@dartigen Not sure about conversions of type 2s in the US, but there's a premium/status market now for VW conversion vans in general here, the prices are ridiculous. like $12000-20000+ for a "vintage" van. Also, Westfalia is bankrupt now https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westfalia

There's companies that do Town and Country conversions, although the base van has a mixed/spotty reputation. There's also Mercedes, but that gets back to cost

@shoutcacophony Yikes on those costs - I thought they wouldn't be as expensive in the US, figured out pricing was a fluke caused by an even more limited supply of vehicle bodies to work with.

Not sure if there are other panel van models that get professionally converted for living/camping or to hybrid engines, but there might be other and newer makes and models that can be.

@dartigen here's the full ouch, on the high end at least http://www.roadtrek.com/

problem atm is that there's no low-to-middle end, without additional cost to convert (including just to have a foldable bed) or a lot of DIY work.

i knew someone who was handy who built a removable platform for theirs. it didn't look like a ton of work, but it requires space to cut, test, install, etc

@dartigen i'm not counting town and country given what i know so far, because 🎲🎲*throws* 🙏🏽

@shoutcacophony Space I'm gathering you don't have easy access to...

Are there any reasonably priced makerspaces near you? At a minimum you might be able to use their facilities to build stuff if they have the right tools and will let you bring a vehicle in.

Though the two makerspaces I've found in my city are...not reasonably priced. (Memberships start at $50/mo, they don't do drop-in/casual access either.)

@dartigen cost i can do (within limits), the cost of social interactions + skills-building, relative to time + energy (and energy period, for the former), not sure

i'm all but positive there's maker spaces here, though. if not, there are within driving distance, possibly including the sorts of spaces that could accomodate a van and building space

@shoutcacophony And possibly, people who've done it before, or know others who have, or at least have the theoretical knowledge of how it could be done.

But yes, building up the skills in time and having the time and energy for such an undertaking is never easy to gauge. If there's someone there who's done an interior before, you might be able to get a projection of how long it would take, and find out what makes/models are good candidates.