Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe JDM van is a MasterAce, or if you were to take those words at their literal meaning, a master at being an ace, the best of the best. We'll just see if its price is equally masteraceful.
You know you want the D, and with its four grand asking price, yesterday's 1963 Mercedes 190d proved delightful to fully 77% of you, who gave the car a Nice Price win. It'll just be trundling off the stage now after accepting its award… still going… taking its time… yup, those are sloooow cars… oh crap, it's coming back! OK, moving on! Let's see what's on the docket today.
You remember back in the '80s when Chrysler told suburbanites that minivans were cool? Before that, people just they were places where hippies lived while they were high on life, and Smack. The new-wave minivans were nothing like that, the category had become gentrified.
The new ones were clean and cosmopolitan, and no one at the grocery store would think your ashtray was full of seeds and stems just because you drove one. Suburbanites bought them in droves effectively and collectively saying to the classic station wagon that had served families since the end of WWII, do I know you?
The prospect of Chrysler's minivans kind of caught the competition with their pants down. Now, nobody wants to see Toyota with their pants down and so we were all relieved when that company introduced their own minivan to the U.S. market - the Space Wart.
Okay, it wasn't officially branded as such, but the lumpy cab-over van's styling really did look like something from outer space, like say, a wart. What they were called here in the states was Van a name which evidences how fast Toyota rushed these things to market here to get in on the burgeoning '80s mini-market. The Van was sold here from '84 through '90, eventually being replaced by the Previa.
Elsewhere, the Hilux-based people movers went by more imaginative names, including TownAce MasterAce and Daihatsu Delta Wide which sounds like something you'd fly international on.
Today we have a 1989 MasterAce Surf Grand Saloon turbo diesel 4x4. It was once JDM - hence the Pasternak-length name, and an origin that accounts for it being right-hand drive. That means that most drive-thrus will be vexing and of course, the side slider letting the kiddies out on the traffic side may not be your cup of tea.
What you might like is the 80-horse 2C-T turbo diesel four, throbbing majestically beneath your seat, and powering all four of the vans alloy wheels. You'll definitely like that this MasterAce Surf Saloon rasises the roof and punches it full of roundy-cornered skylights. There's also the mirror on the back that lets you see what's just behind you. It brings a Thule rack on top too, however, there's no word as to whether or not it comes with Spock's body on that rack like in the ad's pictures.
There's 150,000 miles on the clock and the van looks to be in pretty nice shape. It should be noted that some of the shots are from the sites linked in the ad, and hence may not be representative of the van at this stage in its life.The ad does say that the van comes with 4 years of maintenance records, a source for parts, and a clean Oregon title.
I need to point out that if she had wheels you could register your grandma in Oregon. The van is 25 years old so most likely the Feds wouldn't get all up in your ass about it, but it is offered on the Los Angeles Craigslist and honestly, no matter how old it gets this van is no-touchy in the Golden State.
I don't know about you - no seriously, I don't - but this van seems like it would be a barrel of monkeys to own. Weird, unfailingly Japanese, and pretty efficient for a people mover, it's like the Van that we did get, only on steroids. Now let's see if its price gives you roid rage.
The seller is asking $10,000 for this JDM LOL, and I now want your opinion of whether that's a deal or not. What do you say, is this Toyota MasterAce masterfully priced? Or, is lowering his asking the seller's only ace in the hole?
You decide!
Los Angeles Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to John Melcon for the hookup!
Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your Kinja handle.