Every so often, an idea comes along that has staying power, such as Chrysler’s original minivan. Seeing a first-generation Dodge Caravan passing by a brand-new Honda Odyssey reminds us that the general concept has remained remarkably true over the past three decades. Yes, modern vans are wider, longer and (slightly) swoopier, but all current minivans in North America can trace their spiritual heritage back to these early Chryslers.
Minivans disrupted the automotive market in the 1980s, though they’ve hardly formed a booming market segment lately. While as recently as 2006 more than 1 million new minivans found homes in US driveways, that number has tumbled to about 600,000 in recent years. But stop by any elementary school parking lot, and you’d be hard-pressed to call minivans a decimated market. These cars have a devoted following; for folks who prioritize passenger and cargo capacity at a reasonable cost, minivans can’t be beat. They may not be the stuff that dreams are made of, but a versatile, efficient package carried strong appeal in the 1980s and continues to do so today. I should know, we just bought our second minivan last year.
I have an affinity for early Chrysler minivans because my own parents bought one of the first examples in 1984. Dad wasn’t exactly an early adopter of newfangled things, but he was enthralled by the space-efficiency of these vehicles. When he was looking to replace his 1976 Buick Century wagon, he drove a minivan and then never bothered test-driving anything else. Initially, he had planned to order a blue Dodge Caravan SE just like our featured car, but somehow he wound up with a fully-loaded woodgrain-sided Plymouth Voyager LE instead (above). The fact that my parents splurged for a top-of-the-line anything astonished 11-year-old me – I loved everything about that van, and eventually, dad gave me my first driving lessons in it. The Voyager served our family well for five years.
This particular van is a 1989 model, though first-generation Caravans and Voyagers changed relatively little between their 1984 introduction and 1990. This is a short-wheelbase model (the longer-wheelbase Grand Caravan came along as an option starting in ’87), but has the optional 3.0L Mitsubishi-sourced V-6 instead of the standard four-cylinder engine. Mid-level SE’s like this one benefited from an upgraded interior (high-back cloth seats instead of the base-model’s low-back vinyl), additional trim, and the availability of more options. Chances are, the SE was the sales volume leader for 1980s Caravans and Voyagers.
Early minivans aren’t exactly common any longer; I probably see one or two a year now, but I was glad to see this one still performing its job admirably. And even more impressively, it can be considered an ancestor to every minivan that it passes.
Photographed in Falls Church, Virginia in July 2019.
Plus the metal piece of trim above the license plate is still there. It looks like the owner did what Ma Mopar should have done in the first place. He/She added a couple of screws to keep it attached.
Chrysler used double sided tape on that part that they should have known that folks were going to grab to open or close the tailgate. I remember that most of these vans in my home town of Columbia MD, were missing that part.
Still all in all the 1984-91 and the 92-95 Mopar minivans were on point and still look good in 2019
The 1st-generation ended in 1990; the 2nd-generation began in ’91. But they both still look half-decent even now–IF they’re kept up that is. Fun fact: the original Chrysler Town & Country minivan lasted for just ONE year (guess which one). The last time I was at Pull-a-Part they had a near-pristine (for its salvage-car-status) ’95 Caravan, coincidentally also blue in color. Checking under the hood revealed that it had the 3.0 L Mitsubishi V6 still intact. All the seats were still in the van too; the rest of the interior wasn’t in too bad a shape either. Probably the biggest reason it wound up over there was transmission failure…
On yesterday’s Aerostar post someone commented that they never see Aerostars anymore, but early Chrysler minivans are still common where they are. Where I am (Northern California) I’ve noticed the opposite. I still see Aerostars on a fairly regular basis but I can’t remember the last time I saw one of these first generation Voyagers or Caravans. Even the second generation (which also overlapped the Aerostar’s production run) seem to be getting pretty rare, although there is a local florist in my town still using a second generation Caravan as a delivery vehicle.
Your dad sounds a lot like mine in some ways. He too was never really an early adopter, but he also ordered a brand new Voyager in 1984 for pretty much the same reasons. I was only four years old at the time, but I have vague memories of accompanying my parents to dealership after dealership as they looked at traditional full sized vans, but nothing really wowed them. Then they walked into a Chrysler-Plymouth showroom and the salesman showed them this brand new vehicle they had, and they were blown away by the space efficiency. I don’t even think the Voyager/Caravan was on their radar until the salesman showed them one, but after they saw it they promptly ordered one. The difference between your parents and my is that the one they ordered was a fairly basic version, five passenger model with vinyl seats, manual crank windows, basic radio with no cassette or anything. And plain hubcaps. At that age I thought wire wheel covers were really cool and I was hoping my parents would get them on their new car, and I was disappointed that they didn’t
“Where I am (Northern California) I’ve noticed the opposite.” Same for me in South Carolina, but I believe Astros/Safaris of any vintage are more common than Aerostars OR pre-’96 Caravans/Voyagers. A florist shop in Lexington still has an Astro AND a Safari in their fleet along with a similar-vintage Express. I was able to get an Astrofari-trio shot at the end of May by parking my ’05 between theirs (I believe you can see the front of the Express in this view), but after looking more closely at the Safari it’s looking doubtful if that van even runs now as I see it always parked in that same position every time I go to work in the morning but the Astro is parked at least once in the opposite direction on occasion; the right rear wheel looks damaged too. Who knows, it might now be a parts vehicle for the other van. A few other businesses in the area still use Astros as well.
