(first published 11/21/2011) You want to talk turkey? Let’s start with the only vehicle where the manufacturer tried to buy back every single one that had been sold, to be sent to the crusher, because they kept self-immolating. In 1994, Nissan offered top Blue Book values or more for them (up to $7k), as well as $500 discounts on new Nissan vehicles, after four recalls couldn’t fix persistent engine fires. But apparently, a few die-hards wanted to keep their Nissan Vans, although this is the first and only one I’ve seen in decades. And I’ve been saving this one for two years, just for Turkey Week. I wonder if it’s gone up in flames since then?
The Nissan Van’s problems are highly ironic, given that the very similar Toyota Van (above) has become perhaps the ultimate roach in places like here, having long ago replaced the VW Bus as the rolling box of choice for certain segments of the population. It’s a rugged and durable as it gets. I promise a full CC on them shortly. So what went wrong with Nissan’s?
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with Nissan’s Vanette, which is just another representative of that class of Japanese vans that are/were to be seen all over the developing world, as well as in Japan. Simple, rugged, with mediocre dynamic qualities, to be sure, their ilk in varying sizes are still being made by the millions in China today.
But when the minivan explosion in the US hit hard in 1985, with the Caravan/Voyager twins, the Japanese suddenly found themselves on the outside looking in. So they quickly adapted their work horse vans to conform to US safety standards, which explains their ant-eater front ends. Power trains were also beefed up, given American’s preference for automatics and air conditioning.
And this is where Nissan stumbled, big time. They shoehorned in the larger 2.4 L Z24i engine into the engine bay that had previously been occupied by smaller and more austere engines. Combined with fuel injection, A/C, etc, the engine bay became prone to overheating and engine fires, especially when a leaky valve cover gasket allowed oil to spill on the exhaust manifold. But that was only part of the problem.
Four recalls were initiated to solve the overheating issues, which also contributed to the fires. A whole new cooling system was part of the recall, including new radiators, fans and warning system. But problems persisted, and Nissan started offering to buy back owners’ problematic vans. When word of that got out, a class action suit was initiated, which led to the settlement offer of the buyback of all vans.
That only came to about 33,000 vans, sold in 1987 and 1988, mostly in California. The debacle cost Nissan some $200 million. So if you’ve never seen one, it’s understandable. I wasn’t supposed to either.
Wasn’t there a similar recall on the early ’70s Plymouth Cricket? I remember a newsphoto in the paper showing flatbed loads of new ones heading straight to the crusher. Does anyone else remember this?
I don’t. But then I haven’t seen one in many decades. Of course, there might be other reasons for that!
A little further research on the Cricket does not suggest anything like that.
Hey Paul can you tell Me where this van is I would like to own it I do know it is in Eugene Oregon Please contact Me at 541-476-0245 ask for Doug
Hola yo tengo una Nissan van Z 24 1987 muy buen estado la quiero vender motor recién ajustado, falta hacerla funcionar
Hola Adolfo te saludo con gusto, actualmente tengo una Nissan van gxe 1988 soy de México,je tenido problemas para wnco el filtro de aire sabrás el número de parte , me ayudarías mucho, también le saque el código 51 de la computadora circuito de inyección abierto,sal cordiales
Only ONE Plymouth Cricket still exists. Period.
I know of three of them om the road. Two in the US and one in Canada
I have one of these Nissan vans purchased brand new and refused take it back when they were offering me cash for it so I think there is 3 in USA one in Canada
That was the first-gen Honda Civic. Years after I bought my Shove-It (Chevette) and after I was liberated of it by circumstances…I was driving a tow truck. And one of our contract garages was a Honda dealer…I should say, a Pontiac dealer with a corner for Hondas. That’s how it was then.
But anyway…walking to work or cadging a ride every morning, I used my position to hunt around for cheap wheels. At the Pon-Hon store, I noticed about 25 old Civics in the back. I made inquiries…and was told, they were not for sale; Honda had bought them back and they were headed for the crusher.
That was 1982.
The Civic recall was related to frame corrosion (rust). If the car failed the “rust test,” the car qualified for buy back.
