Jimmy Buffett’s Rare Sportsmobile 4x4 Camper Van Tour

New Jersey Outdoor Adventures

Jimmy Buffett’s rare off-road camper van steals the spotlight in this spontaneous double Sportsmobile tour, where Patrick from New Jersey Outdoor Adventures breaks down two bulletproofed Ford Econoline 4x4 builds. One is the famous white extended high-top once owned by Jimmy Buffett, and the other is a black Field Van with serious overland upgrades, both powered by 6.0L turbo diesel engines and built for extreme off-road travel.  The white van stands out with Aluminess bumpers, a Warn winch, ARB onboard air, solar, power running boards, Dana 60 full-locking axles, and an Atlas dual-shifter transfer case for true crawling ability. Inside, it has a high-top cabin, propane heat and hot water, a fridge, swivel seating, storage everywhere, and the kind of rugged camper van layout that fits RV life, off-grid camping, and overland adventures. The black van takes the heavy-duty vibe even further with 38-inch tires, Bilstein suspension, rock sliders, diesel heat and hot water, newer interior updates, and a fresh, practical layout built for long trips.  Along the way, the tour covers the Sportsmobile and Field Van differences, the lifted Ford van stance, the rust repairs, rear storage, awnings, ladders, and the real-world details that make these 4x4 camper vans so desirable. It is part van tour, part off-road rig walkthrough, and part custom RV review for anyone who loves diesel vans, expedition builds, and rare celebrity-owned vehicles.  Ideal for fans of camper van tours, overland rig reviews, Ford Econoline 4x4 builds, Sportsmobile walkthroughs, and off-grid RV content. If you search for Jimmy Buffett camper van, bulletproof 6.0 diesel van, extreme off-road camper, or custom off-road van tour, this is the kind of detailed vanlife and overland content you’ll want to hear about.

Transcript

00:12Welcome back to the show. This is Patrick with New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel.

00:17I have a very special episode for you today. Two vans. You're going to take a look at two

00:22sportsman wheel vans. Both of them are on Ford Econoline chassis. The white one is an extended

00:29and the black one is a non-extended and they're both six liter turbo diesel engines and they're

00:35both bulletproofed. Now sportsmobile they build extreme off-road vehicles. Someone that decides

00:41they want to buy a sportsmobile is looking to do some serious off-road. So it's got additional

00:46features that other four-wheel drive vans don't have. The white one has a very special story behind

00:52it. It was owned once by Jimmy Buffett. So let's dive into some of the details. So the 2004 is

01:00the

01:01white one. It's got all luminous on it. So it's got the luminous front bumper in this little compartment

01:08here. It's got the worn winch. It's got an onboard air compressor. This one has just about 90,000 miles

01:16on it. Brand new transmission just put in. It's got the vents here cut into the front hood. It's got

01:23upgraded headlights, 35-inch tires, and it's got locking hubs. Now what sportsmobile does is they

01:31move the front axle forward about seven inches. Gives you a much better driving experience because

01:39you think about it, 95% of the driving that you're going to do is on the highway. You're only

01:44going

01:44off-road for about 5% of your trip. But when you do go off-road, check this out in

01:50here.

01:50You got Fox shocks. It's got removable sway bar in the front there. And this has Dana 60 front and

02:00rear

02:00and they're full locking. So what that means is it is true four-wheel drive. If you put that thing

02:06in

02:06four-wheel drive, that is solid on the front and rear. And the Atlas transmission, I'm sorry,

02:13transfer case that's on this. It's got two shifters. So you could do just front-wheel drive

02:18if you want. You could do just rear-wheel drive. Or you could shift it and you could do front

02:23and rear,

02:24but these are locked. So you could literally crawl this thing. You could shift back and forth

02:29and crawl this thing to get yourself out of a jam. So now that you kind of know the background

02:34of these

02:34vans, we're going to dive into a little bit more details. We'll start on this side here. If you look

02:39at the profile of the van, you can see it's got the expandable tow mirrors on it. It's got power

02:46running boards that go in and out. It's got a ladder to get up onto the roof. And you see

02:51that?

