CC Outtake: 1985 Dodge Mini Ram Van – The Ram ProMaster City Of Its Time

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Today’s overview of European compact panel vans reminded me of this very early Dodge Ram Van (later called Caravan C/V) that I shot a while back. They were never very common though back in the day. Why? Because Chrysler struggled to keep up with the huge demand for Caravans and Voyagers, and nicely-equipped passenger vans had a much fatter profit margin.ย 

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I headed up the acquisition of a tv station for Telemundo in 1987 in the Bay Area, and we bought on of the first long wheelbase versions with the 3.0 V6 and Torqueflite to use for hauling portable production equipment to remote shoots. The guys in the Production Dept. would have preferred an Econoline, but the Caravan acquitted itself very well, and was a much more pleasant vehicle to drive in traffic than the big vans.

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Caravan C/Vs have been around for ages now, but they never really made a big impact. And now that compact FWD delivery vans are hot, Chrysler has jumped back in with its Ram ProMaster City.