During the test, a tech tried to drive a metal punch through the unibody frame at specific test points. In some cases, they could penetrate the sheet metal by hand…
I had one of the first Plymouth Crickets in Miami and catching fire was the one failure I did not experience. It did toss a rod through the block at 65 MPH on the expressway. After a 2 month wait for a new short block under warranty car was alive again. You may be thinking of the 84 Fiero, in one year I had two engine fires, went through 5 A/C compressors, two engines (cracked block) 3 ECMs and more I can’t remember. GM sent a field rep and they offered full price I paid towards another GM product. Only got one recall on the Cricket for emissions valve replacement
I’m too young to remember these (although I did know of their existence). I remember those wierd ass Toyota Vans, though: they reminded me of a duck when I was little.
Is the Nissan’s engine under the driver seat like the Toyota vans?
/loved my two Toyota vans
Essentially the same.
Yup it was under the drivers seat
That is definitely a rarity. I’ve never seen one before but I don’t think they were ever sold new in Canada.
I wouldn’t want to work on one of these. Engine accessibility is not great.
Yeah, that’s pretty much identical to the 80s Toyotas. I did a tune up once and had to remove the passenger seat and lots of carpeting. Overheating was/is a common problem with Toyota vans as well. A wise owner replaces the radiator every 30k or so.
The Toyota and Nissan vans always made me think of the box that other minivans came in.
In Ireland , Toyota bought up all the last generation rear-drive Starlets because of severe rust issues. I believe that only a few re-engined rally cars escaped the cull.
I’ve never even seen one of these either!
The Toyota vans of that era also had lesser heat issues with plastic and rubber parts getting cooked underneath. Seeing that 4-cylinder slanted over almost horizontal, along with the accessory driveshaft that extended forward from the crankshaft pulley to the front of the vehicle, makes one say “wow.”
And speaking of strange van trivia, how many of you are aware that the new Toyota AWD vans have NO SPARE TIRE (not even a compact one), since the normal under-floor compartment where the spare tire normally sits is not there due to the driveshaft going to the rear axle. This was a deal-breaker for one of my friends when they were van-shopping last year. Somebody should make a front or rear spare tire mount for these rigs (I suppose a receiver-hitch-mounted contraption that swings out of the way to access the rear hatch would be the most practical, although still very inconvenient).
Do the new Toyota vans have run-flat tires? (My wife’s Mini Cooper S had this issue, since the supercharger meant the battery had to be relegated to the rear of the car, and that meant no spare–thus run-flats and the insurance to cover their expensive replacement should they need to actually run flat.)
The Toyota van does not have an accessory drive shaft all the accessories are driven off the crank pulley. It was the Previa that has that problematic accessory driveshaft and the engine almost laying on it’s side.
I once inquired of my mechanic about one of these Toyota vans. His reply: “They are very good vehicles but from a selfish perspective, I’d rather you didn’t.”
It seems to me that a handful of these made it to the midwest, but I cannot recall seeing one in years and years.
They are hell to work on but don’t often need much.
They don’t take abuse well, either.
I had an old Toy van…always wanted one; and when one appeared in a used-car lot, without rust holes, I ponied up the cash.
Unfortunately for me, it had had issues; overheating; probably a bad head gasket at root. And replacing the engine was a non-starter…the engine was unique for that model in the States.
I drove it as long as I could, adding copious quantities of coolant; but one night it started running hot while I was without liquids and passing through the ghetto. No WAY was I going to stop; and I didn’t; but when I got to where I was going (work) the engine was not well. It did cool off without obvious failure; and I did drive it away; but there was no hiding what had happened to it.
That engine was very,very close to the engine that was in a small Toyota (Toyoda said the I.D plate!) forklift we had at a boat shop I worked at back in 86-89
Name the the 3rd box van from Japan to complete the tri-fecta.
