Junkyard Find: 1992 Toyota Previa All-Trac
Living in Colorado, I have become something of a connoisseur of low-sales volume, all/four-wheel-drive versions of otherwise commonplace vehicles. The rarest one so far has got to be this ’87 Ford Tempo AWD, but I also have managed to find some fairly unusual All-Trac-equipped Toyota vehicles.
There’s this ’90 Camry All-Trac, a car that’s a rarity even in this state and just about unheard of anywhere else, and a few examples of the Corolla All-Trac wagon. Now we have this gleaming gold Previa All-Trac.
The Previa featured a bunch of very interesting engineering under its conservative-looking minivan exterior. The engine is a mid-mounted straight-four laid on its side under the front seats, with a weird remote-reservoir oil system (not a dry-sump, despite the urban legends you may have heard, but still different), and the engine accessories are way up front and powered by a long shaft from the engine. Later North American models were supercharged, though this ’92 just has the naturally aspirated 2TZ.
All-Trac Previas are nowhere near as rare, here in Denver, as are All-Trac Camrys; in fact, most Previas you see here have the All-Trac system. They’re uncommon in wrecking yards, though, because it’s worth fixing Toyota minivans when they break.
The mid-engined Toyota MR2 is well-known for overheating problems, but Toyota got it right with the Previa and this big radiator air intake gulping air through the grille and sending it rearwards.
The interior in this van is not too tattered by used-up-minivan standards, so a combination of body damage and some expensive mechanical problem is the probable reason for being parked here instead of the mall.
It’s a suburban-early-1990s time capsule!
In Japan, taking the golden retriever for a balloon ride.
[Images: © 2016 Murilee Martin/The Truth About Cars, Toyota]
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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The guy that runs Lextreme.com has a UZ-FE V8 swapped into one of these. I'm sure he surprises a few people with it! That said I thought these were the ugliest things on the road, but I thought the same of the similar jelly bean shape of the 92-96 Camry. Now that they're drying up I don't find them so offensive.
We have three Previa minivans in our family. I have a 1991 that my mother bought in 1996. It has 225,500 miles on it. I drive it about once per week just because I like it and it's different. The thing is BULLET proof and NOTHING is wrong with it. My mom has a 1994 that she bought in 2001 when she gave me the 1991 Previa. Hers is her daily driver and has been since 2001 and last time I drove it a few months ago it had 330,000 miles on it. She has no problems hopping into it and driving from her home in Northern California to Los Angeles and back. My sister loved the Previa and was jealous of mine so she purchased a 1992 a few years ago. Hers had 220,000 miles when she bought it and now has about 270,000. Her's has had a few issues (fuel pump, air conditioner, window leak) but has otherwise been pretty good to her. She only paid $2,000 for it so I guess it's to be expected. We love our Van's and I'm ALWAYS in the market to pick up another Previa. I'm actually in talks with a guy who has a beautiful 1994 White Previa with 160,000 miles. But he wants $3,850 and that just seems a little high for me.