2009 Chevy Express 1500

Hi guys,

We are putting our converted 2009 Chevy Express on eBay late this September. Given that eBay won't let us post the van for more than 7 days at a time, we wanted to share our ad and some pictures here to allow for interested buyers to contact us with any questions. We love the van so much and want to make sure she has the best opportunity to find her new owners!

We'll add the eBay link to this post once it becomes available and are happy to discuss selling the car earlier if you are interested. The eBay add is below:

**Chewie is now on eBay . Click here

What is for sale:

This bid is for our reliable 2009 Chevy Express 1500, who we call Chewie. This van has absolutely exceeded our expectations and made for an incredible vanlife adventure. We tried to provide a very detailed description of the van and build (some info may be in a couple of spots). We also want to be as honest as possible when describing the van, so we have reported some of the minor downsides from our design that could be improved.

We built out our van exactly how we had wished and have received overwhelming feedback about the build quality throughout our trip. We decided the best thing to do is to let the auction decide what it is worth. We intend on demonstrating trustworthiness throughout the process and will post as many pictures (and videos) as possible. The van is has a Florida title and is currently in Boulder, CO but we may be flexible to drop it off so long elsewhere as your place is close to an airport and in the middle band of the US (for your assurance, we would want you to confirm this before placing your bid). Unless otherwise agreed between us and the buyer, the buyer will be responsible for pickup or shipping.

Vehicle Details & Cabin Features: 

• Year/Make/Model: 2009 Chevrolet Express Cargo Van 1500
• Engine & transmission : 4.3L V6 4 speed Automatic
• Drive: Rear wheel drive
• Options: Power Windows, Power locks, 1x Spare tire, central air conditioning & heat, 2x 12V lighter sockets, stereo with passenger side speaker (driver speaker not working), and bi-curtain separation from cabin (blackout curtains)
• Fuel Mileage: 21 mpg (we don’t have a city estimate but would guess somewhere around 13 mpg?)

The Camper Build:

The build was completed in Spring of 2017 with the goal to live in and travel around North America full-time. While, our trip has come to an end, all of our build components have held up strong and are working as originally intended. Our main focus was rock climbing around the country, so there is plenty of storage for gear (and even an installed hangboard if you want)! All inside wooden parts are made with quality wood, painted and/or stained, screwed and/or bolted. There are no squeaks and creaks while driving. The van has been built for boondock camping so there are no shore power hook ups. The house battery and power generator is compact and charged by the solar panel on the roof. It can alternatively be charged on the 12V lighter socket of the van while driving, or on the wall (or any 110V outlet available). All connectors are supplied. It ensures the storage of 400 Wh of energy and the internal inverter provides pure sine wave 110V AC and 12V DC in the van.

Our goals for the build:

• Internal gear storage, for our purpose of climbing
• Stealth. We kept a very basic cargo van look on the exterior for occasional camping on the streets and parking lots.
• Off the grid camping (boondocking) no need for hookups and the ability to park anywhere the van can get! An amazing feature!
• A mix of luxury (read: cedar wood, electricity, cold drinks, and a way to cook food easily) while living in a van

Electrical features:

• Portable solar energy generator with battery: Power Oak 400Wh
• Portable electric cooler: Dometic CFX-28US
• Solar panel: Grape solar 100W
• 6 powerful LED ceiling lights operated with 3 different switches for front, middle, and back lighting of the van
• Ceiling controlled fan: Fan-tastic fan 1250
• 3 separate outlets each with 2 three-prong plugs and 2 usb plugs (for a total of 6 & 6 in the entire car).
• 1 fuse box connected to the fan, the lights, and one additional lighter socket (12V) behind the electrical cooler
• Central A/C & heat
• Power windows
• Automatic central locking system

Bed Features:

• Full sized bed (w/ 8” reduction on length of bedding) with storage lower compartments. The bed is 5’10” long and 5’ wide
• 4 ¾“ IKEA Meistervik mattress
• Below bed storage
• 2x front/back drawers of L x W x H:  29” x 37.5” x 12”
• 2x long-term storage compartments of L x W x H:  70” x 14” x 12”

Storage:

• Assembly of kitchen cabinets in unfinished oak with walnut countertops
• 2 sets of 30x12x12in
• 1 set of 12x12x30in
• Below bed storage (also available in bed features)
• 2x front/back drawers of L x W x H:  29” x 37.5” x 12”
• 2x long-term storage compartments of L x W x H:  70” x 14” x 12”
• Center consul storage box (L x W x H: 23” x 17” x 16”)
• Side door shelves for cooking stove and lower shelf for miscellaneous storage (we use it for our toiletries) the other side door holds our trash compartment

Floor/Wall/Ceiling:

• Rumble Guard sound deadener on walls & flooring (noise reductant)
• One base layer of Reflectix walls & ceiling
• Foam board insulation on side walls & ceiling
• Cedar panels across the sides, back, and ceiling
• Laminate flooring (light grey oak w/ black border guard)

