Mid-Engined Brown Car For Sale: $1,100 OBO
One of the neighborhood characters growing up was “Toyota Van Man”, a middle-aged gentleman who drove a denim blue Toyota van. We never knew much about him, but assumed based on his vehicle choice that he was some kind of pederast. More likely, he was a hard working immigrant from Vietnam who lived on top of our local pizza joint and we were a group of overprivileged adolescent brats.
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More by Derek Kreindler
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When these first came out in '84, I was in second grade, and for some reason had a severe hard-on for one of these! I wanted one in blue, and imagined whenever I drove it, the rear wheels would be in the air because of how it was proportioned. In '86, when my brother was born, my parents were thinking about getting one...WITH THE NEW ICEMAKER! They didn't get it, ended up getting a used Mercedes W123 station wagon. In Blue! My mom regretted selling it a decade later...
My first car was one of these. LE, in silver, with the in-dash fridge and icemaker. Like the other posters I remember it having laughably low power and blowing from lane to lane on the highway at the slightest crosswind. Its shape also made the front end light at speed, so if you drove it constantly pedal-down on the highway the steering would get increasingly vague. Nevertheless I loved the heck out of it. RWD meant you could do donuts in the school parking lot. I took the seats out and put a couch in the back so guys could pre-drink on the way to parties. The rear sunroof was huge enough for four girls to stand up through. And you can't beat sitting on the front bumper for visibility. Even now I can't feel right driving a car unless I've adjusted the seat to smash myself against the steering wheel.
Yes, you can drop the clutch and get the front end off of the ground. I had one, and it can be done. Mine ran fine but the floor rusted away and at 256K I took her to the wrecking yard. They welded their welding rig inside the van and used it for their parts pulling vehicle. I remember running down the road at 70MPH and getting 26MPG. Not bad for a box, eh?
I love those old vans and pretty much any 80s era Toyota. There's still a few out here in CA and some pretty mint ones (like this one) turn up on eBay from time to time and fetch a pretty penny.