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!!!
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.
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.
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
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...
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.
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.
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
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?
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
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.
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
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.
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?
They are based on the Chevy or GMC vans, so any shop would be able to fix it. But they are very reliable. We have one with over 300K miles and she still runs strong. GM makes bulletproof V8's
The GM van chassis should be pretty reliable. Custom conversion parts (wood cabinetry, mood lighting, picture windows, etc.) could be hard to find if they break since Mark III and many of the conversion companies are out of business. Sherrod and Explorer are two of the major conversion van companies still in business.
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!!!
“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!
Wow, a TV and a VCR??? Somewhere between luxury SUV's and mini-motorhomes, the conversion van was a luxurious way to travel. Check out Retro Review of two different GMC-based models from Mark III.
All retro reviews are gold.
Agreed
quality
Yes
This comment is gold. Lol🎉
They bring back memories of the golden times, 80s & 90s...people had character & personality back then, and so did cars...
When I was growing up, whoever had a conversion van, we thought the family who owns one was the coolest people in the neighborhood.
The family who owned one of these was usually the same family who handed out full size candy bars at Halloween.
Thought this read that the family that had this owned the coolest people in the neighborhood. I was like what in the fuck kinda slavery...
@@StevenEveral this hit so deep omg
Try being Mark Vann, going to school in a mark 3 van... No shit, wanna know what my grandmothers name was? Minnie Vann. Swear to God. Lol
That is funny! So, did I! I knew someone Thad had one.
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 miss these vans :(. My parents had an econoline conversion van when I was a kid.
coolcamaro12 my grandfather used to have an econoline halfback conversion van, we junked it when it got a bad oil leak :/
An2nio Productions 😂
Econolines made the best conversions.
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.
Explorer still makes conversations of Ford, Chevy, and Mercedes Benz vans. They start in the $55k range and can go 6 digits
Even today that is a good looking van.
I bought 97 with 52k miles. Took it on a 6 hour round trip and it rides like a cloud. I love it!
how much did you pay
What! No boomerang antenna?
conflicts with the casette deck and CD Player
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.
Same boat. Have yet to come across a better all around daily driver.
There's the new type of conversion vans but the shape isn't good like old ones.
I wanted my parents to get one of these so bad when I was a kid. I thought the TV and VCR was awesome.
This is a purpose-built bang bus
Walker Hall My child hood ruined. 😂
Take van is better
@@TheBasher-_- that hit me hard too 😢
Sometimes when I am lonely I will shave one leg so it feels like I’m sleeping with a woman 👩🏼
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
I remember my family had a conversion van when I was growing up, pretty good memories of trips in it, too.
Who else had grandparents who had something like this? My grandparents did, and it was always awesome going on long road trips with them.
The family that owned a conversion van was considered rich in my neighborhoods
Haha man I remember when these were the rage!
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...
Yeah, my family had a Aerostar conversion, then got an Econoline.
LOL, this and the Minnie Winnie...
Ive always wanted this type of conversion vans
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
kids dont really pay attention to vehicles much anyways. Only a few like me
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.
@mipmipmipmipmip because they can watch movies on their phone and all that stuff. Those vans were cool because they had VCRs in them lol
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.
A buddy in high school had a 1979 Chevy step side with Mark III graphics. Sharp truck it was!!
I wish they would make these again. These were great.
I didn't know they were still making these into the new millennium. This looks much nicer than all the 80's models that are all falling to pieces.
I want the blue one. The gold is amazing
A VHS player in 2000? They’re keeping the conversion van true to its 80’s roots.
A friend of our family had a Ford Conversion Van and we went to a 1 full day concert series and we had a good time with it.
Man, imagine a Quigley conversion on this thing. The ultimate off-roading beast!
perfect van for living the van life
my grandpa and grandma had a Chevy one! thanks for the memories
I think that is so cool they still make them.
I love old vans like these
Beautiful
Conversion vans,
Miss the ol' Gladiator van. Great for ramblin'
gladiators were the best. i have a safri chariot
I love these Retro Reviews.
i have a mark 3 conversion van and it still runs well
Had no idea that they made extended for the conversions on these pretty interested
3:11 Ill bet many people had a fun time with that feature.
I had one of these, and a dodge too. I likes the dodge a bit better. It seem to have a bit more power and I liked the rack on top too
Great retro review as always Motorweek
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
Always wanted one of those bad ass vans!
GM is now the only company making legit creep vans.
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.
Dan McCarthy My family had one 😂 didnt know they were creep vans lolb
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.
