The search for the van

After definitely deciding that I would build the campervan on my own, everything became much simpler. I no longer had to choose between buying a finished campervan or building it myself. Only one task remained: finding the right van.

I was convinced that I would find it in a couple of weeks.

The reality was very different.

The search lasted almost two and a half months.

At first I was only looking for Fiat Ducatos. Afterwards I broadened my search to Citroën, Peugeot and other similar models. But I quickly discovered that the problem wasn't the brand.

The real problem was finding a good van.

During that time I called about thirty adverts. Some were already sold. In others, the seller only mentioned the problems when we spoke on the phone. Some had too many miles, others an exaggerated price for the condition they were in.

There were times when I came to think that finding a suitable van was practically impossible.

Until a new one appeared.

It was near Seville, about 550 kilometres from my house. In the photos it looked good. What's more, the price was also eye-catching: 18,800 euros, when most similar models cost between 22,000 and 23,000 euros.

I called the landlord and we arranged to view it.

I asked a friend to come with me. The plan was simple: if the van was worth it, I'd drive it back myself.

When I saw him in person, the first impression was not as good as I expected.

The bodywork was full of small scratches and marks typical of a work vehicle. Inside there was only bare metal, some cardboard and the traces of many years of use.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed.

But then I thought about the two and a half months I'd been looking.

I hadn't found anything better.

«Well,» I thought, «I'll fix the bodywork later. The important thing is to make a start.»

We signed the paperwork and, for the first time, I sat behind the wheel of my own van.

What surprised me most was the return journey.

Within a few minutes I stopped feeling like I was driving a large commercial vehicle. It was so easy to handle that I drove the 550 kilometres practically without getting tired. All the time I had the sensation of driving a normal car.

At night I parked the van in the courtyard of the house.

I had dinner.

I opened a beer.

And I simply sat down in front of him.

Through the gate I could see that completely empty white van.

In the morning, it still belonged to someone else.

It was mine now.

That was when I first thought:

«What have I let myself in for?»

Up to that moment everything had existed only in my head.

Interest in motorhomes.

Sailing trips.

The doubts.

Covid.

YouTube videos.

The seven-hundred-kilometre journey.

The search for the van.

All that had taken up several years of my life.

And now, in front of me, I had a real vehicle that I had to convert into a campervan.

I didn't feel afraid.

What I was feeling was something else.

The certainty that there was no turning back.

I spent a good while wondering where to start.

Gradually, the first plan began to appear.

First the windows.

Afterwards isolation.

Then the electrical installation.

And then I realised something that made me smile.

Up until that moment I had built a house, done a lot of renovations and worked with wood, plumbing and electricity.

But he was forty-six years old and never, not once, had he cut into a car body.

In a few days I was going to grab an angle grinder and make the first cut.

It was that night when I understood that the dream was beginning to become a reality and that the first project of was being born LSR365 (Freedom on Wheels).

If you have arrived at this chapter directly from Google or an AI-powered search engine, I recommend starting with the complete story of how LSR365 was born, where I tell the whole process from the beginning.

In the next chapter I explain how it was the first cut in the bodywork and why that moment gave me much more of a fright than buying the van itself.