Other notes:

• Electronic car manual
• OBDI II Code Car Diagnostic Tool (WIFI OBD2 Scanner)
• 2 sets of keys
• 2 seats (passenger side is a swivel seat)
• Florida title (available for sale transfer)
• We are also happy to include our cutlery/cooking/cleaning equipment

Mechanical description:

Chewie is a 2009 Chevrolet Express Cargo Van 1500. The 4.3L V6 engine runs and sounds great, with no weird sounds or shakes. We spent around $2,000 on core car updates to ensure that the van was in the best condition before remodeling the interior compartment (see pictures below). The smooth 4 speed automatic transmission makes the driving a comfortable experience on the highway and feels powerful when climbing steeper terrain. Thanks to its convenient size and stealthy look, it has been very easy to explore National Parks and off the map climbing areas or drive through busy cities to meet friends. Although we always avoided very damaged off-roads, the ground clearance and the new tires allow us to reach remote camping sites in the woods with a peaceful mind. Chewie is a well-rounded van both mechanically and esthetically! Chevrolet engines are known to be very reliable, and it is very common to see these types of van being bought and sold at 200,000 miles or more at car dealerships. With a mere 143,000 miles (mostly highway) and a great mechanical follow-up, Chewie is just entering adulthood. We drove round 15,000 miles so far and Chewie has been extremely reliable, and we wouldn’t be surprised if she hasn’t even reached half her life.

Maintenance summary:

• Mileage 131,837
  • Replace brake pads and rotors (front and rear)
  • Replace rear brake shoes
  • Replace right inner tie rod
  • Replace both front hub assemblies
• Mileage 133,042
  • Replace coolant temperature sensor
• Mileage 133, 130
  • 2 new tires (Firestone transforce HT)
  • Install passenger swivel seat
• Mileage 134,467
  • Multi-point inspection – vehicle health report
  • Oil change
  • Tire rotation
• Mileage 139,740
  • Multi-point inspection – vehicle health report
  • Complete lube, oil, and filter service
• Mileage 139,975
  • 2 new tires (Cooper)
  • Mileage 142,151
  • Replace left front headlamp and connector terminals
• Mileage 144,133
  • o   Oil change
  • o   Filter change
  • o   Replace left front hub

What’s not perfect:

The van has all the essentials needed for camping and exploring. The two main elements that are missing are a shower and a toilet (but woods and rivers are abundant in this country!). The size of the bed works perfectly for us, but we aren’t taller than 5’9”, so taller people might find it a bit tight or need to sleep at an angle.

After our use, the only drawback we can report from the electrical installation is a slightly high draw of power from the fridge when used continuously. During sunny days this is not an issue, as the 100W solar panel will support both the consumption of the fridge and recharge of the battery. But if there is not enough sunlight during the day the battery charge level will be low at the end of the night. Thanks to global warming and very sunny days, we rarely came across this issue. An easy solution to this problem would be to add another solar panel on the roof coupled in series in order to reduce the charging time for the compartment battery during the day. Alternatively, you can plug the compartment through the lighter socket during drives to help charge on cloudy days.

There are two permanent warnings on the dashboard due to the absence of airbag on the passenger side and the absence of tire pressure sensors (removed by the previous owner). These warnings do not affect the reliability of the car in any way.

Closing statement:

We are pretty sad to sell our beloved van. We had such an amazing adventure with her and she took great care of our equipment & us! As we are going back to full time jobs, it just doesn’t make sense for us to keep her. We thought it best to pass Chewie on to other adventurers and hope that they will have as much fun as we did with her.

In order to give you a few days to send the payment and for us to organize the transfer, we will deliver the van on October 12th if you live in Boulder/Denver (or organize the shipping for the same date if in another location).

Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions. We will be keeping an eye out for questions or interests. We would be happy to meet with you if you would like to see the van or potentially have a Skype.

Contact info if you have more questions:

text/call: 646-725-4144

email: o.menou@hotmail.fr

We apologize in advance if the answer takes a bit of time, we are often in remote areas with no coverage or internet. But will get back to you as soon as possible!

Happy bidding!

Gorgeous build, well done!

Best looking Express build I've ever seen!   Somebody jump on this!

Sent a text message so please contact me asap 

Thanks for the comments. We put a lot time and money into making the van into our dream mobile!

Kim, I'm posting this while my boyfriend, Olivier, continues on the trip for another couple of weeks. He is in the mountains without reception, but he should pop out tomorrow or Wednesday to reply to your text. Otherwise, feel free to email me 

Txt coming at you tonight

Sent you a pm. 

Not seeing any link. What's the asking? Why eBay? Aren't there fees involved that way?

Great looking van. I wish I was in the market to purchase - based solely on your write-up, I can tell how well maintained this vehicle is. Anyone who takes this kind of effort to put together such a well written doc is someone I would buy from!