Mitsubishi, Mazda & Isuzu all did them in the early 80’s, no idea which one made it to the US though. A local dragstrip has a Holden (Isuzu) Shuttle with a jet engine in it…
mitsubishi had a van easier engine then my 87 nissan van or my current 84 and 86 toyota vans my dad has a 84 with moon roof 2 of them with 300xxx plus miles 289xxx miles i liked the mitsubishi cause easier to work on motor passenger seat and drivers completly lifted up at the same time, my nissan died after 2 used trannys burntup this was 9 odd years agoi even put cooler larger then radiator to cool tranny but didnt know pump in tranny to week to pump enough fluid to make a difference one day was on freeway and it locked up at 70 like it was in park no forward gears grinding chunking but did around 5 to 8 guesstimated miles in reverse all the time binding clunking it took me over 4 almost 5 hrs and pissing of the world off to drive it home back streets from northgate washington state to auburn in reverse, in 81 i had a 71 toyota cortina in long beach california drove from longbeach to downtown la every day for six month with only compression in no 1 and 4 cylinder took 24 volt to starter to get going but once started and warmed up it would maxx out at 50 on freeway it always amazes me if you do crazy things on purpose nothing works but every once in a while bamm surprise my dad told me when he was young he had 2 cycle street bike he stopped so suddenly his bike coughed and then while at the light smoothed out and seemed to be running fine until he went to take off he was in first gear but he went in reverse luckily nobody was behind ive never heard of counter ration running motor but 2 cycle could doit, thanks james kluck
I bought a new 1988 nissan van, and it was recalled 4 times and each time a modification was done, the van lost power. I turned it in to a local nissan dealer in 1994, and was awarded 7,600 for it and they gave me 1,000 additional when I purchased a used low mi pathfinder. Not really a bad court ordered deal. My van was still in excellent condition with less than 40k mi on it. I also just put a new battery, and a round of perilli tires on it. It was actually kind of sad that it was doomed for the crusher, but the pathfinder was a fine vehicle.
The Mazda Bongo made it to Canada as the Kia Besta … I just finished writing something up on that.
The Mitsu is the one that made it to the US and sold in really small numbers. A local engine rebuilder had one they used for deliveries. I saw it still running around a few years ago.
I saw a Nissan Van on the road a few years ago. I’m not sure how the people who were silly enough to keep them keep them on the road. I don’t think Nissan supports parts for them in anyway, other than somethings that are the same for that engine in other applications.
I have actually driven a Nissan Van back when they were new. The cool option they had was a refrigerator in front of the engine box. Just big enough for a six pack of cans.
To keep the game going can someone name the car that came before than that had a refrigerator option?
Bmw 635 csi has a fridge
Surprised everyone’s forgetting the third van in the set – the Mitsubishi. From five feet away, you had to look for nose markings to tell the difference between the three. Prime example of what you get when the government sets down the specifications for the class.
Correct….at least those were the 3 we got here in the US.
My uncle had the mitsu out on the cape. He bought it when he lived in Cali and drove it cross country to his retirement home on the cape. From what I hear they sold it for scrap about two years ago with a little over 200k on it and bought a Sienna.
There’s a Mitsu a couple of miles down the street from my apartment, a little rusty but still chugging along. Not too bad looking for spending its entire life in n.e. Ohio.
My stepdad owned a vending machine business, where we would distribute candy and other goods to each business that uses our vending machines. To transport the candy, we had a Mitsubishi van. It was a reliable vehicle to drive. It had good fuel economy. It was perfect for business. Its only downsides were its lack of rear wheel traction in gravel and sand. Another thing I didn’t like was the sliding door. It didn’t have a means to keep it open when on any kind of incline. You had to hold it open yourself, which made it difficult to grab your candy and put it on a hand truck, etc. It also didn’t have air conditioning for the whole inside of the van. When you’re transporting candy, you wanted to keep it cold, to prevent melting. That was the difficult part.
There was one other car that I can think of where all the cars were recalled and scrapped. The Chevrolet Copper Cooled, or something like that. It was an early, like 1920s or ’30s attemp by Chevrolet at air cooling. It failed. They got back all but one of them, that one was owned by Henry Ford who would not sell it back. I heard it’s at the Henry Ford Museum now.
Excellent. I had a powerful nagging feeling that I was missing something when I wrote that. And I just re-read that story recently. Thank you; maybe I’ll do a quickie post on it.
Alfa Sud buy back and compensation payments
The Citroen Birotor had the same factory buy back.
For your reading pleasure, I present a road test of the trifecta of Japanese mini-vans that invaded the US market.
http://books.google.com/books?id=qwAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA90#v=onepage&q&f=false
A friend used to work for Australia’s national telco from the 70’s to the mid 90’s and had a lot of experience in these vans (commercial versions at least), he preferred the Nissan & despised the Mitsubishi. For one point a Nissan engine will run longer than a Mitsubishi, they always seem to start burning oil early.