02:51That is a fiberglass sportsmobile high top on it. That allows you to stand up in the van. So

02:58originally a van, right at this pinch lift, that was your height of the van. So you'd have to crawl

03:04around inside or add a pop top on it. And then you'll be able to stand momentarily. But with this

03:10high top on it, you could stand front to back in there. I'm five feet nine. You'll be able to

03:15gauge

03:15the height of the inside of the van when I get inside. So this van runs on propane for the

03:22system.

03:22The other one is full diesel. So in here is a propane tank. And that will give you hot water,

03:30will give you your furnace. You could also, if you wanted to plumb in a cooktop, you can. They use

03:36portable cooktops on theirs. City water connection here, 30 amp shore power connection, and a cable

03:42connection all in this nice, tidy little compartment here. One of the things that is cool, if you're going

03:49to air down your tires, there is an ARB or onboard air compressor with an air chuck here right in

03:55the

03:55wheel wall. And there's also one in the back. So you could pump up your tires. Takes about five to

04:0210 minutes to pump up each tire. So if you're going to air down, you know when it's time to

04:06get back on

04:06the highway. It's going to take you a little bit of time. Down over here, there is a gray waste

04:12tank for

04:12the sink and a low point drain to drain down your freshwater tank. Talking about tanks, there is a

04:2035 gallon diesel tank on board. And at one point, there was a biodiesel in this back tank that's since

04:28been converted. So what you could actually do is you could pump, this is either 25 or 30 gallon diesel

04:34tank in the back, you could pump this diesel into the front diesel tank. And how do you do that?

04:40There's a whole series of switches here that you could open up to transfer, you could turn on the

04:46pump, and you could pump that diesel from the back tank all the way to the front tank. And then

04:51over

04:51here, you got your air compressor control, battery separator, fog lamps, and backup lights. And this is

04:58the same generation. So this style dashboard was from 1997, I think until 2004. Then they transitioned

05:06over to the newer style, which you're going to see on the other van. It's got windows put in aftermarket

05:14that crank out on the bottom. You got slider windows in the high top. It's got a roof rack system

05:19and a solar

05:20panel up there. And this has just a standard AGM battery on board. Back here, there's airbags for the rear

05:28suspension that give you a really soft ride. And you could pump them up and dial them up if you're

05:34going off

05:34road. These are, of course, eight lug rims and 35 inch tires. The six liter diesel engine needs to

05:41breathe. So it's got a nice intake in the front and a large exhaust pipe here in the back. Walking

05:48around back, you got the full aluminous rear bumper with spare tire carrier. And if you push in on them

05:56and push the little button here, you could release them and swing it out to open up your back doors.

06:03You got another one over here. And what's nice, you got a little storage box you could put all your

06:07outside gear in. It's got a hitch receiver in the back here. You got your backup lights over there

06:13because these kind of get blocked. So you got big black backup lights. And when you open this up,

06:19it gives you access to the back trunk area. You got day, night shades built in, night shades up top.

06:26Open this up here. You can put your beach chairs and your shades and your power cords in here. There's

06:33even more room off to the side over here. And there's an outside shower spray port. Now this back area

06:40is cushions. And then there's a sofa that manually folds out into a bed. They have it set up permanent.

06:48So

06:48on top of the cushions, they put a regular thick mattress in. So you're more comfortable for

06:53sleeping. And then even like these cool little details here, you get this flipped down. There's

06:58storage in the back doors. You know, you can put a lot of stuff in all these dead spaces in

07:03these

07:03vans. And this side just has the regular speaker. Even the back bumper, this lifts up. It's locked right

07:10now, but this lifts up. There's all storage inside this aluminum back bumper. That's why you don't see

07:15any rust on the bumper itself. And it's been repaired. You know, they do some off-roading.

