Just a few months ago, we saw a reordering of the Junkyard Treasure Odometer Top Ten as the result of a 1996 Honda Civic with 435,028 miles claiming the #8 spot, pushing another Honda (a 1983 Accord with 411,794 miles) into 11th place. Now the standings have been shaken up again with the appearance of today's Junkyard Treasure: a 1995 Toyota Previa All-Trac minivan, found in a Colorado Springs car graveyard.
Its 413,530 miles come to just over 14,750 miles for each year of this van's life on the road. In a bit of bad news for Toyota, this van pushes another Toyota off the Junkyard Odometer Top Ten.
That car was a 1988 Tercel 4WD wagon (yes, they sold a few of these indestructible little wagons for the 1988 model year), and it had 413,344 miles at the end. That's just 186 fewer miles than this Previa, but such is the reality of the Junkyard Odometer Top Ten.
Because I see more discarded Toyotas with better than 300,000 miles in junkyards than any other make (though Honda comes close) and I loved every one of the several Tercel wagons I've daily-driven, I'm going to expand the Junkyard Odometer Top Ten to the Junkyard Odometer Top Fifteen this time, just to get that Tercel back onto the list. This also puts Ford back in the game. Not fair, you say? I invented not fair!
- 1990 Volvo 240 DL, 631,999 miles
- 1988 Honda Accord LXi, 626,476 miles
- 1987 Mercedes-Benz 190E, 601,173 miles
- 1981 Mercedes-Benz 300SD, 572,139 miles
- 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300SD, 525,971 miles
- 1988 Honda Accord DX, 513,519 miles
- 1990 Volvo 740 Turbo Wagon, 493,549 miles
- 1991 Honda Accord, 435,471 miles
- 1996 Honda Civic, 435,028 miles
- 1995 Toyota Previa All-Trac, 413,530 miles
- 1988 Toyota Tercel 4WD Wagon, 413,344 miles
- 2002 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, 412,013 miles
- 1983 Honda Accord, 411,794 miles
- 1985 Mercedes-Benz 300D, 411,448 miles
- 2001 Honda CR-V, 403,757 miles
As you can see, Honda dominates the Junkyard Odometer Top Fifteen with its six vehicles. Mercedes-Benz is just behind with four cars, and Volvo stays at the top of the pyramid… for now.
When I find a discarded vehicle that managed to drive more than 400,000 miles during its career, I wonder how anyone could discard such a faithful machine. In this case, it's apparent that a nasty guardrail-scraping wreck that ruined the function of the all-important sliding door forced this van's retirement. It's hard to justify spending thousands on repairs for a high-mile van that isn't worth much beyond sentimental value.
The Previa was a weird engineering masterpiece, with a straight-four engine mounted on its side beneath the front seats. It offered plenty of interior space on a small, easy-to-maneuver footprint and proved to be exceptionally reliable in the real world. This is the fifth junkyard Previa I've documented with more than 300,000 miles showing on the odometer (after a '91, a '91 All-Trac, a '94, and a '96 All-Trac), and I've encountered a half-dozen more junked 300k-mile-plus Previas that I didn't bother to photograph.
The All-Track all-wheel-drive system was available on Celicas, Corollas, and Camrys in addition to Previas. Van shoppers in the United States could get new Previas with both All-Trac and five-speed manual transmissions, but just for the 1991 and 1992 model years.
The 1991-1993 Previas didn't quite have enough power for hauling heavy loads on long drives at North American highway speeds, so Toyota installed superchargers on the 1994-1997 models sold here. This resulted in a good-enough 158 hp without having to resort to completely re-engineering the whole van in order to squeeze in a bigger engine.
The sacrifices we make for our children—like stuffing a Roots blower under the hood of a minivan.
In Japan, it was just the right van to take the kids and the dog to the hot-air balloon launch spot.
1995 Toyota Previa All-Trac with 413k Miles in Colorado Junkyard