Ironically the Nissan departed the local scene first, the Mitsubishi is still around built on the same fundamentals and not updated for a long time (complete with 1 star ANCAP crash test rating), while the Toyota was completely redesigned a couple of years ago, as were the VW & Hyundai vans.
I remember that Chevrolet thought about re-badging the Toyota van in the early 80’s as part of the NUMMI deal, I think they were thinking about making it there too along with the Nova, but it never panned out, though I have seen a sketch of a Chevrolet badged Toyo-Van.
What would Chevy have named this van? Nomad?
There is a Mitsu van up the road from me. I have actually seen a Nissan van around here but only once. The Toyota’s are great rigs.
Well this makes me feel not so very smart. I have the 87 nissan p/u sibling to this van with a frozen z24. Always wanted the van because I considered them very reliable based on the performance of the pickups.
I am sure I remember Nissan, Toyota, Mitsu, and Isuzu. Only problem is that I spent a lot of time overseas until the start of the eighties. Old timers disease may mean that I’m remembering something from Guam or Hawaii.
It looks good anyway. Perfect for a serviceman.
Heaps of those Nissan vans here but not with a big motor all the other makes are common Mazda mitsi toyota isuzu
Haha…I think those are the same wheels used on the Infiniti M30, just with a different center cap!
I’ve never seen one of these on the road. I vaguely remember the Stanza Wagon and Axxess – those were weird cars, too.
What a weird coincidence…I just saw a blue Nissan van last week in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle. I pointed it out to my wife and said how rare it was to see one. She wasn’t too impressed. I had forgotten about the recall/buy-back story. Rare indeed!
Come to New Zealand Paul – all those Nissan vans are here (and plenty more besides!). My favourite stupidly-big-engine-in-small-van award goes to Nissan for the version of their Homy van (the Vanette’s bigger brother) which was available with the 300ZX’s 3.0 V6. I don’t think they caught fire, but I rode in a 92ish model once, and it was super quick but the over-powerment made it feel even more flimsy – I swear the engine was trying to break free…
Of course even Toyota wasn’t immune, as they did a factory-ambulance version of their 1990s Hiace van which came with the 4.0V8 out of the Lexus LS400. One was for sale here a month ago, it was both terrifying and magnificent!
And re small vans, my company car (hah!) from 2000-2004 was a year-2000 Mazda Bongo van. It raised cross-wind instability to an art form. To make matters worse, it was purple, with a vinyl wrap of large fruit all over… Once I was sitting in it and saw a small child lick one of the 90cm grapes… (I worked for a juice company at the time, still do, but Mazda 6s without signwriting are the norm nowadays).
There is a local “sleeper” Mitsubishi van that attends the drag strip meetings with roof racks and plumbers gear attached, but has a Chev V8 in it and runs a 9.2 sec quarter mile!
Thanks for posting this. Our family bought a 1984 Toyota Van LE (stick shift!) in July of 84. I still have it (about 121K on the clock….lived in rusty Cleveland OH its whole life too!)
As long as it doesn’t overheat, it’s a great vehicle. Other than routine wear items, the only things that have gone bad in 27 years are the starter and brake master cylinder (currently in shop for that…starter was about 12 yrs ago). The thermostat stopped working and an aftermarket one was installed as well….otherwise…typical 80s Toyota reliability!
My 2 year old saw the page open and said “daddy’s van!” (mine is a similar burgundy color). If you need any details when it’s time to write up the Toyota, please don’t hesitate to get in touch w/ me!
You know, there are plenty of these and their eerily similar competitors running around doing work stuff here in Japan (with their much smaller, much more basic engines). In fact, the modern ones in particular seem to have taken on a bit of a special “coolness” for a rougher type of guy who dyes his hair bright yellow and wears too much jewelry and clothing that is very loudly designed. Kinda like a certain type of pickup truck owner, now that I think about it.
Hmm. Hard to know how to comment on this. I remember all of these box vans, but only for seeing them around occasionally. They reminded me of the original Big Three vans from the early 60’s, with the (relatively) flat nose and forward seating positions, and dog house for engine access. Great for space utilization, but pray to God you never have a head on crash.
