Heres the original Baja rig... my dad and his friends in the 70s

 

as far as the big three go, get a ford, they have the beefiest suspensions, and you can get an econoline with 4x4, they still use a strait axle up front unlike chevy, and i don't think chevy or dodge make 4x4 vans

 

Thanks to all who actually attempted to answer my question. As to how far "Behind the Redwood Curtain". The answer is: about 100 miles south of Oregon on the coast. In other words, 300 miles north of S.F. which of course, is in the middle of the state and is not really northern California.
Edy, stirring it up.

 

Quigley conversion FTW . . .

 

the ski resorts out here run quite a few of the 4 x 4 van chassis. I believe Ford Econolines are pretty much favored but you see some of those GMC conversions from time to time.

Personally I have never been fond of the General Motors for reliability- however the Chevy guys remind me Ford stands for:

fix or repair daily- and Jeep is

just empty every pocket.

SC4Runner- the technology has come a long way since those 80s vans. They are fully capable these days but size of course can always be an issue on a tight trail.

Kind of like the Suburban argument-how much room do you need versus how nimble does it have to be?

Cack is typically on the right track and again in this thread-you can pick up a Sequoia for dirt cheap right now so many folks dumped them when gas prices spiked just a few months back.

You ever sat in an 80?-they are marginally better for room than a 3rd gen Runner at best-mainly due to being a bit "boxier" in appearance.

You can likely find an expedition ready rig alreadybuilt up and heavily discounted again due to those high gas prices. Consider diesel... yes I know it costs more per gallon but should have some efficiency gains to offset that.

So many options... so little money is usually the trouble...