Well, our man Rocco has been killing it this week with the weird finds and tips.This time he presented us with this true gem, a rare 1988 Ford E350 Centurion. This is the type of thing that’s basically the love child of a dually and a conversion van. With a big block engine, a slightly smaller than usual conversion van whore house interior, and a truck bed with a call cap just because, you can do and be anything you want in this truck thing. If you were wanting to really capture the 1980s hauler vibe of this thing you are going to need to hunt down a period funny car and enclosed trailer to drag around.
The fact that the poster the ad literally says, “posting for a friend” makes this whole thing that much better. We have no idea as to how many of these things were built or how many are left surviving but how cow is this thing a rarity. The guy is asking pretty stiff money for it and we think that this is one of the situations where the vehicle is not rare because it was built to limited editions it is rare because no one wanted them in the first place.
Here’s the text of the ad in case it sells –
Im posting this for a friend, contact him only!
Reduced from $10,900! Factory Van-Truck 3 Door Conversion with rare fiberglass cap.
Only 127,000 miles on truck and 3,000 miles on Jasper 460 v8 gas motor. 5,000 + miles on professional c6 automatic transmission rebuild.
New: oil cooler, exhaust manifolds, high torque starter, battery control modual, electric trailer brake control.
Two adult owners since new. Must see to appreciate, it’s a Classic!
$9,950.00!
CL ad link: This 1988 E350 Centurion is weird and awesome – BUY IT!
So, it’s a red, white, and blue van, with a pink, purple, and burnt orange interior? Either the years have been really unkind to the upholstery, or somebody wanted to relive the ’70s vanning fad WAY too much.
It does look like it could be a useful trackside support vehicle, but there’s better choices for that price tag.
Not weird enough.
My vision? Start with a K30 four door long bed TBI 454 with a solid front axle, shorten the box to a four footer, lop the two rear doors off the cab, stretch the frame a foot, maybe two, and fill in the empty space with a high-top conversion van with the 60/40 split side doors.
It probably wouldn’t look so hideous with a simple single colour paint job….
I remember seeing one back in the day with a 5th wheel hitch in the bed. That’s the only way this thing makes any sense at all.