Still have GM tattooed on your lower back?
Do you any more quigley 4x4 van reviews?
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?
What happens to the original roofs in these, do they cut them out to add the raised roof?
I used to work there yes they would cut the roof off and then install sport roof and we would trim out the inside
Great video
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
no slalom test no 0 to 60 times no 60 to 0 times :-(
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.
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
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.
Can I use a van like this for cargo transports if I fold the seats down?
Our first conversion vas a 98 chevy express mark3 then when we saw Explorer edition we fell in love then we upgraded to explorer
Very cool vans
Wow that last line was pretty passive aggressive lmao! If you can’t hack it in one of these products, then screw you.... haha
I have a Regency Econoline high top and it is a project to wash the top!
Definitely buying one
imagine doing an LS swap with this...
THAT'S where an LS swap would make sense, joke or not...
A vortec V8 is already loosely an LS.
Not exactly. The Vortec was still a SBC at heart, not an LSx.
syxepop Hoovies Garage reference?
LOL, they are both small block chevy's, what do you think an LS is!
13 mpg "That's better than some 9 passenger SUVs!" - so...the Excursion?
they need these 2018 style!
My first conversion van was a 1998 chevy express Marklll i was in love with her till i upgraded to Explorer package
One day, I'll finally get one
How many moms and dads adjourned to the back of one of those during long innings in little league?
The "color TV" part was funny
My first conversion was a 98 mark3 express
Day 139 of 24/7 MotorWeek retro reviews, I have reached “Conversion Vans”, I shall push on, can’t quit now.
The bed sells me !!
Could you look back in your archives and see if y'all got a 1987-90 Toyota Camry?
Ahhh! The good ole l31 engine VORTEC 5700 350 small block chevy. miss our 1998 burban and silvy z71 both 4x4😥😫😭
That's a lot of money to tell the world that you have candy.
Eks calybur
The whole "free candy" trick won't work with a van like this, you'll have to trick them by saying "free wifi".
Conversion vans weren't really creeper vans. You can tell by how many windows it has.
Just your daughter
I find that funny, I’m going to hell
What is the towing capacity though ?
hmm, what do they do at the end of first?
They should bring convertion van's back
@motorweek what about a Ford Aerostar review?
Sad how the markets for these have disappeared
Woah. :v Man these were swag af
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?
It is probably 12v so you need to replace it with 12v or set up an inverter.
3:10 Mr. Costanza says "Hootchie-Mama"
I think he’s saying son of Sam!!
Wait, what year was the last "retro review"
This is make America America.. I miss that good old thick stell..
Bodykit on a huge van=👍
Do a review on the hightop s10 blazer and hightop suburban
Good this van doesn’t roleover easy.
Now it's worth 5% of its original value 🤣🤣🤣
The Car Crazy Guy They are great deals nowadays if they have been taken care of. A new one is around 60k.
As is with any 20 year old car you big dummy
The GMs always looked more modern than the Ford competitor.
GMs have stayed in production longer than their blue oval counterparts...
All in one
how reliable are these things? A nice used one would be great to do a cross country trip with my gf.
They are based on the Chevy or GMC vans, so any shop would be able to fix it. But they are very reliable. We have one with over 300K miles and she still runs strong. GM makes bulletproof V8's
They are reliable as long as maintenance has been done. watch out for leaky intake manifold gaskets.
The GM van chassis should be pretty reliable. Custom conversion parts (wood cabinetry, mood lighting, picture windows, etc.) could be hard to find if they break since Mark III and many of the conversion companies are out of business. Sherrod and Explorer are two of the major conversion van companies still in business.
I wonder how much a good used one runs now?
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!!!
Whatever happened to the Mark III conversion van company?
Out of business.
I want one....
Not a single European person would ever have got into a van looking like that.
Que precio tiene
These always looked much more modern than the Ford version.
Say what you will about these vans but to me I think they're cool 😎 looking, I like them a friend owns one and he likes it.
“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!
Super
Wow, a TV and a VCR??? Somewhere between luxury SUV's and mini-motorhomes, the conversion van was a luxurious way to travel. Check out Retro Review of two different GMC-based models from Mark III.
Might have been nice to play some N64 games on the road from Philadelphia to California
Love MW's channel retro reviews! Might start adding retro reviews in my Channel!!
my childhood
You know what you can do with this in 2019
My one of my friends in elementary school had one of these in burgundy... Scary thing is GM is STILL making these same basic vans.