Nissan Once Sold A Van So Broken That It Had To Buy All Of Them Back Due To Potential Fiery Death

The cars of the 1980s and 1990s are enjoying a renaissance right now. Those who grew up in the Radwood era finally have cash to spend and they’re going home with everything from Acura Legends to forward control minivans. One van you might have a hard time finding is the Nissan Van. Pitched as a no-compromise luxury van, Nissan gave the U.S. versions bigger engines. But Nissan screwed up as those engines ended up running hot, so hot that some even caught fire. Others just didn’t work right and Nissan was so embarrassed that it tried to buy all of the Vans back.

Multiple readers pitched this one-box weirdo after our last Unholy Fails entry. Your wish is our command!

There was once a time when the minivan was as revolutionary as the crossover. Vans have long been a staple of American culture, but the 1984 Chrysler minivans started a new era of family vehicles. The Dodge Caravan, the Chrysler Town and Country, and the Plymouth Voyager became sensations as Americans moved out of wagons and into spacious people carriers.

The Chrysler minivans were such a stroke of genius that other automakers scrambled to offer something that could even be in the same ballpark. Chevrolet tried to market its Chevrolet Astro and GMC Safari as minivans that could do work and haul loads the Chryslers couldn’t. Ford took a similar path with its Aerostar. In reality, the rest of Detroit was playing catch-up in the game of the garageable van.

General Motors got closer with its late 1980s ‘dustbuster’ vans. It took Ford until 1995 to finally adopt a layout similar to a Chrysler van with the Windstar.

The import brands were also in this race with funky forward control vans. The Toyota Van (TownAce) was on sale before Chrysler’s vans while Mitsubishi gave us the Wagon (Delica) for a short period beginning in 1987. Toyota returned again in 1991 with the Previa and Honda joined in 1994 with the Odyssey. Before that, Honda sold a sort of van-like wagon version of the Civic called the Civic Wagovan. Renault was even considering sending us its Espace to throw into the popular minivan pile. And don’t forget Mazda with its quirky MPV.

Nissan had a couple of irons in the fire. There was the Nissan Stanza Wagon, which was combined traits of a wagon and a minivan into one. Its other 1980s minivan effort was the Nissan Van. Yes, Nissan and Toyota named their North American minivans just “Van.” I love how simple the names of Japanese imports were in America back then.

The Nissan Van, known elsewhere as the Vanette, couldn’t compete with Chrysler’s iconic vans. Instead, it would try to be the luxury pick. Instead, it would be the fiery one. Nissan would end up destroying most Vans, but unlike the Copper-Cooled Chevrolet, you can still buy a Nissan Van.

Born From Trucks

Before we talk about fire, let’s look at Nissan’s more obscure truck and van history.

For this one, we’re going back to the 1950s. Japan’s workers drove three-wheeled trucks as the nation got back on its feet after World War II. These little trucks were simple, yet practical, leading three-wheelers to a 72 percent market share of the Japanese truck market by 1953. However, as Japan advanced, those three-wheeled trucks fell out of vogue.

Japan’s automakers responded by making the descendants of today’s trucks. Mazda had a four-wheeled truck on Japanese roads in 1950 while Toyota launched the Toyopet SKB in 1954. These trucks were a step forward compared to the three-wheelers used before and after the war, but still simple machines. For example, the Toyopet featured a ladder frame, a leaf spring suspension, and a side-valve engine that at first didn’t even make 30 HP.

The Datsun Cablight made its debut in 1958. Nissan had constructed trucks for decades before the Cablight, but the Cablight was one of the trucks to lead the firm’s post-war charge. According to archived brochure pages from the era, trucks like the Cablight were intentionally simplistic to create a practical, yet affordable vehicle. Keep in mind that this was around the time that the Japanese government wanted to get the nation on wheels with the development of a people’s car.

Those brochures also detail some of the features of the Cablight. Datsun boasted its Cablight as having a roomy interior, the first synchronized four-speed transmission in its class, and parts commonality with Datsun passenger cars, including the front suspension. Datsun further sold that as a benefit as having a car suspension meant the Cablight rode like a car and the car parts meant easy service. Further, Datsun’s choice to go with a semi cabover-type design also meant easy maneuvering on tight streets.

Like other trucks of the era, the Cablight was powered by an itty bitty engine. In this case, the Cablight had an 860cc side-valve inline-four making all of 27 HP. It should also be noted that this wasn’t the only truck Datsun sold at the time. There was also the Datsun Truck 220 series, which was a more conventional affair positioned upmarket from the Cablight.

To further illustrate how simple the Cablight was, you should know about its features, or lack thereof. Cablight drivers didn’t have a fuel gauge. Instead, they inserted a rod into the fuel tank to check fuel level. Other cost-cutting was found in the fact that the passenger side of the truck had a manual windshield wiper and the metal-framed seats had more in common with a park bench than a vehicle.

The Cablight was a commercial success for Datsun and the company continued developing it into a better truck over the years. A second generation was introduced in 1961 and a third generation followed in 1964.

Some Japanese sites claim that the van version of the Cablight had Japan’s first-ever sliding door mechanism on a production van. As Curbside Classic notes, Datsun scooped up Tokyu Kogyo Kurogane in the 1960s and with that acquisition came a truck and van line. The Cablight became a variation of the Kurogane Mighty and the truck’s run ended in 1968 when it was replaced by the Cabstar.

The larger Cabstar left a hole in Datsun’s lineup for a smaller, more affordable truck. In response, the Datsun Sunny Cab was introduced in 1969 as a variation of the Datsun Sunny. Once again, the Sunny Cab was a truck and a van borrowing its bones and components from a passenger car. In this case, the Sunny Cab borrows its 1000cc engine, wishbone front suspension, and leaf springs from the Sunny. The Sunny Cab Van version of this truck was available in two-, five-, and eight-passenger configurations, but the sliding door from the Cabstar van did not make a return.