The reason the minivan works is because it is so logical and capable of satisfying 90% of everyday family needs. When the first passenger vans appeared, they were either too truckish or a slow-ass VW loaf of bread. As a kid, I hated being in a VW van listening to it try to push us down the road. My uncle had an early Falcon van and it was a truck with school bus seats in it. These early vans weren’t able to replace the station wagons millions bought every year for family use. So a revolution was ripe and Ford, AMC and Chrysler had prototypes, but Chrysler did it correctly – front wheel drive, horizontal mounted engine, and after a few years – TWO sliding passenger doors.
When Iacocca unveiled it, the public was more than ready to fill their driveways with a vehicle better designed and using the newest packaging. BOOM! The competition took a decade to field a real competitor.
We need vehicles that carry growing families. Until the truck finally evolved into a passenger vehicle over the past twenty years, the minivan didn’t have much real competition. The SUV is overkill, but an attractive alternative to the minivan. The next generation of tall wagons from Toyota, Subaru, Hyundai, Ford and Honda will break that market further.
Hey, nice find (and nice memories)! The “MagicWagon” moniker for the first Chryco minivans really had some substance to it; they really were a damn-near-pitch-perfect revolution—suddenly the Caprice Estate just wasn’t the best tool for the job any more.
A decade ago I had an interesting seat from which to comment on the evolution of the breed.
That’s a darn good article you wrote there.
+1
CC Effect is in full force today, as I saw (but did not photograph) a gen-1 with woodgrain sides not 30 minutes ago!
Nice find indeed. I also learned to drive in a first gen Chrysler minivan, although my family had one almost like in your photo: a light blue SWB Caravan LE with the V6 and a 3-speed automatic instead of the woeful UltraDrive. It had 200K and was frequently vapor-locking by the time I was driving it, but still survived many trips around Colorado and the West…not to mention my terrible teenage driving.
Love the blue one (except for the signature on the back door)! I did a pinstriping job on my 87 similar to that one, I still have the leftover roll of tape here at home. Great find, great minivans in their day. If they still made them like this (in size in particular) I would give it strong consideration. With a V6 please.
Love this one. I saw a red one at a car show recently. Nice van, nice size. I’d buy another if they were still made in these dimensions.
I was blown away by the success of these. I had spent the 70s watching almost everyone I knew shunning Chrysler products because they were no good. 1979-80 was spent watching almost everyone shunning them because the company was going out of business.
When these started selling in huge numbers to not just the Chrysler faithful but to “normal people” who would not have driven a 76 Newport on a bet, I was just amazed. They really nailed this one directly and hard!
There is something still (to me, anyway) innately exciting about the first wave of Chrysler minivans. Before the minivan, in general, seemed to become a (somewhat negative) symbol of insular, suburban America, the first ones seemed like a genuinely exciting and novel form of mainstream transportation.
I was only a kid then, but it did seem like in the 1980s the minivan was the hip new mode of family transportation, compared to the old fashioned station wagons of yesteryear. Especially the Chrysler ones since they were less traditional than their competition. I think it was only in the 1990s they gained the stigma as boring soccer mom mobiles. At which point SUVs became the hot new thing.
I remember our Voyager attracting a lot of attention when it was brand new. People wanted to see inside, and to see the sliding door operate. One thing that folks thought was neat was the remove operated rear windows, which would swing out (vent-style) via big knobs in the roof within reach of the driver. I loved showing that feature off to people.
Our ‘87 Dodge Caravan SE with the 2.6 Mit 4 cylinder – despite barely having enough grunt to get out of its own way – is still about the most comfortable road trip vehicle for our 5 person family we’ve owned. Our kids are grown and on their own now, but we have fond memories of that minivan… right down to the petrified PBJ sammich I found in the back bin before I traded her in on a new ‘97 Ford Windstar.
I am still driving a 2005 Dodge Caravan SE, it has 297k miles on it. I love this van, stow and go seats can’t be beat. I did purchase a 2019 Honda Odyssey a couple of months ago. Really prefer the Dodge even now. I have never had any mechanical problems with it and the AC is so much colder than the Honda.
We bought an ’89 Grand Caravan in ’90, and put 303,000 miles on it. It was replaced by a 2000 in ’05, and now we have an ’06 that we got in 2010, currently with 277,00 miles on it. Iacocca truly had a vision for a new market. All ours were V-6, 3.0L & 3.3L.
A good friend of mine had a short wheelbase, first generation Dodge mini-van, white with the “wood” paneling sides, with the (apparently) bullet-proof 2.2 4 cylinder engine, 3 speed Torqueflite automatic, factory A/C, the upscale “wine red” cloth interior seats and the “Infinity” sound system.
He commented to me that, yes, it was stop light to stoplight S L O W, but as he did 97% of his driving/traveling on Interstate 10, acceleration was not a make or break issue for him.
He said it was a quite competent and comfortable “runner”, interstate cruise controlled driver at 75 to 80 mph, A/C and stereo blasting away inside.
He also said that this vehicle was “invisible to the police”; that he sailed thru speed traps that should had gotten his license taken away and car insurance jacked up in a Firebird or Mustang.
He never locked the doors, saying with a shoulder shrug “Who would steal this dull looking appliance?”
Just this morning I found a twin to the blue van pictured at sre4kids.com, the same place where I bought my P71 Crown Victoria. It also is a SWB van with the v6.
We had an 84 Plymouth Voyager, not the extended version, with a stick shift. One of the best cars I’ve ever owned. Seat belts for five kids and wife, plenty of room, and the shorter version was no longer than a VW beetle. An incredible vehicle.