Harold Wright, 76, was found out when police were called to his house in Rolls Crescent, Hulme, after he was shot in the arm as he played dominoes with friends.
The victim was nowhere to be seen, but when they opened the van, parked in the front garden, they found more than 2.8kg of cannabis worth in excess of £2,000, two bloodstained baseball caps, a bloodstained knife and a bullet casing.
They also found CS gas canisters and hundreds of pounds in cash.
They later discovered Wright had been taken to hospital suffering from a gunshot wound. No-one has been charged with the shooting.
At Manchester Crown Court yesterday Wright was convicted of possessing cannabis with intent to supply and possessing three CS gas canisters, after earlier pleading guilty to the offences.
The court was told he refused to make any comment about what had happened following the shooting. Stella Massey, defending, said Wright smoked 10 spliffs a day. He admitted supplying the drug to friends on a non-profit basis.
Wright told the court he had been smoking cannabis since 1945. Describing the van, he said: "I use it as a little get-together place for me and my pensioner friends, and some kids come here to buy sweeties and little things."
Judge Martin Steiger QC said he did not believe Wright's account. The evidence suggested he was selling drugs for profit and using the CS gas to protect himself.
"In my judgment, he was dealing in cannabis to an intermediate level. That is why the cannabis was in bags and he had money and a CS gas canister for protection or enforcement."
He said Wright had been selling "significant" amounts of the drug and warned him that he would order the cannabis to be destroyed and may call for his red van to be confiscated.
Sentencing was adjourned until November 25 for pre-sentence reports. Wright was released on conditional bail.
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