07:20So this owner that has this, they picked it up a couple of years ago. And I think it had

07:27like 69,000

07:28miles on it. They now have just over 90,000. So they're taking it out. They're using it. They're not

07:34necessarily doing all the off-road activities, but they can if they want to. Here is a propane six gallon

07:42water heater. Underneath, there's a little radiator down here because what it has is the engine coolant

07:48when you're driving on the highway circulates through. So you could have hot water without

07:53even firing up your propane water heater. It's got a suburban propane furnace on board,

07:59mud flaps to keep the big rocks that get stuck in these tires from kicking up people behind you.

08:03And then this is the extended van. So there's an extra 16, 18 inches compared to

08:09a non-extended van. If you look at the distance from the tire to the back bumper,

08:14there's a great amount more room back here. Maybe it's like two feet longer. This van is like 19 feet

08:20long. Coming around over here, you've got an electrical outlet. It's got a full awning down

08:28the side with manual crank out and an outside porch light. And then with these steps here,

08:34when you close the door, they're powered. It'll go in for you. We have them disabled now.

08:41Open this up. One thing about a sportsman bill, look what they did. They put this box here

08:45on the door. So now you have storage. So if you're out camping and you're doing outside activities,

08:52you don't have to crawl away into the van to get some of this stuff.

08:56You've got to flip down with all your plates. You can put your pots and pans in there. And you've

09:01got a countertop here. And of course, privacy shades. And these things open all the way out

09:06and buckle back. There's more storage right here in this door. And yeah, you see, sportsman bill,

09:16four by four. Pretty cool. And then they put a rugged floor in here. So it's got this tough

09:23vinyl finish on it because you're getting in with mud and whatnot. You could easily just sweep it out.

09:29And then they added some Velcro here for a insect screen that could assemble. When you walk inside,

09:37this is where you're going to see the dual shifter for that Atlas transfer case there. So that literally

09:44allows you to crawl through those tough spots. And then this chair just swivels right around.

09:52Look how wide open this floor plan is once you swivel the chair. Up front here, you've got all your

09:58trans gauges and air pressure for your onboard air compressor. You've got all that up here on this

10:06little custom ledge that sportsman bill built. And then just a regular dash aftermarket stereo.

10:15Nice flowers they added. I've been dying to film this van for about two years. I finally had the

10:21opportunity. And I asked, I'll do the tour for you if you're not comfortable doing it. So they said,

10:26yeah, have at it. One of these vans, you'll find out the end of the video is actually for sale.

10:32So that's how I got my in. So I'll drop some information in the description if you're interested

10:37in buying one of these vans. There's a little flip down TV here in the front. And then because

10:44this is a high top, I'm 5'9". I don't know, I got probably six foot one to the top

10:51of the ceiling in

10:52this van. But look at this, this whole front area. This is where my bed is, my extra bed is

10:59in my van.

11:00But this has a microwave, pots and pans, has a window in there. So yeah, I mean,

11:05if someone wanted to convert it and make it into a sleeping spot, I'm sure they could. You got some

11:10cool reading lights here. You got a little ledge here. This is above, this is the normal height of

11:15the van. And then this is where sportsman will put the high top on. But they give you this ledge

11:20for

11:20storage. Another ledge here. Get this durable countertop material. Nice big drawer. And then it's got the

11:27the fridge. Runs off of 12 volt. You got some more storage here. Plenty of room back behind the seat.

11:36And of course, back here, you got 12 volt cable, electrical outlet, day night shade, a crank out

11:41window, all right hand's reach. And you know, you need more light. You got more light. These are

11:47fluorescent. The other one is upgraded to LED. And then you got more storage here. It's got a little

11:53portal potty that slides out of this cabinet. You could turn on and off the battery and water heater

11:59and water pump from here. Turn on the pump. Got water pressure. And then you can control the fan.

12:07And this has a 12 volt air conditioner. It's hidden behind this cabinet over here.

12:13But you could control that from these little knobs here. And then you got more storage here.

