The Toyota HiAce is Van-tastic

If you grew up in the United States, chances are vans have occupied a weird space for you. Vans are seen as creepy, windowless chambers driven around by equally shady characters. Even at their best, most vans here are driven hard and put up wet, workhorses that are the backbone of independent contractors, plumbers, electricians, painters and service teams. In Japan, though, vans have enjoyed better public opinion.

This is largely thanks to the Kei class, which classifies certain cars for lower insurance rates based on their exterior dimensions and engine displacement. Cars like the Honda City Turbo stole hearts early, soon selling intentionally on the cuteness Kei car's squat proportions made possible. Soon, the Kei truck and Kei van came to be. Many of these trucks and vans could hardly fit a decent-sized cake in their cargo bays, but they were perfect for small deliveries on the jammed streets of Tokyo.

A collection of Kei commercial vehicles at Lane Motor Museum

The Toyota HiAce is not a Kei van. Toyota launched the van in 1967, two years after Nissan introduced the Homy (Caravan). Like the Homy, the HiAce was a cab-over light commercial chassis that offered almost any configuration you could think of. Pickup trucks, minibuses, commercial vans, taxis and ambulances were built on Toyota's H Chassis.

A 4.0-liter V8 found its way into ambulance versions, but all other shells were limited to, we'll call them practical, gas or diesel four cylinders.

This brings us to the HiAce I stumbled upon yesterday. It was parked near Piedmont Park in Atlanta and wore Florida plates, with a Subaru catalog in the windshield, no less.

It's an H100 van and, for the sheer oddity, I'll share just a small handful of the names this van went by during the H100 generation, which lasted from 1989 to 2004.

In most places, if it wasn't referred to simply as the HiAce, folks knew this van as the Toyota Commuter. However, in China, this van is badged as: the Kingstar Neptune; the Toyota RegiusAce; the Great Wall Proteus; the Foton View C1; and, my personal favorite, the BAW BJ5030XXY61. No, I'm not kidding.

As evidenced by it's extensive name catalog, though, the HiAce is an incredible example of what makes vans so interesting. Name another type of car that needs to be as configurable, robust and user-friendly as a van. Vans are everywhere; the airport, outside of hotels and bars, in nearly every neighborhood in America (and probably worldwide) at any given time, outside of schools and post offices and flower shops and most certainly in the parking lot where you work.

Even though the HiAce is markedly less intimidating than a Chevy Express with "CANDY" spray painted on the sides, it can still look suspect from a far. Hey, this one's a driver, okay.

And that's probably what makes vans so creepy here. They're the perfect creepy vehicle, because they blend into almost any populated backdrop--and often stay there.

But the HiAce proves that vans can be something worth celebrating rather than vilifying. They highlight the fun and functional aspects of vans, two of their most important characteristics. Besides, have you ever seen a threatening cab-forward car?