Someone in East Wenatchee, Washington, is selling a 2001 Dodge Ram Van 2500 that’s been converted to a pickup truck. I understand that might sound lame if you’ve never seen a picture of it, but since you saw the big one at the top of this story and clicked, I’m sure you can see why I cared enough to write about it. It’s like something I would have drawn as a seven-year-old.
It’s unclear who did this conversion—it could be professional, though I bet it’s homemade—but it looks good enough to serve as a capable utility truck for hauling lumber, building materials, or a ton of mulch for weekend duty. And at $6,500 with 96,000 miles on the odometer, it’s sorta cheap and fresh enough to be a beater that lasts.
The Dodge Ram Van was never quite as popular as the Chevy Express, as that van is still on sale but also old enough to be featured on stone tablets. However, the Dodge was always a solid option. The V6 version wasn’t as useful with just 175 horsepower, but this has one of the available V8s. The seller doesn’t say which V8 it has, but at a minimum, it offered a 318-cubic-inch lump with 230 horsepower. At best, it’s a 360-cubic-inch V8 with 250 horsepower. Still, it should be able to tow a decent amount with a payload capacity of around 2,200 pounds.
Whoever did the conversion seems to have done a good enough job. It looks kind of like an old-school cabover pickup—think a ’60s Ford Econoline—and it still has the van’s rear double doors that make bed access easier. They even kept the third door on the passenger side, which creates an additional access point to the bed that could make longer items easier to load and unload. The seller doesn’t say whether the rear window opens all the way or can be removed, but one photo does show it opening a little. Maybe that’s just good for some extra air on a hot day.
Before it became a pickup, the Ram Van 2500 had a massive cargo capacity of 238.9 cubic feet. It pretty much maintains that capacity now, just with the ability to carry larger, more oddly shaped things since it doesn’t have a roof. And let’s say you’re getting some landscaping material, it can be loaded up with a front-end loader, which makes life easier.
With under 100,000 miles on it, this Ram Van pickup should provide several more years of service. It seems to be in mostly good shape, even if there are already signs of rust in the seller’s photos. But if the rust isn’t too bad, and you want to use it as a workhorse, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
Sure, for the same money, you can get a factory-made pickup truck like a GMT800 Chevy. But that’s not as interesting! If you need something with a bit more bed space that’s just used for weekend hauling duties, this Ram Van pickup conversion might be perfect. Plus, you’ll have the only one around.
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