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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] advice for market vehicle purchase
  • Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:32:57 -0500

I like my Ford Econoline 250, built as a work van. 

The particular one I wound up with used to be a Sears appliance repairs vehicle; it came with shelving that adapted very well to produce, and with heavy duty guards between the seats and any potentially flying boxes in case of panic stops or accidents. I can't quite stand up in it, and I'm short; but it is a very large pleasure to be able to load in the fall with lots of winter squash as part of the load and not have to worry much about either the bulk or the weight. 

I had a terrible time finding a work van for sale used but in decent condition until I found a place that specializes in them; they get vans a few years old from large companies that have fleets of them, do any obvious repairs, and resell them. They had quite a good selection to choose from. Beth, Peru looks a pretty good haul from KJ Truck Sales in Canandaigua, but maybe there's a similar business closer to you?



-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale




On Feb 24, 2012, at 10:59 AM, Frank Ventura wrote:

I don't have any experience with either of those but what we did a few years ago was purchase a used Ford 15 passenger van and removed all the back seats.  The back seats come out very easily with only a couple of bolts each.  It is not as tall as a Sprinter Van but the bonus is that it has air conditioning in the back for the passengers.  Also it's a little cheaper to repair than a german powered Sprinter.

Good Luck,
Frank Ventura
Dragonfly Farms



On Feb 5, 2012, at 4:07 PM, Beth Spaugh wrote:

Our old pickup wasn’t worth fixing up for inspection so we are shopping for a market vehicle.  I have been using our RAV4 for market, but we are thinking of getting a larger market vehicle.  We have pretty well settled on used Ford Transit Connect or used Dodge Sprinter.  Do any of you have experience/guidance with these?  We’d pretty much settled on the Transit but I am a little leery of not being able to haul 8 foot anything and the Sprinter is the only other one that has really attracted me.  I heard rave reviews of it a couple of years ago and it was supposed to have 30 mpg mileage, but the reviews are more down around 20. 
 
Oh, neither of us enjoys fixing machinery, so reliability is a must.
 
Thanks.
 
Beth Spaugh
Rehoboth Homestead, Peru NY




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