Final Parking Space: 1986 Toyota Van

Toyota began selling cars in the United States with the Toyopet Crown in 1957, with Land Cruisers, Stouts and Hiluxes following soon after and making the company a major player in the growing small truck business here as well. Toyota vans didn’t make their American-market debut until much later, despite having been available in Japan going way back. We’ve got one of the early examples of the breed, spotted in a North Carolina car graveyard last spring.

The way Toyota named this vehicle can be confusing now. In its homeland, this van was a version of the LiteAce family known as the MasterAce Surf. Upon arrival in the United States, it was called the Van Wagon… until Volkswagen of America’s lawyers began making litigious noises about that name’s similarity to the one used on the Vanagon.

So, the model name was changed to just Van, which fit nicely with Toyota’s designation for its Hilux pickup here after 1973: the Truck. Later on, when Toyota created a luxury division for overseas sales, its Luxury Sedan was designated the LS and its Sport Coupe was called the SC, perhaps in keeping with this tradition of easy-to-remember model names.

Nissan and Mitsubishi followed suit with their competing U.S.-market small vans of the period, giving us the Nissan Van and Mitsubishi Van (Mitsubishi referred to the passenger version of the Delica as the Mitsubishi Wagon here, splitting off from the herd in a small way). The Toyota Van far outsold its competition here, in any case.

Some of these vans were customized by conversion companies, and that’s what happened with this one just two months after it came off the assembly line in Aichi Prefecture. The Joyserv Company appears to have been a Florida operation.

This is a Toyota Van Eleganté, then, with plush velour interior and custom body graphics. Sure, the Eleganté name had been in use by Cadillac for quite a while by 1986, but there’s little likelihood that anybody ever got sued over the Joyserv Van Eleganté name.

If you like brown-on-brown-over-brown-over-tan body graphics, this is the van for you.

That sure looks like a real Toyota part number, so the stripe package must have been a dealer-applied option.

The Van had an interesting powertrain layout that made efficient use of space: a compact pushrod straight-four engine laid on its side in a compartment beneath the front seats, driving either the rear wheels or all four wheels (yes, you could buy 4WD Toyota Vans in the United States, though they’re rare).

A five-speed manual transmission was base equipment, but this Van has the optional automatic. With just 101 horsepower to move its 3000-plus pounds, this vehicle would have accelerated with great gentleness.

The MSRP for a top-trim-level 1986 Van LE with automatic was $12,208 (about $35,161 in 2024 dollars), but its price after upgrades and conversion would have been significantly higher.

Toyota sold the Van in the United States through 1989, following it with the similarly mid-engined Previa for the 1991 through 1997 model years. After that, the much bigger and more traditional Sienna minivan took over Toyota’s van duties on this side of the Pacific. Sadly, it seems unlikely that we’ll ever get the super-plush Toyota Alphard or Lexus LM luxury vans here.

I’ve seen Toyota Vans in places like this with well over 300,000 miles as their final odometer readings, but this one finished its career with an ordinary 168,332-mile total. It’s in nice condition, too.

I thought this Van might have spent decades parked, but this Charlotte Hornets sticker dates from the mid-to-late 2010s.

This Walmart sticker goes back to the 1980s, though.

This early-1980s Celica wheel looks good on a Van, I say.

The factory optional alloy wheels (on the other three corners) look non-shabby as well.

It began its career in North Carolina, and it finished it there as well.

Is it a car? A van? A condominium? Maybe a Van Wagon?

Yes, you could get the refrigerator in the U.S.-market version. I’ve found one in a junkyard.