(first posted 2/4/2015) We’ve had a few gen1 Caravans here lately, but they were all the long wheelbase versions, with their inevitable V6 engines, automatics and three-row seating. But in the early years, the Caravan and Voyager were offered in a more…elemental version, including with a five speed stick shift and five passenger seating. They were quite uncommon then, requiring an order as no dealer wanted to stock a stick-shift Caravan. But here’s a survivor, and with the five-passenger seating too.
Strictly speaking, the stick was standard on these, along with the 97 hp 2.2 L four. But as I said, one had to order them, as some friends of ours did in 1987. She was a determined stick shift driver, and was willing to wait almost two months to get her Caravan just like this one.
The five passenger Caravan had a full-width rear seat, mounted further back than the middle seat in the seven passenger version, making for much better leg room. And it had a very roomy storage area behind it. It really was more like a station wagon, and for plenty of folks made more sense, as the back seat didn’t have to be removed to get any kind of decent cargo space.
This Voyager brochure shot shows the five, seven and the eight passenger version with the front bench seat, but not the six-passenger one. But a bit of mix and match will take care of that.
This one’s sporting a front fender from a Turbo Caravan. It appears that a few turbo five-speed vans were made too, but most seem to be automatics. The turbo wasn’t there specifically as a sports model, but purely because Chrysler lacked capacity for V6 engines, and so dropped in the turbo 2.2 as a desperate measure. Full story here.
Some folks might get excited about finding a hemi ‘Cuda on the street; I get excited about finding a stick-shift five-passenger Caravan. There will always be hemi ‘Cudas around; not so these. And that’s what CC is really all about.
The two seat, 6 passenger vans did exist. Our first mini-van was an ’87 Voyager with a 2.2 and 3 speed auto. The drivers seat was a conventional bucket, but the front passenger seat was extra wide and had a lap belt for a center passenger. (No going back and forth between front and back like in our ’90 7 passenger.) There was one full width back seat with only one position to latch it to the floor. Would have kept it longer, but the Chrysler dealer’s repaired head gasket lasted only a couple months, so got rid of it and bought the ’90.
I grew up in the 80s and my dad always stuck with midsize station wagons because he needed seating for up to 6 and the wagons theoretically did a better job since you could seat 6 without comprimising cargo since they sat 3 in the front back then and kids could sit in the front row. 6 people in a a body century wagon was cramped as hell though. I envied my friends who had minivans.
Today i have a family of my own and its minivan all the way!
The other advantage, especially up north where A/C wasn’t yet a given even in mid-market cars, was that the rear side door windows on a wagon rolled down (unless you were stuck with a GM A/G body or first-year K car but those were the exception).
I hope David Tracy over at Jalopnik doesn’t see this. He worked for several months to get one of these over in Germany. He had his German friends buy it on his behalf, took three weeks off to fly over and tried fix it up enough to pass the German Hauptuntersuchung. While it made for interesting stores it failed the test badly.
My parents had an 88 and 89 short wheelbase but v6 and auto. The first was fully loaded power windows etc, (bought used at a bout 2-3 years old) the 2nd was fairly bare bones ( bought when the first died in the late nineties). They had replaced a K car wagon and Datsun station wagon. Before that family trips with 3 kids in the wagon were a bit tight (we did have a full size van used only for vacations and hauling things). When my sister moved out the third seats were pretty much always in the garage and the last row three person bench was mounted in the 5 passenger position (they had multiple mounting points in the floor). With the bench in that spot there was a lot more room. When we would take the family dog we would often move the seat back to the rear most position so the dog could lay in the middle of the car on a trip. I have fond memories of these. they were very useful little things.
@Mopar4wd- that’s what I remember about the seats from my parents’ ‘84-you could put that rear full bench in the middle with lots of legroom or just take out the middle bench and leave a huge space in the middle. In that configuration it reminded me of most of the air cooled VW transporters I owned- the middle seat was always long gone. I don’t think you could put the middle bench in the back position in the Mopar. I also never knew about the front bench option and have never seen that in person, ever! Ours had the 2.6 Mitsubishi and the 3 speed. Did well off road (sorry, mom and dad!)
in the late ’90s My brother needed a cargo vehicle – something more practical than his 5-speed ’83 Celica GT hatchback – for hauling guitars and amps. He bought a clean, low-miles 84 Voyager. The 2.2-automatic was a sluggish, but steady plodder, that could at least get up to, and maintain speed on the highway. However after two months, the automatic was dead. The ’83 Celica remained his guitar-hauler for another decade, while the Voyager got parked behind the house. Had the Voyager been a stick, it could have been more useful than the backyard storage shed it became for the next dozen years!
I bought a new Caravan in 1990, the short wheel base three seat version. 3.0 V6 /auto.Loved it. The Mitsu V6 was a winder ran well but the valve guides wore at over 100k, The three speed auto was much better than the four speed in my brother’s Caravan, which died early. Just like the one in my later Town and Country. The featured car’s blue grey upholstery was just like my van. We put a lot of family trips on the van. Once I even borrowed the rear seat from my brothers van. We had two, three across seats behind total seating of eight for a trip to Disneyland. Fun times.
That was a VERY ingenious thing you did there with those seats! I did the same thing in my ’96 Aerostar by taking out the 2-seat bench, moving the 3-seat bench to where the 2-seater was (the mounting holes are the same), and getting ANOTHER 3-seater from a wrecked ’95 at Pull-a-Part. My only regret is that I never took any pictures!
I currently have an ’05 Astro; those came from the factory with 8-passenger seating. No need for seat swapping here unless you want the fancier seats from the higher-end models. With the back seat out you can still seat 5 while having a TON of cargo room!
I feel like this is an AA admission speech . Automotive Anonymous. My name is Dave and I have a 1989 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE 2.5 turbo van with three speed automatic transmission.
Thank you folks , I feel better already.
I have 3 , 5 speed Dodge 5 passenger seated caravans in really good condition. Straight bodys, all the glass and pretty clean interiors as well. Will maybe consider selling if the price is right. So as rare as these Van’s are, what would be the value of them as of 2021? Can email me at nyradsemloh78@gmail.com
You may have 3 of the few left in the world!
I currently own the spiritual heir to these – a 2016 Kia Rondo (5 passenger, not 7 passenger) with a 6 speed manual trans. I’ve only seen a couple of others with the 6 speed. It would be even more rare south of the border because Kia did not sell the 2014-2020 Rondo at all in the U.S., only in Canada (and the rest of the world as the Carens).
I also once owned a 1990 Mazda MPV (RWD) with a 4 cylinder engine and 5 speed manual, and I have owned two Mazda 5s – both 5 speed manual.
Of the 15 cars I have ever owned, only one has been an automatic.