12:18You got more storage here. More here. And this goes all the way back. I mean,

12:25I got my arm all the way in and it barely reaches the back. And then you got a light

12:30in here too. So

12:31you could see at night. And then this is the bench that normally folds into like a back sofa. Underneath

12:42there, you got your table. And this is about a double size bed. You got your furnace control back

12:48there. You can monitor the solar from here. There's an inverter on board. You have a DC socket. And you

12:56can turn on and off the exterior light. But I'll show you what the bed is like.

13:03They had shown right underneath this ledge here. You can even sleep the opposite way,

13:07you know, and have your head on this side and your feet down there if you wanted to.

13:11But let me turn that water pump off. Cool. And then there's even like these slider cabinets here on

13:18the side. So that's where you're going to put all your clothes. This one opens here. And there's

13:22another one hidden over there. Oh, back here.

13:31Open this one up. And you got hangers back there. That's pretty cool.

13:39All right. So we could spend all night just talking about this one van. But I know you guys want

13:45to see

13:45the other van. So this is the one that Jimmy Buffett had. So he had it for a period of

13:50time. And he

13:51wound up buying another one. They built him another one right after this one. So it's changed hands a few

13:57times. But it's cool to have a piece of him and be able to show it to you.

14:08All right. So this one's a different story. This one was originally built by Sportsmobile.

14:15Okay. And the owner of this van took it back to the same place that did the conversion. But they're

14:24a refresh on it a few years ago. So they put their badging field van on it. But the same

14:30crew and

14:31and people that are there at field van are the ones that did the sportsmobile conversions. So the

14:37sportsmobile is still around. They still have a facility in a different state. But the other place

14:41that was doing it is now called field van. So they they're the ones that take it to the full

14:45extreme

14:46of like what you see here. So that other one had 35. This has 38. So like 37 and a

14:52half.

14:52You still got the locking diff. This one has Bilstein shocks. Dana 60 front. Dana 60 in the rear.

15:01This also has the Atlas transfer case. So it's a dual shifter so you could crawl out.

15:08This one has keyless entry. Big tow mirrors that pop out.

15:12And this one has that big luggage rack here on the top. So I think he puts a surfboard up

15:18there,

15:19paddleboard, all sorts of gear that's needed all the way up there. And of course you got the

15:25luminous ladder to get to get up there. And then he added the surf pole. So these things swing out

15:31and

15:31you can put surfboards here on the side if you wish. Now when they go out in this thing they

15:35take it out

15:36for a long long trip. So they're really packing it down and putting a lot of stuff in it. City

15:41water

15:41connections over here. This has a shore power connection here. It's a regular 30 amp. And then

15:48the rockers, all the rockers on this van were replaced a couple years ago. These vans typically

15:54like to rust in this spot here. So this is all replaced and it's got these nice tube steps and

16:00rock sliders

16:01there. And there's so much room underneath this van. If I want to crawl underneath it,

16:06it's just that easy. And again with sportsmobiles, serious off-road vehicles. So they move that front

16:12axle up seven inches. It's leaf springs. They get rid of the coil springs. And you can really take it

16:19to

16:19some way off the beaten path places. That one has airbags. This one doesn't have airbags. But this also

16:25has diesel heat and diesel hot water. So you can take it through some of the tunnels. As long as

16:30you

16:30can fit, this thing's got to be at least 11 foot two tall. I'm guessing at this point. Back here,

16:37it's got the new or updated a luminous back spare tire swing out. And this one has a tray here.

16:44So you

16:45could put water, diesel and gasoline back here. But I'm not going to fully undo all this for them.

16:53Maybe I will. There's a pin here. I see it. So this just swings out of your way.

17:04It's just like mine.

17:06And then this opens up for additional storage. His is open. It's got a tire iron in there.

17:12He must tow that little boat I see over there on the side with this. It's got a two inch

17:16ball.

17:17And then back here, very similar chair storage. But instead of that flip down, it's just open.