What’s really amusing to me, is that empirically, these thing are awful. Poorly engineered for the market they were sent into, and with predictable high failure rates. But reading comments like, in effect, they all do that; change out the cooling system every 30K miles; or if it doesn’t overheat, it’s great; make me think of how crappy these things must have been.
Also just how much suspension of reality goes on with certain vehicles. If there were different nameplates on them, we would hear the same old sarcastic remarks. It’s probably good that Nissan got these off the roads, but again, like the “secret” warranties, they were forced into doing so.
Nothing new under the sun. A turkey indeed.
Buckeye Nissan in Columbus, Ohio gave us one as a loner in, say, early 1987. Somehow they needed more time to scrounge up parts for mom’s ’72 Datsun 1200.
At age 9, I kinda liked all the space!
Compared to the Datsun and the ’70 Mustang I grew up it, this was a rumpus room!
I remember it was on a snowy winter weekend.
Holy shit did it slide around! And my dad was a good Canadian driver!
And oh so tippy!
The buyback wasn’t a bad deal for those of us that bought them used. I drove my ’87 GXE for a couple of years and made a couple thousand bucks off the buyback. Never had a bit of trouble and probably wouldn’t have sold it back except I was worried about getting service replacement parts going forward. I had 4 small kids and you talk about the perfect travel vehicle. The mid-ship captains chairs swiveled to look backwards and with the sunroof open the kids loved it. I remember the service manager at the Nissan Dealer said they had to remove the gas tank and cut a 3′ section of the wiring harness out of the middle of the van as proof to the manufacturer and then they hauled them to a scrap metal yard and crushed them.
I actually own one of those rare Nissan vans!
I just acquired it recently and been fixing it up to be streetable again.
check it out:
http://datsmo.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/the-nissan-van-aka-gc22-or-vanette-in-other-parts-of-the-world/
Awesome of you to mention the Nissan Van as a curbside classic!
Thanks!
-goki
Does anyone happen to know where this van is I would like to owen it I already have three on the Mitsubishi version 541 476-0245 ask for Doug
We’ve got one you can have- it’s not near as nice looking as the one in the pic, but it is the same color and it runs!
Where are You located I might be intrested.
southern Oregon
My dad bought one of the Nissan vans, after I literally begged him not to. It was in immaculate condition, and was literally loaded with every option they offered including the sunroof, captain chairs, and the fridge up front… but it had a blown head gasket and cracked head and I knew exactly who my dad planned on getting to fix it. Me! The seller only wanted $300 bucks for it though, so my dad bought it anyway.
It had already had all the recall related upgrades done, and getting a head wasn’t a problem, but replacing it was a nightmare! Access to the engine from the top was pitiful, even after removing all the acess panels I couldn’t get to the manifold bolts on the exhaust at all. We ended up having to drop the engine out from the bottom by removing the front cradle, and then re-installing it.
He found out about the buyback after we fixed it and got almost $6,000 for it from Nissan. You’d think he would have given me some of that, but you’d be mistaken… I didn’t even get a dime for the work I did on it.
I worked on many of these vans as a 36 year Datsun Nissan tech only saw 1 or 2 that had fires and most of those were from neglect because the engine was so had to get at
sent many to the crusher
I’ve been a huge follower of this style of van for a few years, and recently caught a great example of the third legendary 80s Japanese minivan – the Mitsubishi.
Been working on repairing it a great deal. It was purchased non-running for $800 and had a bad timing belt and host of other problems, most of which I’ve been learning auto mechanic skills to repair.
http://www.etotheipiplusone.net/?p=2769 is a good shot of it so far and I have a build report thread running on the site just for it.
One of these days, I hope to have the whole trifecta.
My wife’s mom has one of these. Its gray like the second photo above, but has some blue vinyl graphics along the side. It has about 100k miles on it. The A/C quit last year but it’s in amazing shape other than that.
