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1988 GMC Horse Van for Sale -questions

Around The Farm
#21

Vans can be a lot of fun…but, things to check out:

Rust, they biodegrade. Look for rust everywhere. Pull down the folding storage piece on the back of the body and the wheel wells.

The Ramp…is it solid? Does it pull out on both sides of the vehicle (it should). Can you even pull it out? Some have the electric upgrade which is wonderful.

Inside the box…what shape is it in? check all the fittings and make sure it has all the parts.

Electricals…do the lights work (inside and outside), do the truck instruments work (are they even accurate?)

If you make sure the van is in good working shape, they’re pretty bullet-proof…if they’ve got problems, you’re screwed.

Good luck…don’t forget, the ramp is very steep and narrow, some horses hate loading in vans.

Horse vans are a lot like boats…the happiest days are when you buy them and when you sell them. I donated my 3/4 horse van to a horse charity.

#22

For the vans think about where you are parking them when you go somewhere. For many of our local shows/events/chases you park in a field or pasture that may be on a hill and wet or muddy.
I love the thought of the vans but getting out of a muddy field that is not perfectly flat would concern me with a horse van.
I drive a 4WD pick-up so I have less of a concern than I would with a van.

#23

The handiest thing about a van, you don’t have to keep a truck around to pull a trailer. Sure, it’s specialized, so what, so’s a dressage saddle. Vans are fun and very old-school. If you can get one with a crew cab, they’re even better (mine was, very handy and a huge storage area over the cab.

#24

I have a '79 Streamliner 4/6 horse. Bought about 10 years ago, had a GMC 7000 truck with the 10 speed split shift and about 20k miles. My experience: the horses loved it - have NEVER had a horse who was a good trailer loader give the ramp a second thought and even with horses who had never loaded, it isn’t that big of a deal, I’ve taught ~ 5 young horses to load on it. The split shift isn’t a big deal as you don’t really need to use all of the gears. As old Mr. Branson (the manufacturer) told me, 1st gear is meant for a dump truck loaded with rock driving out of a quarry, not for 4 measly horses. It could be complicated because you actually do not go through all of the low gears first and then the high, technically you are supposed to go 2L, 2H, 3L, 3H, etc. but I typically would just go 2L, 3L, 4L, and only switch into 4H for the highway. The only thing I didn’t like about driving it was the gas pedal was very heavy to push down, tiring on long drives, not sure if this was a particular quirk of this truck.

About 3 years ago though, it had leaking brake seals and one was rusted to the point where it could not be opened and we couldn’t find one on a used truck so it wouldn’t pass inspection. We bought an F650, supercab, air suspension, diesel and had it put under the old body, which was repainted and reshined by Frank DiBella. Now we have the sweetest ride ever. It feels like driving a pickup. The conversion was pricey, but I don’t think we have any more money in it than a dually and a 4 horse head to head trailer with a large dressing room.

#25

Yes, that’s right! I talked with Mr Imperatore and he told me a story about when his brother delivered the van in VT.

The Bronsons also had horses in CA; their place was (is? I think the daughter, Zuleika, still rides) in Malibu.

After Jill Ireland died, Mr Bronson gave the van to a charity. At some point, the charity sold it to Far West Farm who was going to convert it to a water truck.

After sitting for some time, it was sold to the friend of a Far West assistant. The buyer lived in a canyon out in the Valley, had been through a fire scare with no transport and wanted a horse vehicle.

After living with a big horse van parked in the driveway for a while, she and her partner decided they didn’t like the hulk and would prefer a truck/trailer. They listed it online.

I had a 17.3 h TB who barely fit stuffed into my trailer. I’d mentioned to Risk-Averse Rider that I loved horse vans and somehow it happened that we made a bargain that if she went hunting I’d buy a van, or something like that. She went hunting and I needed a bigger vehicle for the horse, so she started looking for a van. In her online search she found this van.

And so, I ended up flying to LA, buying the van and driving it back to AZ. I also became good friends with the sellers. There’s more adventure to all the story, but that’s the short-ish version!

As a sad footnote, my friends later lost their house in the Station Fire. It started right above them. They were able to evacuate their horses before things got bad, but they themselves made it out with the clothes on their backs and a few guitars. :frowning:

#26

Any horse I’ve gotten near the van has gone up the ramp, even at its steepest. The big TB had a point in life where he decided he didn’t want to do it, but retraining fixed that.

It’s taken a little more time to teach some how to back into the stalls. I think they’re surprised by the request, but once they figure it out, it’s no problem.

#27

[QUOTE=rivenoak;5936694]

Just for kicks, paulaedwina, here’s a photo tour of my Imperatore van:

https://picasaweb.google.com/duddlesworth/Bronson?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLHl_bDKlLGQ0wE&feat=directlink[/QUOTE]

That thing is freaking awesome.

#28

In the event that anyone else might need a horse van…

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/grd/2826205763.html (this one looks like a giant schoolbus!)

This one is generally near me, but more than I would spend…
http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/grd/2780124193.html

This one is minus the truck…
http://spokane.craigslist.org/grd/2768227708.html

This one is ridiculously cheap…and looks semi-clean.
http://nh.craigslist.org/grd/2746055807.html

Yet another…
http://winchester.craigslist.org/cto/2819301246.html

Another big’un with some spiffy wood paneling on the interior…
http://swva.craigslist.org/grd/2827211724.html

…
http://knoxville.craigslist.org/grd/2823532331.html

6H…
http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/cto/2779548890.html

Ok, there’s a ton more.

#29

Owned a 1986 6 horse Streamliner on a 1996 Ford chassis for a while. Biggest difference between mine and OPs was that mine the box could be removed and set on another chassis. If money had been no object I might have tried that since I was in love with the box and hated the vehicle I had under the box.