The van we’re looking at today launched in 1978 as the 1979 Vanette. Like the van’s predecessors, its mission was simple: Get people someplace else economically. Early Vanettes featured that cab-forward layout with its engine under the front seats that drove the rear wheels.

Like its predecessors, the Vanette also borrowed from the passenger car parts bin and featured shocks up front and leaf springs in the rear. These were still pretty slow vans, too, with engines ranging from a 1.2-liter four that made 63 HP to a 2.0-liter four that made 87 HP.

Bring The Fire Department

Nissan’s response to the onslaught of minivans would be the second-generation Vanette. This van went on sale in 1985 before originally petering out in 1994. Then, Malaysia picked up production in 1997 and kept making the vans until 2010. Talk about a long run!

This van was built as a contemporary to the Toyota LiteAce and the Mitsubishi Delica. Once again, you got an engine sort of in a mid-mounted arrangement and driving the rear wheels. The idea behind the Vanette, similar to its competition in Japan, was to offer something bigger than a Kei van, but smaller and more affordable than a larger commercial van. These types of vans were still very popular in Japan and Nissan thought Americans would want in on the action. As Hemmings writes, the second-generation Vanette was designed and built by Aichi Kokuki, a former Kei car manufacturer Nissan picked up in its acquisition dash in the past.

Nissan knew it was going to be difficult to compete with Chrysler’s minivans, so it concocted a plan to set itself a part. The Vanette, which would be sold in America as the “Van” would be pitched as the luxury alternative. The Van would have dual air-conditioning, dual sunroofs, swivel seats, an automatic transmission, a cooler with an ice maker, a warming compartment, and bucket seats with lumbar support. The Vanette sold in the Philippines even had an optional outdoor shower.

Nissan boasted the Van’s good road manners thanks to an independent suspension up front and 5-link coil springs in the rear.

Unfortunately, there was one thing the Vanette didn’t have, and that was power. Nissan knew that Americans loved taking long-distance road trips at speed. The best engine for the Vanette was a 2.0-liter four that made 87 HP. That wasn’t going to work, but Nissan had an idea. It had a larger 2.4-liter engine that it already certified for the Datsun 720 and Nissan Hardbody on the American market. That engine could be hoisted into the Van, making a North American special.

Nissan added those changes, as well as giving the Van a special face for America, and put it on sale in 1986 for 1987. Then, all hell broke loose.

Reportedly, Nissan Vans started breaking down almost immediately. Owners with less luck than that experienced engine fires. The first recall hit in July 1987 when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said 10,000 10,000 Vans needed new valve cover gaskets. Vans impacted by the recall could experience oil leaking out of the valve cover gaskets and onto the exhaust manifolds.

This didn’t stop the fires, and three years later another recall was issued for all 33,000 Vans sold in America to replace power steering hoses. The Van ended sales in 1989, so this happened long after the last example sold.

Apparently, the hoses could fall apart, spraying power steering fluid onto the exhaust manifolds, causing a fire. Somehow, not even this stopped the Nissan Vans from getting too hot, and two more recalls were issued. Those recalls saw Nissan Vans getting their entire cooling systems replaced with improved parts. Vans also got an auxiliary electric fan and power steering fluid cooler.

Unfortunately, Nissan then discovered that it was more cost-effective to just buy every Van back rather than go through the process of performing the recall repairs on 33,000 units. In 1993 and 1994, Nissan launched a buyback program. Depending on condition and mileage, Nissan paid $5,000 to $7,000 to the owners of Nissan Vans to take their vehicles off of the road. This was claimed to be what their retail value was, or better than what those owners could have gotten on the used market. If that deal wasn’t sweet enough, Nissan also gave those owners a $500 to $1,000 discount on a used or new Nissan of their choice. Vans given back to Nissan for the program were destroyed and then disposed of.

In the aftermath, the Los Angeles Times claimed that the Nissan Van was such a disaster that it was the first car to be recalled four times in an attempt to stop one problem from happening. The program also cost Nissan over $200 million in the buyback program alone, and who knows how much more in the handful of class-action suits that were filed against Nissan.

You’ll notice I didn’t say how much power the engine made. All of this was over an engine that made 106 HP, not even a full 20 horses better than an engine that the van was made to use. The Van hit 60 mph in a leisurely 19 seconds in MotorWeek‘s testing. The legendary John Davis called the Van “embarrassingly slow.”

Somewhere around 153 Nissan Van fires were reported in the 1980s. Thankfully, no fatalities were reported. That “fiery death” in the headline is a nod to an old joke for those of you who have been reading our content for long enough. That’s not bad in terms of pure numbers, but enough to trigger this whole headache. Again, all of this happened because of a barely better engine. What’s worse is that the Vanette was not known for fires in other markets, so it would appear that Nissan screwed up in sticking a pickup truck engine into a tiny hole in which it didn’t belong.

Also thankfully, not everyone bought into the buyback program. Some people got their recalled Nissan Vans fixed and kept them on the road, anyway. They sometimes show up in junkyards and for sale online. I found just one for sale in America and it’s listed for $8,300, down from $13,000.

The whole Nissan Van saga is a sad one because if it weren’t for the engine’s desire for self-immolation, the van could have been something really neat. Maybe not as awesome as a Chrysler van, but it’s something awesome for this new Rad era. Thankfully, not all of them are gone, so there is a chance you could see one of these vans one day!

(Images: Manufacturers, unless otherwise noted.)