiffness in the spot-welded sheet-rails to build an "old school" Class C size-weight class....which is why they look downright hideous when made into faux Class Cs. The Sprinters are downright garbage...typical Benz non-reliability.Thank Benz for killing off the Dodge van (to force consumers to buy their garbage) then when they owned and ran Chrysler-Jeep into bankruptcy.
Well, GM is the only American company making vans. Although Ford still has E-Series cab & chassis models. Regular E-Series vans were replaced by the Transit.
So strange how screwed up the audio is in some of the early 2000s retro reviews. Who thought it was a good idea to have music as loud as the narration?
Now appearing in Craigslist's all throughout the USA for $2495 and under.RIP Mark lll.They built some nice van's and paid nice bonuses to salesman to sell them
Just buy a calendar... (or roughly accelerating on par with economy cars of the Y2K era, wishing to stop soon and plowing through the falling cones... )
This is still a very nice van, I'd upgrade the rear TV into a larger flatscreen but that wouldn't be hard to fit in, maybe upgrade the stereo the accept Blue Tooth but apart from that everything else is still good. Of course all of the vans like this from that era are probably in junk yards now or are beat up and barely running.
Our family had one of these growing up, it came complete with the TV and VCR as shown here as well as an N64 which my brother and I loved playing on long trips. Overall we had fun with it until it was time to trade it in for something more practical once we grew older and moved out.
God I love vans. The homeowner and it's cheaper than SUV. I'd love to get a new conversion but I already own an 80s van. El Capitan is still around in Southern California so if you ever want to look at one
My family had a 2000 GMC savana van from 2006 to 2017 they got rid of it in October 2017 traded it in for a 2014 jeep Cherokee the starter went bad in June 2016 they didnt want to get that fixed cuz they were worried about how much it cost so it sat in the driveway for 1 year and 3 months it was a grey passenger van 1500 over the 11 yrs we had it everything was fixing it over the 11 yrs peorid we spent at least 5000 dollars total in fixing it
Do you have to call the company if you want to update your stereo and video system too, or could you just head down to your local car audio dealership?
“The large picture windows are darkly tinted...” t̸h̸a̸t̸s̸ j̸u̸s̸t̸ w̸h̸a̸t̸ i̸ n̸e̸e̸d̸ i̸f̸ y̸o̸u̸ k̸n̸o̸w̸ w̸h̸a̸t̸ i̸ m̸e̸a̸n̸ What I meant to say is what a nice feature!
Mark III went out of business after this commercial -- I have an old '93 GMC conversion by them -- piece of crap in quality -- the van is fine - the add ons are what are cheap.
Chapman Films depending on your budget but definitely check out "sportsmobile.com", they specialize in these types of conversions and often have used ones for sale, additionally they are like a middle man for clients looking to sell their vans. While back they had some Econoline Ford's and Chevy vans lifted and 4x4 with the diesel motors.... SOFAKING AWESOME!!!