What I loved:

  1. the way it looked inside and out with the wood interior.
  2. Massive amounts of storage in the cabover and the rear-end overhead. Also a ‘well’ on the roof for hay, which we didn’t use much, but had a lot of possibilities (I was thinking at one point of putting a deck chair and some beach sand up there…)
  3. Feeling like my horses were really, really safe (had a friend who got sideswiped shortly before I bought the van and the offending vehicle basically peeled the side off the horse trailer. That ain’t gonna happen with a stainless steel well.
  4. Flexible interior space! Just move (or remove) the dividers. We hauled up to 8 horses, combinations of stallions and mares with babies and (on numerous occasions) vast quantities of hay straight from the field.
  5. Being able to put our small stickshift car on a towbar behind the van so we always had a vehicle at shows.
  6. Surprisingly decent gas mileage (at least with the stick shift/engine combo I had, which was a former rollback) – about comparable to my F350 with 3 horse trailer on the back.

What I didn’t love:

  1. Heavy duty truck parts that meant you had to go to a specialty mechanic for anything significant,
  2. Specialty insurance (you need commercial insurance on these vehicles, even if you don’t require a commercial license to drive them)
  3. Specialty fittings. On the box I had it used 1950’s bezel taillights, horse trailer windows, and roof cleats from god-knows-where. Almost impossible to find anything ‘stock’ from an RV, horse-trailer or even truck store. Every little repair necessitated a Google search.
  4. This is a TRUCK. Even changing a tire on a vehicle like this is a chore and requires massive tools. We bought oil by the drum (kidding).
  5. The inevitable biodegrading around the box edges that someone else mentioned.
  6. Some of my horses hated the ramp, even with side walls. They were fine going up, hated coming down and tended to jump at the end
  7. The chassis determines the quality of your driving experience. Very few amenities in the worktruck I had, and it was noisy and tended to wallow on curves, so long trips were a chore.

Ours was purchased used for about a quarter of what it would cost to buy a decent dually and 6 horse gooseneck, but again, you need to consider the total cost of ownership. The cost to repair the brakes for example, was breathtaking, and the insurance was much, much higher than a conventional truck-trailer combo. But there is no doubt that it was a classy, secure vehicle, built ‘for the ages’ and a great advertisement for the farm.

#30

I drove a real “oldie-but-goodie” a few times to out-of-town shows for our local boarding barn. If you’re used to driving a manual car, it’s not difficult to learn to drive one of these. Comfortable ride for both drivers & horses, but cons - as previously mentioned - are that the ramp is quite steep (unless you can position the van advantageously to the local terrain), so you really need to look into decent good-traction ramp mats. And those ramps can be darn heavy as well. You also need to be uber careful when entering muddy showgrounds - it’s very very easy to get stuck in areas that regular trucks & trailers won’t have a problem with.

#31

Went to see this one, as I would love a van and this is close by. However, it has no brakes. She neglected to mention that in the ad. They live in the absolute middle of nowhere on top of a mountain. No way to drive that thing off of there, it would have to be towed and then have the brake lines fixed. It does need new tires at ~$150 each. I’d really love to have it, but don’t know that I can swing all those repairs on top of buying it. And it’s not an Imperatore, it’s a TruBuilt, as far as I can tell. There’s one just like it on Frank DiBella’s site.

#32

[QUOTE=4cornersfarm;6117639]
Went to see this one, as I would love a van and this is close by. However, it has no brakes. She neglected to mention that in the ad. [/QUOTE]

:lol: I’d consider that a “major issue” (ad says NO MAJOR ISSUES)!

#33

In her defense, I think the brakes went after she put up the ad. :slight_smile:

I would really love to buy it, it’s really quite nice. Plenty of room for a fourth horse, or even two ponies in front of the three stalls. It came from Kentucky, so not a lot of rust. Trying to talk myself into it! :smiley:

#34

Figure a few thousand dollars for the brakes. That will help you talk yourself out of it. :slight_smile:

Brakes on these beasts usually means not pads, but new lines, pistons and calipers. Not cheap.

#35

Hi are you still on here? I need information regarding a GMC Luxury liner i just purchased. Who was the original body builder. I think they were in Virginia.

#36

[QUOTE=BigRuss1996;5936553]
Keep in mind also that horse vans cost more for insurance then a horse trailer…[/QUOTE]

Good point. I managed a hunter jumper barn at a small college before I retired. They had two GM Vans and two large 12 horse trailers. The GM vans mostly sat in the parking lot and when there were to be used they were in the maintenance shop for a couple of days everytime to get them road ready.

This might be a good deal at that price if you’re driving the van more than a three or four times a week, but it waste of money for anything less. As has been pointed out insurance for a trailer is included in your vehicle policy, you don’t have to change the oil, tune-up, etc., and state inspections on a trailer are easier to get than on a large road vehicle. Plus, you are likely to be pulled by state trooper inspection units when you travel major highways or interstates.

I found that horses are more comfortable in trailers. Those van are top heavy and if you are in accident, they are likely to tip.

Just my two cents, but if I were you I’d be looking a trailer. A stale pizza can look good, but it is still stale.

#37

Just note that, except for post 35, this thread is quite old.

#38

[QUOTE=Janet;7926129]
Just note that, except for post 35, this thread is quite old.[/QUOTE]

Excellent information. Might be a good idea for me in the future to look at the dates on threads. I’ll keep this in mind while I’m looking for a table to crawl under to cry.

Pass the tissues and sedatives please.:frowning:

#39

saxonhorse, can you post a link to a photo? Someone here can probably identify the body if we see what it looks like.

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