A Toyota HiAce minivan, as seen on the streets of central Beijing in the summer of 2016. The good Toyota was in fine shape, albeit a bit dusty. It was painted dark blue with darkened windows and it still had all the original decals.
The fourth generation Toyota HiAce (H100) was made from 1989 until 2004. It has an interesting history in China. There was official import, gray import, legal local production, illegal-local production, and local production of all sorts of copies.
The car we have here is an original period import, and those are super rare, especially in this kind of near-perfect condition. Check those pretty decals on the side! With white stripes and Toyota lettering in white with red edges. Too pretty to be true, but there it was.
Over the long years of production, the Toyota HiAce was available with a whole lot of petrol and diesel engines. The base petrol engine was a 2.0, the largest a 4.0 liter V8 (!). The base diesel engine was a 2.4, the largest a 3.0. In China, most imported HiAce minivans had a petrol engine under the hood, but there were some diesel too. Sadly, I was unable to determine what kind of engine out blue wonder had.
The interior was in fine shape too. Hard gray plastics last forever! The owner added seat covers and seat cushions. He also added a new infotainment system:
This kind of retrofit systems were very popular in the 1990s and 2000s. They came with a small screen and could play DVD and MP4 video, and CD and MP3 music. They came in all kinds of quality, and they even played while driving. Some had a karaoke function. A basic system could be had for a few hundred yuan.
Even the wheel covers are period original. This HiAce is a real time capsule. Like someone buried it in the ground in 2000 and dug it up in 2016. It has museum quality.
The license plate is as old as the car, with a remarkable sequence. Eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture. This plate has a double eight, so that’s lucky twice. Once, I bet, for the HiAce itself and once for the perfect decals.