Any indication on an asking price??  I'm interested but couldn't begin to know what you guys put into it monetarily.  KBB has a Chevy Express 1500 with that mileage around $6500, but this thing is obviously decked out beautifully.  

fuzzy muzzle wrote:

Not seeing any link. What's the asking? Why eBay? Aren't there fees involved that way?

Link: Unfortunately, eBay will only allow us to post the van for 7 days of bidding so we are trying to get the word out before we post the van later in September. We'll edit the post and include the link once we list it on eBay.

Why eBay: Given that this is not a typical 2009 Chevy Express, we want to let the buyers determine the value. eBay is the easiest place to do so.

eBay fees: Yes, eBay charges fees to sell vehicles. It varies on the sale price, but we are happy to pay for those expenses ourselves so long as Chewie finds a home. We would prefer to sell one-on-one, just because we love this van and want to have awesome people experience Chewie... but we also hope that people will contact us here and/or on eBay during bidding.

What's the asking: We are going to start the eBay bid at $12,000 and, based on feedback from interested buyers, anticipate it will go for more. As of now, we have around 25 people who are actively interested to buy the van. We are also open to selling the van before putting on it on eBay (it is less of a hassle for us and guarantees the van to the buyer). Send me an email asap if you want to purchase it now.

Melissa Meinhart wrote:

Link: Unfortunately, eBay will only allow us to post the van for 7 days of bidding so we are trying to get the word out before we post the van later in September. We'll edit the post and include the link once we list it on eBay.

Why eBay: Given that this is not a typical 2009 Chevy Express, we want to let the buyers determine the value. eBay is the easiest place to do so.

eBay fees: Yes, eBay charges fees to sell vehicles. It varies on the sale price, but we are happy to pay for those expenses ourselves so long as Chewie finds a home. We would prefer to sell one-on-one, just because we love this van and want to have awesome people experience Chewie... but we also hope that people will contact us here and/or on eBay during bidding.

What's the asking: We are going to start the eBay bid at $12,000 and, based on feedback from interested buyers, anticipate it will go for more. As of now, we have around 25 people who are actively interested to buy the van. We are also open to selling the van before putting on it on eBay (it is less of a hassle for us and guarantees the van to the buyer). Send me an email asap if you want to purchase it now.

Well, is it going to be possible to take a look at the van before it's on eBay? Olivier said it won't be available until late Sept anyway...?

Em Cos wrote:

Well, is it going to be possible to take a look at the van before it's on eBay? Olivier said it won't be available until late Sept anyway...?

Absolutely! As indicated in the thread, the eBay post won't happen until late September (probably around the 27th). Olivier is still figuring out when he'll be in Boulder-proper, but we would love for you to check out the van!

Em Cos wrote:

Well, is it going to be possible to take a look at the van before it's on eBay? Olivier said it won't be available until late Sept anyway...?

Hey everyone, I will be in Boulder Tuesday 26th so if anyone wants to take a closer look at the van, just let me know and we can arrange appointments on this date! I will be staying close to "The Spot" bouldering gym in Boulder. Feel free to message me on my phone 646-725-41444 to set up things. I'm currently in Rifle so don't have coverage all the time but will answer you back asap. Cheers.

Chewie is on eBay!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2009-Chevrolet-Express-/162688833732?hash=item25e10298c4:g:15MAAOSwPC5Zy9Cs&vxp=mtr

I'm confused about this post.  Are you talking to buyers, or are you just referring people to your ebay page so they can get into a bidding war?  I'm interested in the van, but I'm not so interested in getting into a bidding war on ebay (as opposed to discussing with the seller like a "normal" sale).  Can you clarify?

Kyle Tarry wrote:

I'm confused about this post.  Are you talking to buyers, or are you just referring people to your ebay page so they can get into a bidding war?  I'm interested in the van, but I'm not so interested in getting into a bidding war on ebay (as opposed to discussing with the seller like a "normal" sale).  Can you clarify?

Whats the confusing part?  From the beginning they said it will be posted on ebay.

Kyle Tarry wrote:

I'm confused about this post.  Are you talking to buyers, or are you just referring people to your ebay page so they can get into a bidding war?  I'm interested in the van, but I'm not so interested in getting into a bidding war on ebay (as opposed to discussing with the seller like a "normal" sale).  Can you clarify?

Throughout the process, we have indicated that we were first open to individual buyers and that we would post it on eBay if no purchase was finalized by the end of September. We fly out of CO in mid-October so it's now on eBay.

We've spoken to each person who has contacted us directly, and usually within hours. Unfortunately, Kyle, I don't think Olivier nor I have spoken to you. Please do not hesitate to send us an sms or give us a call if you would like to talk.

Sorry Melissa, I didn't see this until now so I guess I am too late. :(  If it comes out of bid mode and you guys have an asking price, I'd be very interested to discuss.

Chewie now has a new owner. Thanks to everyone who spoke with us and viewed the van. For any of you considering van life, do it!!