4x4 Ambulance - 2003 Ford Econoline E-350 Super Duty

Fredricksen

Member
GovDeals has a 2003 E350 listed for auction in West Virginia ending 3 December 2019
7.3L V8 OHV 16V TURBO DIESEL 163K miles

In the Questions and Answers, the seller states "IS A MANUAL SHIFT 4X4"


Current bid is $1,300
 

nyyankees588

Active member
Could be a sweet deal... wonder what the underbody looks like regarding rust. Posted a question to see if they'll respond.
 

Heavyopp

Observer
Looks like this ended just over $10k. Thoughts on that price?
I wouldn’t have been able to go to 10k without seeing it but a 4 WD ambulance in decent shape should certainly be worth 10k

Funny how I just looked at the ended auction — high bidders name starts with a “ J” and ends with a “Y”
Jlcanterbury — did you just buy a 4wd ambulance?
 

nyyankees588

Active member
I was surreptitiously watching this auction closely, hoping that somehow it would end up sneaking by for like $8k and I could be its new owner. Selling price was decent in my opinion. 2003 was the last year of the legendary 7.3L engine and it has 160k miles, comes from a small town (meaning that it likely was only used during emergencies, rather than run all day every day and abused). A 2WD 2003 7.3L with that mileage would likely go for around $6-8k, add the ~$15k 4WD conversion and you've got your selling price + a little more. There's always the unknown with these auctions - with this one there was no running meter to tell actual hours it ran and although the seller repeatedly said there was no rust, it is from West Virginia, which most certainly salts their roads.

I'd bet you turn around and sell this ambo for $15k on expo portal/the west coast. The biggest drawback for me is that at the end of the day it is still a large vehicle. Good for some people, but for me the 14ft box length and 8ft width is limiting. Especially because it lacks the one thing I would want at that size... 6'+ interior standing height so that I don't have to walk around like a hobbit.
 

jlcanterbury

Active member
Funny how I just looked at the ended auction — high bidders name starts with a “ J” and ends with a “Y”
Jlcanterbury — did you just buy a 4wd ambulance?

And here I thought I was being sly. Nice work detective.
I was looking for some honest evaluations of the price- didn't want anyone being nice just to avoid hurting my feeling.

But now that I can openly celebrate , YEAH BABY!

I have family out in West Virginia so I took it as a sign to go for it. Paid more than what I wanted- was really hoping this would somehow go for about $5k... blew my own budget right out of the water but hey, it will be a fun project.

2003 was the last year of the legendary 7.3L engine and it has 160k miles, comes from a small town (meaning that it likely was only used during emergencies, rather than run all day every day and abused). A 2WD 2003 7.3L with that mileage would likely go for around $6-8k, add the ~$15k 4WD conversion and you've got your selling price + a little more. There's always the unknown with these auctions - with this one there was no running meter to tell actual hours it ran and although the seller repeatedly said there was no rust, it is from West Virginia, which most certainly salts their roads.

14ft box length and 8ft width is limiting.

That's what I was thinking. Might be a while before I see another late model 7.3L in 4x4. And the small town thing helps both with the (hopeful) lack of abuse and the fact that the don't salt as many of the 'country roads' as they do more heavily trafficked areas.

14ft box length and 8ft width is limiting.

I thought these had a 12' box... can anyone confirm? '03 Wheeled Coach box.

And yes, it will be limiting. But my rig for the past 15 years has been an '01 4x4 Tacoma with a Flippac camper... 5' wide and nimble enough to pass any about trail in the country, and she's conquered most everything west of Denver. Will be fun to have something with a little more room to build in this time!
 

nyyankees588

Active member
Hah! That's awesome man, congrats!! I think you got a good deal at the end of the day. Not the screaming deal that both you and I were hoping for, but a good deal none-the-less. I doubt you'd be able to find it for sale for elsewhere for any less. I think you are correct on the 12ft box. During my research I did find a spec sheet from wheeled coach that should match up. There are some great ambo build threads out there... one of my favorites is over on sportsmobile forum.
 

Heavyopp

Observer
And here I thought I was being sly. Nice work detective.
I was looking for some honest evaluations of the price- didn't want anyone being nice just to avoid hurting my feeling.

But now that I can openly celebrate , YEAH BABY!

I have family out in West Virginia so I took it as a sign to go for it. Paid more than what I wanted- was really hoping this would somehow go for about $5k... blew my own budget right out of the water but hey, it will be a fun project.

Thats great -- keep us posted on how it goes with payment and pickup -- I had always wanted to build an ambulance and yours is already 4X4 -- I think the price is Ok too, I would just need to see it in person to pay that much -- If it where a little closer I would have driven out to take a look

There was one here in jersey a few years ago that I did go to look at on the Gov deals auction -- I was a bidder but in the end it went for way more than I wanted to pay

Where are you from and how do you plan to get it home?
 

jlcanterbury

Active member
@nyyankees588 Thanks for that spec sheet - I'm sure that will come in handy. And yes, I've been combing through a lot of awesome ambulance builds giving me plenty to be excited about. This conversion for sale here on expo helped me convince the wife of the potential value of these vehicles- although that asking price is crazy.

@Heavyopp - will do! I will probably do a build thread this time since I didn't do so for my last truck. Will be good to have a journal of sorts to look back on. My dad lives a few hours away from the county that sold this vehicle, so he will pick it up this week and store for me until I can book a cheap one way flight. Assuming it checks out fine mechanically, I will drive her back to California.
 

Heavyopp

Observer
I was hoping you where east of that sale location -- I'm going to be in Harpers ferry next week -- would have been cool if you where close so I could see it
 

jlcanterbury

Active member
Sorry for running you up on that one. I was hoping to get a deal on it as well.
Wow, expo members were active on there! Haha not gonna lie, it's always hard not to be a little mad at the other bidders. That's the nature of an auction I guess! Which one were you (what did you username start and end with?)

EDIT: Ok, I'm guessing you're the d*****7 guy... No worries, couple bidders ahead of you. Would have been great if it was just us two, one of us would have snagged it for $7500
 

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