Sure I bought a bus on Ebay from Florida… what could go wrong…

Sitting lonely in Florida with her passenger seat calling out for Shan’s bum.

Did you know that less than 3% of shuttle busses come with a passenger door and seat? I had a feeling this was true based on how scarce they would show up in my random searches over the past few years. I had kind of let go of the overall idea of building out a camper until my sister Karen reached out several weeks ago. My brother in law Mel works for a radio station and they were getting rid of a few sprinter vans. He thought I might be interested in one for a camper van build, which I was. He sent some photos and I thought they may end up being a bit small for what I had in mind. With my interest rekindled on the whole idea I decided to do an Ebay search again, I hadn’t looked in over a year and I came across this 2008 Ford E350 in Florida. Turns out in the same town Karen and Mel live.

The seller promised you could play Pit Fall on that monitor. So far… nothing.

This proved fortuitous because they were able to go check out the bus and test drive it for me. Everything seemed reasonable and I had the CarFax report with full maintenance records. She was a Missouri van with two previous owners who took great care of her. Money was wired and the seller paid 50% of the shipping costs from Florida to my house. Great! Though the adventure of flying down for a visit with Karen and Mel, then driving the bus home was appetizing, $600 to have it delivered to my doorstep was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

I still felt a bit uneasy though. Was this a colossal mistake that will prove to be a money pit, unending work and glares from Shannon? Time will tell.