I’d been noticing a buildup of older cars at this lot right between 7th and 6th Avenues for a while, but when my roving eye spied the red gen1 Caravan, I decided to pull in and check them out. It turned into an unexpected trove of discarded gems, including a gen1 Voyager, both with the 2.5 L four and stick shifts. And two Chevy Cobalts, no less. And a 1980’s Caprice. And a Suzuki Aerio. And a Chevy Aveo and Venture. And…
Come on in and I’ll show you them all. Just don’t ask why they’re all there.
Heading up the front line is a Suzuki Swift, the swifter brother to the Geo Metro, thanks to its 1.3L four, although maybe some came with the 0.9L three?
Looks like someone gave it a swift kick in the butt.
And a truly stunning Pontiac Torrent is next to it. Such a forgettable early GM CUV.
The Caravan was sitting nose-to-nose with another boxy thing. Minivan meets microvan.
I would have liked this to have the original front end with its four sealed beam headlights (1984-1986), but they seem to all have left this earthly plane.
It’s been out in the sun, rather obviously.
And a peek inside shows that it has the 5-speed manual. Stick shifts in these were always on the rare side, but then this is the lowest cost version of the Caravan, so it was the cheapest way into the minivan lifestyle. The larger 2.5 L version of Chrysler’s four would be under the stubby hood as it replace the 2.2 in 1987. Starting in 1989, a turbo version of the 2.5 was also available, and although most came with the automatic, there were a few stick shift versions built.
Given the lack of third row seat mounting sockets, this was the five seater that had a wide second bench only.
Somewhat surprising, there was a front bench seat option on these, which allowed 8-passenger seating, even in the short wheelbase versions. But I have to assume that required the automatic. This was dropped in 1987, probably for lack of interest. It’s right up there with the available front bench seats on early Mustangs and Camaros.
Behind the Caravan was a caravan of gray cars, starting with a Toyota Matrix, VW Golf, and a BMW 3-Series. They didn’t really grab me, so no individual portraits were taken.
But this red Skylark elicited a reaction from me: it’s exactly like my father’s last car.
Here it is, next to my mom’s Saturn Ion, which he, um, forced upon her, to her great dislike.
I totally skipped an F150, but who cares, especially when there’s a yellow Chevy Aveo next in line.
CC Contributor Len Peters (“Canucknucklehead”) owned one of these and he wrote up his miserable experiences here “The Worst Car of a Lifetime”. Another GM Deadly Sin.
A Sentra that looks like it should still be out on the streets.
A Suzuki Aerio sedan! It’s been a minute; my post on two of them in my neighborhood that ran here again the other day was from 2014.
These Aerios look like their running 13″ wheels, but they’re actually 15 inchers. The body on them is so tall that it makes the wheels and tires look tiny.
There’s still lots of these Astro Vans on the streets. Will there ever not be?
An early 2000’s Pontiac Bonneville, ribbed for her pleasure.
A Civic and the first of two Chevy Cobalt sedans.
A Camry pointing the wrong way, presumably to show off its spoiler.
And here’s two more of GM’s finest from the early part of the century. A Saturn L-Series and another Cobalt. And why have I never done a GM DS on the Cobalt? It’s long overdue, given that its ignition switch literally killed lots of innocent owners.
A “fat” Camry, appropriately in gold. It’s also sporting a spoiler.
Dodge Nitro! Why was this such a dud? It looked so butch.
The Mazda section: a 626 huddling up with a 323 reminiscing about better times.
The last of the really sad Malibus. What a sad time it was for GM cars then, even if they often had stout power trains. Which they didn’t always have, but many did turn into cockroaches of the road.
More GM goodness! In the form of the unloved Chevy Venture minivan. It was a lot more palatable than the ridiculous Uplander it became with its new giant nose.
This Pathfinder has lost the path.
A fine old F-150 4×4. It may well be the most valuable vehicle in the whole lot.
Love that vintage two-tone paint job. A four layer chocolate-vanilla cake.
Two same-generation Accords, one of them barefooted.
Another Civic. It’s got to be a runner. Is that another sad Malibu back there?
Two icons from the 1980s: the old and the new, although a wagon version of the Caprice would have been more representative of that sea change in family haulers.
I’m betting there’s life in the old gal yet.
And of course this is the second red gen1 Chrysler minivan, a Plymouth Voyager in this case. It’s riding a bit nose-high; drive train out?
I had to check, and yes, sure enough, there’s the stick shift on the floor. What are the odds?
Last but far from least is this elegant Jaguar S Type. It just needs a Botox injection to get rid of those wrinkles in its face.
