In his earlier (1984 Dodge Caravan CC), Paul mentioned that the 1984 Caravans (and Voyagers) were available with a front bench seat, brining the total capacity to either 6- or 8-passengers, depending on the optional 3rd row bench. There was some discussion to whether or not this was true. Fortunately, I own a 1986 Plymouth brochure and uploaded this page from it.
Dodge and Plymouth did in fact offer a front bench on 1984-1986 Caravans and Voyagers (mid-level SE models only) .This made it possible to purchase one in either 5-, 6-, 7-, or 8-passenger configurations. Talk about versatility. The front bench option, I’m assuming largely unpopular as I’ve never seen one in person, was dropped for 1987 when the Grand models debuted. Love the pastel colors in the bottom photo, totally ’80s.
Nicely answered with visual evidence! I am very surprised by the lack of headrests, integrated or otherwise, on the 8 passenger option. I thought that some type of headrest was a safety requirement for the outboard seating positions on the front seat for all passenger cars, dating back to calendar year 1969 (not sure when the rule was applied to trucks/vans). Was Chrysler somehow able to classify this 8 passenger version as a truck or van to avoid the car headrest requirement? IIRC these were positioned more as cars than vans in the traditional sense, though government “labeling” might have been different. Or could this shot be one of those wonderful errors that sometimes crop up in old brochures? It’s always fun to find the mistakes that somehow slipped through product and legal reviews and made it to print.
Yes, Caravans and Voyagers were classified as light trucks; even the PT Cruiser was classified as such.
And why waste money on headrests?
IIRC base models were all headrest-free while LE’s all had headrests (in front only, as shown above); the midlevel SE could have vinyl buckets with headrests or cloth without.
I presume upholstery options for the bench were limited, if not by today’s standards.
When I purchased my 1984 we were never presented with the bench seat option.
Thought it only came a little later and for a year or two.
I have pictures I can post of the 84 LE if you wish. Just tell me how.
The 8 person option comes in handy when you have all 7 passengers helping to push it up a hill.
Look how skinny people were back then!
It was the cocaine, which also explains all the pastels in the bottom pic.
“Damn it Steve, step on it, Miami Vice starts at 10!”
Sigh, that’s before the MonSanto total dominance of feedstuff and all things agriculture.
Boohoohohohooooo, before Dick Cheney force fed me lard while he made me sign up for and adjustable rate mortgage against my will……wahwahwahwahwaaaaaaa
Let me get my tin foil hat…..Yeah, its all someone elses fault……
Brendan, thanks for confirming this; I remember seeing at least on with that front bench; pretty rare.
Glad to! When i was reading your post earlier, I knew I had a brochure with a picture of it somewhere.
I have that brochure too! My favorite is the ice-blue Gran Fury.
Didn’t know about the bench seat on early minivans. Mom had a white ’92 Grand Caravan ES with the white wheels and dark gray leather. It was AWD too! A much-loved car from my childhood, it was traded in on a brand new candy-apple red ’97 GC ES (also AWD) with tan leather and dual A/C in Feb. 1997.
And that was pre-photoshop, too!
So theoretically could this have been ordered with the 4cyl turbo option? (I’m just coming up with wacky permutations in my head.)
The turbo four didn’t come along for a couple of years later, until 1989. By that time the bench was gone. Sorry!
Now here’s the final detail to confirm: I believe that the bench front seat was also available with the single rear bench, turning it into a six-seater with lots of luggage. I’m pretty sure that I saw one configured like that once.
Wow. Had we been betting, I would have lost a dollar or two. I had never heard of one of these, and was waiting to see how this disagreement was settled. Definitively, I would say.
I would hate to have tried driving one of these with 8 passengers in hilly country. That thing would be Sloooooooooow.
Heck, just 8 passengers on a hot day with a non-AC car and only two windows that open…
A seven passenger could be turned into a five by removing the rear seat but a five passenger could never be turned into a seven because fives did not have the third row seat mounts. That really hurt the resale vale of the five passenger vans back in the day.
I used to work at the M body/Minivan plant as a student from 1982-87, and have seen thousands go by and/or driven them off the line. I had never seen a front bench version in that time, so it must be a very rare bird indeed. Recollections from that time recalls the 2.2 versions being bog slow, the 2.6 a bit quicker and smoother. The 2.5 seemed to be about equivalent to the 2.6. When they introduced the 3.0 in 1987, it seemed like all others built prior to that point were being driven with the hand brake on!
My one major impression in 1983 was passing by the production office, which had a T115 prototype minivan parked outside as a preview of what the plant was going to be building in 6 months. At the time, most of the M-bodies were selling well (especially Fifth Avenues and police cars), and most of the old timers thought that we were cutting our own throats by sending the M-bodies to St. Louis and building these funky looking minivans.
Another memory was that most of the cargo versions of the minvan were mostly stripped, including no power steering. Even on a relatively slick factory floor, the steering was very heavy and awkward to manoeuver.
Here were the only pictures I was able to find of an actual example of one with the front bench. This is a 1986 Voyager. It appears the front bench was a 40/60 split unit.
Paul, they actually had continued the option in 1987 and even in the grand version, I have a pic somewhere taken years ago of a Grand Caravan from 1987 that had the bench. I actually have my eye on a 1985 right now that is a fine example. Will let you know if I purchase and will take many pics……well, I will go ahead and post a pic now that the guy sent…..it was also discussed on my Chrysler minivan fb page, very rare to see! https://www.facebook.com/groups/Chryslerminivans/
great article and follow up. If you ever need info on the Chrysler made minivans, I spent most of my life collecting everything on them, orig brochures, orig magazine articles dated back to the 70s, original TV shows such as motoweek, all models, toys any thing printed on them. etc.