I've come to the conclusion that I want a 2000-2005 E350 EB, gas powered. I had a 2002 E250 SMB with the 5.4 for a few years. It was my father in-law's, and he never used it. So we kept it at our place and used it and took care of it. We took that thing everywhere. Eventually he gave it to us, and we continued to use it. But the problem is that the bed was in there sideways, and I'm about 6" too tall for shenanigans like that. So, we sold it and bought a Tundra which we outfitted for our trip to Alaska in 2019, and that was great too. But now we are realizing that there are a lot of great things about a van, and we want another.
Because of my needs related to height, I think we will build our own van. I don't want the drivetrain itself to be a project, so I'm looking for nice low mileage or well maintained vans. And I'll do the camper buildout and high top conversion myself. That way I can have exactly what I need. And when the time comes to inevitably convert it to 4x4, I'll have little enough in it financially, that I won't feel too bad about paying someone else to convert it. Right now, Advanced 4x4 is probably at the top of that list for me.