I own a 1988 nissian van if anyone is interested. What is it worth? I drove it into the garage15 years ago and haven’t messed with it since
Where is the van located ? what kind of shape is it in ? pictures if You have some Please. What color is it ? Why did You stop driving it ? let Me know Thanks
When I was working for Nissan around 2008 I asked one of the old timers about the Van. Paul’s article is spot on. He told me one Friday after work, the techs all got drunk and played “bumper cars” in the lot where they were waiting for the trucks to take them to the crusher. I wish I had been working there then, that sounds like a lot of fun! The parts catalog did not list them in the index, but one day I got a call and the Van parts listings came up when I entered the Vin #. I don’t remember now what he was looking for, but I believe it was still available and I ordered and received it. So in 2008 at least one was still on the road in the Portland,Oregon region. The biggest problem with the rare fires was the engine was between the seats so it would spread fast.
Haven’t seen one of these in ages upon ages, probably due to the buyback. I do have a dealer brochure for them, stashed away from a years-ago auto show. I’ll have to find that and scan at some point…
Too bad about those old Nissan vans. I actually think they’re a little better looking than the Toyotas. The new NV200 mid size delivery vans are kind of cute. If they’re a success , maybe Toyota will take notice and offer something similar.
Once I had seen this Van (only on pic) sent by an ex-relative from Australia…with an automatic transmission. Is that possible? As the gentleman had said he had quite good experiences with it.
Only the US version had these issues, due to a larger engine and other changes.
I haven’t seen the Nissan Van in a long time. I still see plenty of Toyota Vans today, but not many Nissans, and not many Mitsubishi Delica Vans. The Nissan Van was the best looking (IMHO) of the three, but the Toyota Town Ace (Van) was the better seller.
Tangentally-related, if only very tenuously so: in (assuming I’ve dug up a reference to the correct episode) season 7, episode 9 of the TV show ‘Cops’, there’s a car chase involving one of the same-era Nissan vans; it ultimately ends up crashing into a store entrance. I’ve tried digging up the video, but am not having any luck in the usual places.
Always struck me as an odd choice of vehicle to try to elude the police in.
Seen a couple of these over the years, I recall a friends family having one about 15 years ago
What I would be interested in knowing is if the original domestic versions of the mid-engined van had similar overheating issues and, if not, why. I’m of course talking about the sixties’ Dodge A-100 and Ford Falcon Econoline. Was it because of the design of the domestic vans’ engines or something much more prosaic, like the fact that the heat from those vans’ engines could dissipate into the interior. While it would make for a toasty ride (especially during the summer), maybe it’s what kept those engine compartments from having the type of overheating issues that the Asians experienced with what would seem to be an identical drivetrain layout.
There’s at least one still puttering around on Long Island. I’ve been seeing it for 12+ years now and it still looks new. I’d love to buy it and do an SR20DET swap…Why not add more heat into the engine bay of an already flammable car? I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
I agree with Paul’s comment that only the US versions had these problems. Having spent five military tours in Japan, and currently living in Tokyo, the Toyota and Nissan were the most popular of the forward control vans. Mitsubishi took a different tack with its Delica and focused on its 4WD model, marketing it similar to a SUV. The Mazda Bongo was less popular and was mainly used in commercial service. Honda never made FC van, with the exception of the small “kei” class.
The two Toyota Town Ace models I had were great vehicles – zero problems. Never had any overheating problems either, and that was in tropical Okinawa.
The U.S. models two things against them:: 1: the engine options were limited. The other is that only one model offered 4wd.
The nose is short enough to be the new Mystery Wagon for Scoob and his pals.
The Toyota and mitsubishi van also offered a refrigerator in the back between the swivel captains chairs. The only Puerto Rican family in our city owned one, it was rusty and belched oily smoke probably had 500k on it, the dad was so proud of that van. His teenage children.. Not so much, every morning Sarah got out of a van puffing smoke that sounded like a ride away sewing machine.
In some markets, I’m sure; but I’ve never seen a Mitsubishi, Nissan, or Toyota with a refrigerator unit. If they were available in the United States, I would’ve bought one in a heartbeat.
I owned a 1987 Nissan van until they took it back and i loved that van the warmer and refrigerator was the selling point and the 0 turning, never had problems until they put in all the bells and whistles to keep it from burning up..i was going to keep it until i was told i wouldn’t be able to buy parts..and didn’t realize they was going to send them to the crushers..