I vividly remember a friend getting one of these new shortly after they came out, and taking it for a drive. Not bad, but I didn’t like it as much as the Lexus SC400 she gave up for it.
One more shot as I was leaving. There’s plenty of room for more here, although I haven’t exactly figured out why they are here. Best guess is a towing impound yard? But there’s no sign, and they’re all in rather old and of questionable condition. Hmm…
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1985 Dodge Caravan – Chrysler Hits a Grand Slam Homer by PN
Curbside Classic: 1989 Dodge Caravan Turbo – Desperate Measures by PN
COAL: 2006 Pontiac Wave (Chevy Aveo/Daewoo Kalos) – The Worst New Car Of A Lifetime by Len Peters
We could have 2 square front headlights ( ok not 4 ) until ’89 for the Caravan Cargo. Your most special find that I had ever seen: the front bench seat in these first generation of Chrysler minivans .Something I would never order since the pass tru feature is the most useful thing for camping .I would have tolerated the floor shifter for my rear-seat trips, but certainly not all the big modern consoles like in a 2021+ Sienna. It’s strange that the last one presented no longer has an engine but still has his stick shift… being the most coveted thing with its linkage.
Finding 2 manual transmission Chrysler minivans in the same place blows me away. I am trying to remember if I ever saw one. I certainly never knew anyone who chose one of them.
I always liked those Mazda 323s and Protoges in a cheap wheels kind of way. But they rusted terribly in the midwest. Surely you did not take these photos in Oregon – I cannot believe there is that much sun-baked and failed clear coat in all of the Pacific Northwest.
It is Oregon alright. Many Oregon plates and then the Lucky Lion billboard. Lucky Lion is a weed shop. I could put the link, as there is several with one for Eugene, but we deal in cars here. I’m going to get off my high horse now, or is it a camel, a lion, oh who cares…
Wow lots of CC fodder there. Can’t imagine driving a shtick-shift minivan.
AFAIK all of the GM Astro/Safaris were built in Baltimore at the Broening Highway plant, opened in the mid-30s and operated for about 70 years, making GM A bodies starting in ’64.
I took a tour in 1979 when they were making Grand Prixs and Malibus. They had some early robotic welders then, I had no idea they were in use at that time. They were also using lead to cover the roof seams, also surprised they still did that. The Astro seemed to be an excellent vehicle, and though old school chassis compared to the Chrysler minivan, owners seemed to love them.
About the Astro ‘owners seemed to love them’ …until
I don’t know if the Chrysler does better but it is well known that your feet get stuck in the Astro in his normal or crushed state.
Ah, the old Broening plant. It’s now an Amazon fulfillment center among other things—they closed down in 2005 after making cars there for 70 years.
My buddy Rob went through about four Astro Vans; he was a connoisseur of beaters, having to drive from B’more down to DC daily. He said of these and the Jeep Cherokee: “the earth will still be littered with them after the nuclear war.”
Almost all of them look like fodder for the “donate your car” type of “charity”. So that is my guess as to their source. So I’m guessing they are being accumulated until there are enough to have an auction.
The pictures didn’t show it, but many Cobalts still on the road have rotted rocker panels. Cloudy headlights too, which are visible.
What an interesting collection. And the mystery of “why are they there” is so intriguing for sure.
Aftermarket cassette deck in the Gen 1 Dodge Caravan. The gearshift lever would have gotten in the way of the aftermarket centre consoles I would put in mine.
To see these forty year old relics in quite driveable state, visually at least, is very rare in these parts. Southern Ontario corrosion would have eaten these alive many moons ago.
In 1993 my wife and I borrowed my in-law’s first gen Dodge Caravan (four cylinder, three-speed auto) for a camping trip into the Maritimes. Once we got to the east coast of Cape Breton I was desperately wishing the van had a 5-speed because this 4/auto powertrain combo was the most gutless thing I ever drove. As the coast road went inland north of Cheticamp we were crawling up the hills in first gear… and we weren’t even heavily loaded. Just some sleeping bags and a tent. Horrible.
Chrysler T115 minivan illustration from December 1982, shows a unique side window treatment, and steeper windshield, than production. Looks better with larger tires and wheels.
Even newer cars here, are very old. The Sentra is at least 20+ years old.
I COAL’d my second-generation stickshift Voyager. I really liked that van. One of the neat bonuses was that the minivans had very large fuel tanks (18 gallons, maybe?) so the 3.3 V-6 could get decent range out of a tank. The 2.5/5-speed was rated at 26mpg highway, making it fairly easy to get 450+ miles from a single fill up!