turbo Nissan van

NMNA

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/cto/3930355529.html

Now thats a mini van!

We actually had friends that owned one of these vans. Pretty sure it was one of those bought back by Nissan.

That is awesome!

You had me at 5-Speed manual, RWD, 250hp Turbo Minivan.

From wiki:

The Nissan C22 was modified for the United States market to compete with the similar sized Toyota Van and Mitsubishi Van, and to join the growing minivan market in the USA. This van was sold as the "Nissan Van" in the USA from 1987 to 1990. Nissan had to engineer its larger 2.4 liter Z24i engine into the C22 in order to handle American requirements such as air conditioning. The C22 was not originally designed for such a large engine, and the resulting tight quarters would later contribute to overheating and engine fire issues.[citation needed]

In 1994, after four safety recalls did not end the engine fire problems, and with a class action lawsuit pending,[citation needed] Nissan took the unprecedented step of recalling every Nissan Van sold in the USA.[6] Van owners were offered blue book value or more for their van,[7] and most accepted, but a few opted to keep their vans.[8] The class-action settlement offered discounts on the purchase of a new Nissan vehicle.[9] Never before had an entire vehicle range been bought back by its maker. The vehicles which were recalled were crushed en masse.[7]

"...sold as the Nissan Van..."?

They never referred to it by it's "proper" name...the Axxess ? Admittedly a very strange name, visions of dragons and / or martial arts.

Is it just me, or do ALL the Japanese minivans of this era look like they came from the same factory working from the same plans....ala Ford / Mercury?

I saw one of these in Memphis for awhile, before I moved here (Jacksonville, Fl) and have seen 1 here, too. Always seem to be painted dark brown or dark grey...almost sinister looking.

integraguy wrote: Is it just me, or do ALL the Japanese minivans of this era look like they came from the same factory working from the same plans....ala Ford / Mercury?

In the same way that GM, Ford and Dodge vans all looked pretty much the same from the 60's through the 90's?

The Japanese were caught with their pants down when Chrysler introduced the Caravan, so they quickly cobbled together US versions of vans they were already selling in Japan - which were mainly designed for delivery use in congested cities, thus the short wheelbase and cab-in-front-of-axle design elements.

When I was in Japan in the mid '80s, I would occasionally (VERY occasionally) see some of these small vans outfitted as "camper conversions". If you go to the website silkroad.com (hope that's right) they often have these small vans in inventory, most with 4WD and many with diesel engines (turbo diesel engines). We often roade around the local airbase in a largish Toyota van....sort of a precursor to the airport shuttles sold by the Big 3. I honestly couldn't tell the Toyotas from the Nissans, but Mazdas were easy to spot as they had really weird model names like the Mazda Bongo.

I think you meant this Silk Road.

http://www.silkroadautos.com/

I have been in contact about getting an 89 Delica for a little while now as they will be leagl for import in the US in a few months. I really want a Delica badly.

That's the correct website. I have it bookmarked but didn't bother to doublecheck before posting....sorry, folks.

Delica? Isn't that a Mitsubishi model?

Thats quite a story...