Proud owner… ’90 model 2seat Nissan Vanette w 300+Kay’s on clock . 5speed floor shift(cable). 2litre carby but choked up with egr and emissions crap everywhere. Having drama with the hitachi carb, similar to Nissan,Datsun 720 ute. I think you guys in us prob see similar in Suzuki samurai(sierra/feroza). Mines got seats in back fold down for double bed and more room than a troops. Big box behind seats for twin twelves. It’s known locally as the Metallivan. Love the van and it loves a drink. Still sits on 140 all day or tows a trailer no worries. Never caught on fire yet. Low points would seem to be the transverse, inverted front single leaf spring(aka model T ford) but works well and DOES really turn on a dime. Light as steering too for non powered. Everything you wonder is true, bitch to work on. R hand drive is a bit better just to check oil and filters but even doing the other 4 plugs in twin spark head requires removal of consoles, engine cover panels. No fridge in mine though, the passenger version over here in Australia is the Nomad with plush chairs and sun, moon roof but never seen the fridge/warmer option, want one now!!!
I had one of these when my kids were young and they called it the Toaster van (notice the resemblance?). It was the greatest to go camping in, had a built in drink cooler/warmer between the front seats and the back seats folded down into a very comfy bed. I reluctantly traded it in for a Stanza. My van never seemed to have problems. I was remembering it today and found this amusing site. Love the bumper car story above…
Funny. I just stumbled onto this thread this afternoon and earlier this morning I was talking to my wife about my idea to fix the overheating problem on my 1988 Nissan Van. The van has some nice features, such as two sunroofs and two fully reclining middle seats. We quit driving it years ago and just parked it in the garage because it would heat up going through the mountains, so we could not run the air conditioning. It has been a long time since I saw another one on the road. Also, I was amused about the Plymouth Cricket comments. I had one in the 70s. In England, I think it was a Hillman Avenger, as evidenced by the single letter in the center of the grill. It was a cute car, but horrible mechanically.
I remember the Nissan Van when it first premiered here in the USA. I found it more attractive than either the Toyota Van, or the Mitsubishi. The Toyota may have been more reliable, but the Nissan, as sold in the USA, IMHO, was better looking.
I really liked the looks of the Mitsubishi, yet even though they were never recalled and crushed like the Nissan, I never see them any longer. They must not have sold very many of them in the U.S.
I know. My stepdad and I used a Mitsubishi van when we operated a vending machine business. One thing it should’ve been equipped with was a refrigerator unit, because it got rather hot during the summer months, and the candy that we had to transport tended to melt rather quickly.
I have a 1987 Nissan van and. I’m interested in selling it.if you want to buy one call me at 707-655-9554 ttext me for faster tesponse
Only other vehicle I can think of that was bought back by the manufacturer (a few escaped) is the Citroen GS BiRotor.
I own one outside of the engine problem it was great drive and the center seat section could reversed to allow passenger to be face to face and talk and play game. Plenty of room and easy to park. But then came the end on a trip to Disney World and the engine melt down. St that time Nissan said it was not a problem but the dealership had about 20 in the garage all the same problem. Cost about $2000 in repairs and that crushed the kids and Disney trip. Went into negotiations with Nissan representatives that insisted not their fault. They were absolutely brutal and disrespectful to my wife and had her in tears. Finally got rid of it and then they admitted their failure but to late for us. Will never buy another Nissan again and I go out of my way to post what crooks and pigs they are. ?
My family had an ’87 XE van that my parents bought used around 1990. We put a lot of miles on it, but I also remember spending an awful lot of time at a Nissan dealer with my dad while all the recalls were being done.
By the time they told us they were doing a buy-back of the vans, the Quest had been around for a couple of years–a van that was actually designed to be a minivan. My dad said to the Nissan rep, “Why don’t you swap this van for a Quest? It’s good PR, and my family would have the van they originally believed we were buying.” He recalled that they got a little hot-headed and said something like, “We can’t just be giving away new vans!”
So, at that point, he was DONE with Nissan, took the money and purchased a VW Vanagon.
Well… I have acquired a gem of an oldie ’88 GXE from inheritance of my Father. I am not physically able to maintain use of it, I must part ways with it. Here are a few photos below…….
