my 1987 safari is amazing

[justice]

I went on a trip to visit my grandmother the past week, and because of certain circumstances, I had to drive my 87 Safari which I never drive on long trips. FWIW, the van runs very good and only has 158k on it. I bought it from another board member a couple years ago and have only put about 3000 miles on it since I got it. All i have done to it since I bought it was new tires and brakes, oil change and transmission service, replaced the belt, put on a new fender and door and installed a stereo. Oh, and front seats out of a 2000 Astro and aftermarket fog lights. But obviously not much mechanically.

The van passes emissions with ease at inspection time.

Well, I went 900 miles round trip and the 87 averaged 22mpg for the trip, sometimes running long stretches at 70-80 mph. I was very pleased.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

Nice! And to think that 87 is nicer than most 2005's around here body wise. ](*,)

[thevalleyboy]

awesome - that is true that thing looks great for its age - it's a battle to keep vehicles up here in winter land looking and running good - just installed the winter tires today on mine - hope they keep the salt light....

[justice]

forgot to mention...

I originally bought the 87 for $400 and have maybe invested another $600 -700 into it (at least half of that was the new set of tires)

If my body work skills were decent (they are currently non-existant!) I would remove all the side glass, weld in steel panels, remove all the rear seats and make it a cargo.

Some day i'll actually attempt to do some body work on it. I have always wanted to get rid of the luggage rack and it has a few dents on the passenger side that need to be repaired.

[Smiliesafari]

I've always liked the short style vans. That's great MPG. I wish the "Smilievan" got as good. At his best he only gets 18-19 hwy. Usually around 12-13 city.