17:23This little cubby here to store things in. You got this cubby here for the power cord,

17:29day night shades, and then the outside spray port, hot and cold water. You can spray things down outside.

17:36This is a newer updated van. So it's got the newer inner door cards with the unlock button here in

17:43the back.

17:45And so at like 130,000 miles, the engine was replaced. This thing has 260 right now. And it's just,

17:57you know, bulletproof six liter. This thing sounds amazing when you start it. And it runs like a top.

18:04And no problem just driving from here to California. All right. Another ladder on this

18:12side. Why not? Right? Get up on both sides. Fender flares here. You got to hide these tires. You don't

18:19want them sticking out too far. CL Lawrence windows. They crank up from the bottom outside porch light.

18:25And then this has the dual steps here to get in. Vent visors over the windows so you can pop

18:32the windows

18:32down just slightly. And it's just got, if you step back and look at it, it just has a really

18:38awesome stance to it. Now this is like on the spot. I was driving by and I saw the for

18:43sale sign. I said,

18:44hey, can we do a video? So they didn't clean them up and set them up or stage them or

18:49anything. This is

18:49like real and raw. Open this side door up. Same thing, a little storage, but it's got the push

18:58buttons to open them and you twist. Once you do that, you get to the stuff. And then again,

19:06this is the rockers that were all replaced on the side of the van. So this is all new

19:10metal right here. Another storage compartment here on the side.

19:16And man, look at the climb that you got to do to get in this thing. Woo.

19:22Now on his, he has a, like a rubber coin floor here with the mat over it. This chair swivels,

19:29but look at the seats. These are aftermarket upgraded seats. So these are a little bit different than

19:35the seats that the Ford Econoline came with. But this is the newer style

19:40dashboard with the aux switches up on the top, the newer console, the newer door skins,

19:46and it still has a shelf over the driver's area. And it still has the same flip down TV. So

19:54it's the

19:54same idea inside now, but just so you can get an idea of the height on this one. I think

20:02the other

20:02one's a little bit taller, maybe because the mat here, maybe because there's excellent insulation,

20:07but it still has the same front overhead, but it's not as deep on this one. The other one was

20:13really

20:13deep. You got a fan over top. You got a ledge here for storage, another ledge for storage,

20:21slider window up top with like curtains. And instead of like two different tiers for the countertop,

20:26it's one single plane. You got the fridge here off to the side, storage behind here. You got a drawer

20:35for

20:35storage, microwave, port-a-potty. It's got a little vinyl cover on it, keep it discreet. And then you

20:45got storage underneath the bed. I didn't show it on the last one, but there's a bulkhead there with

20:49storage. And then he's got a thinner mattress, so there's a little bit more room. But look, there's

20:54not, there's no closet over the bed. So when you lay on this bed, you got the openness and you

21:01got the

21:02fan over there. Storage pocket there in the back, inverter control, all your safety, you know, CO detector,

21:12and I don't know what these are. Maybe stereos. And then you got this storage ledge here with the

21:18fission rod, more storage there in the back, slider, hanging wardrobe rod, more storage up top.

21:24This is the cherry finish on this one. The other one was more of a white. And then you got

21:29a cabinet,

21:29water pump switch, battery on off, sink. Sink's integrated right into that countertop. So if you

21:35spill here, it's going to roll right in. And this is the one that's for sale. So I don't know

21:41the price.

21:43I'll put contact information in the video description. So if you're interested in buying a van like this,

21:50you'll be able to follow up and find out the pricing and all the rest of the details.

21:55I hope you enjoyed today's tour. It was kind of spontaneous, on the fly, non-planned. I know

22:02enough about RVs. I know enough about a sportsmobile to give you some of the facts. I might have messed

22:07up a couple of things. I might've missed a few things, but I hope you enjoyed the video. This is

22:12Patrick with New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel, and I'll see you on the next one.

22:16I'll see you on the next one.

22:17Bye.

22:18Bye.

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