1986 LE

I have recently bought a 1986 Toyota Van le. I have been in love with these vans ever since I was 6 years old and visited my father's business. My dad owns a catering business and during the 80's the vehichle of choice for our company was the Toyota Van. At one point we had an army of 12 vans ranging from base model to luxury.[have a picture somewhere. when I find it I'll e-mail]
So ever since the last Toyota Van left our fleet I have promised to one day find and buy a Toyota Van.

I currently own a Suzuki Swift GT which is lots of fun but I was missing something. When I started looking in the news paper and local Buy & Sell magazines there were no vans to be found. I was lucky one day flipping through the local AutoTrader and came upon a 1986 Toyota Van LE, 5spd, just what I had been looking for.

I purchased the van for $500.00 even though the owner had problems staring the van. My van has had lots of mechanical problem since I bought it b/c I guess the last owner didn't take care of it. So far I have had to replace: distributor, alternator, entire exhaust system, rear door, windsheild, carpeting and have had a complete tune-up done. All together I have put in $600 to fix it. Now my ignition timing is off causing all kinds of pinging as I accelerate which leads to a complete shut down with lots of smoke and heat coming from the engine bay.

I can't complain. Its been lots of fun fixing the van and I plan on having its body painted and restored next year. Plan on upgrading the interior as well but not sure what to do with all the dirty and scratched panels.

My van is a 5spd, has the ice cooler, air conditioning, sunroof, large rear power sunroof, power windows & locks, rear swiveling captains chairs and the Toyota Supra rims with extra wide tire for support.

Here are some pictures of my van. I hope I havn't gone on to long here but its great to find a site like this on the internet. If you have any questions for me please fell free to e-mail me. Once again, love the site keep up the good work.