$13,000
If interest arises call me – Jonathan at (318) 709-4174
Note: the purple color what can look to be as a big scratch on the bottom side of the slider is a thread behind my camera lens it absoulty is not a scratch.
Hola me podrías ayudar con el número de parte del filtro de aire por favor saludos
My parents had one when I was a child
hola..tengo una xe en Argentina..no se como habra sobrevivido..
Reading these comments makes me feel rather bad because I had a Plymouth Cricket (Hillman Avenger in England) and I still have a 1988 Nissan Van. Kind of makes me think that I have bad judgment in cars–of course, that might explain the Sterling 827si, the Austin America and the many Renaults that I owned over the years.
I had an ’84 Toyota 7-pass.van, bought it used in ’86 and put 100k+ trouble-free miles on it. Gutless but great, that was our “moon-unit”.
I immediately recalled the 1923 air-cooled Chevys and 1973 Citroens with the Comotor rotary engines as other examples of cars that the manufacturer tried to pull off the road, but I see others beat me to it. But wasn’t there also some brouhaha about the Lancia Beta Montecarlo sold in the UK that were pulled off the market for a whole year to fix brake problems? I thought Lancia bought back some defective cars, but I can’t find anything online about it with a quick search. Two other examples would be the 1960s Chrysler Turbine Car and GM’s EV1, both of which the manufacturer took back and crushed most examples; of course neither of those were actually sold to their end users and they were recalled so the dealers wouldn’t have to supply parts and service, not because of safety defects.
Anyway back to the Nissan van – the local Nissan dealership used one of these as a courtesy vehicle to take service customers to the subway station, and I recall the insides were nicely fitted and surprisingly plush. But one thing stood out as glaringly out of place – the entire steering column was exposed, a long metal tube just like in a 1940s car.
The Turbine cars were made in Italy. They were intended only for customer feedback on the turbine concept, but never intended for sale. Chrysler would have had to pay import taxes on those cars. Or they could donate them to museums, export them back to Italy, or crush them. A few were donated, but most museums were not interested.
As for the GM EV-1, GM never intended to sell these to customers. Only to lease them. Probably for the same reason as Chrysler, to get customer feedback on the concept. After the EV-1 program, GM did not want to support the cars for parts and service. Kind of a pity, they had a strong following. No doubt today someone would have been happy to provide parts and service for those cars besides GM.
Chrysler destroying most of the turbine cars to avoid import taxes seems to be a widely circulated myth. The taxes on 55 cars would have been something like $25,000, a pittance given what the turbine program cost. Chrysler was much more concerned with liability (and bad publicity) if something happened, or having to train dealers and supply parts.
I rode in one of these Nissan vans on a business trip to Toronto in 1987…I went to visit a group up there, and one of them had a Nissan van…we went from Toronto to near Hamilton in it, got to sit in the shotgun position as I was their guest, they took me out on Lake Ontario on a sailboat one of them owned that was built in 1934. We ate at the dock and had a good time.
I later met one of them in Seattle, flew from Philadelphia (wasn’t a jetsetter, was visiting my relatives in NEPA and didn’t have time to fly home, so went directly from vacation to business trip). Spent my 29th birthday with him and a group of other people from work, then flew home. I lost my housekey and had to break into my own home (had just moved there year before, but I’m still living at the same address).
I like space efficient vehicles, and this van was about as good as it gets in that regard..of course I never had to work on the engine on one of them, imagine it would be a big pain
We drive this Van in Europa with Dieselmotor. Nothing Problems than Brake and so on. This Vans was very better then the VW Bus. It was going from us with 360000 km to Afrika. The Byer takes 4 Years later ( 2019) from us a Toyota Previa with Dieselmotor. He said his Company is driving the Nissan Vanette (Name in Europa) in Nigeria and now its so 500000 km. The only Problems of this Van was in Amerika with the too big and wrong Motor for this Van.
I also have a 1987 Nissan Van named “The Grey Wolf” working on fixing the exhaust right now finally found a mechanic and part but should be back on the road this summer in Eugene, OR!
Stephanie
This is mine, picture from today. I’m so happy! Gàbor from Hungary
I owned a Nissan Van. I never had a problem with it. I hated to turn it in but I did because it made sense at the time. It had a beverage cooler/heater between the front seats. It was pretty gutless up hills.