The core support holds the front of the vehicle up on these vans. Judging by the pictures yours will need to be replaced or repaired. Mine rotated out and couldn’t find one because so did all the other ones around me. Ended up picking one up in Utah while on vacation.

even if u find one it will need to be welded in. Not hard just need equipment to do it.

4000$ seems like a lot for it but it does have the tall roof top and fairly low mileage. Idk. I’d probably pass got them all around me in similar condition for 1200$ soooo

 

Where are you located that you're seeing them that cheap? Lol I've been hard pressed to find a clean one with under 150k for less then 5-6k in ga

 

Michigan and they aren’t clean. All our stuff rots out here. U can get some low mileage stuff but it’s only because they afraid it will break in two because of the rust. My van needed a core support and still needs rockers on both sides as well as some more minor stuff

 

This is in Muskegon right now

 

I would say the rust on that tan one has progressed far past than what has on the green one. The wheel well is gone the core support is gone since the bumper is pointing skyward and the rockers are gone too I would assume since the lower side plastics are aiming down at the center where the doors meet.

$3900 usd for a 29 year old vehicle on jack stands with the front end taken apart and needing roof repainted, with some potential rust problems does seem a little steep to me. Then again it is a hightop conversion van and having the front off and no lower plastics allows for better inspection.

I would investigate the rust on those upper dutch door hinges a little more. Check and make sure the rockers and rear wheel well arches aren't starting to rust. As for the core support, check how bad the rust is, if the owner will let you (which he probably won't) tapping at the rust with a pick or pointy screwdriver will let you know if it rusted through or just surface. I haven't seen very many that didn't at least have surface rusting around where the metal over laps are at those two points but if it is just surface rust, you can slow or prevent further decay by cleaning it all up and treating it with a rust converter type of product. If it is rusted bad enough that it is starting to have holes in it, then if you can find a pristine one to replace it with you can drill out all the spot welds and install a new one, only needing to do spot welds. It is actually an easy and fairly quick job if you can find a replacement. The other option is cutting out the rust and welding in whatever, tubing or patch panels to fix it.

google says there were between 3.2 and 3.7 million astro/safari made during their entire production run. So there are alot of them out there, though less every day, this one does look worth saving, but it is 29 years old.

For reference I paid $3500cad for my 03 awd, $1000cad for my 01 rwd, and $600cad for my 98 awd, and I don't haggle or low ball people, those were the prices for the first two, the 98 was asking a little more but he took his wheels off and the van wasn't running and full of junk. The 03 and 01 were in pretty excellent condition with pretty much fully intact core supports and rockers. The 98 was owned by a roofer who managed to damage every single body panel and the rockers and core support need replacing. None are hightops, though they all will be when I'm done with them. There are usually about 3 astro/safari cycling through the local wrecking yard I go to, so there are many around here and many getting scraped. Prices have come up in the last couple years like everything else, though a lot of older vehicle prices around here seem to be dropping off too. Local market and demand will dictate the price I suppose.

 

don't do rust. Mine is from rust belt. it is very frustrating to work on... I would look for a cleaner version or get a better deal than $3900

ALL of your ground connections are probably bad. ask me how I know.

You will probably need to replace the entire front suspension and steering components. ask me how I know.

you may not have to, but do you know for sure?? too many questions with rust for that $$.

 

Let him keep it for that price.
Radiator support is junk, looks like Swiss cheese.
You can ask whatever you want for it, doesn't mean you're going to get it.
No one in their right mind will pay that for that much of a project.

And what the hell happened to the suspension on the passenger side there. Wow.
If it was complete and running with that rust, maybe.
Personally, I'd pass.