When I retired last July, I also decided to stop shooting cars. Yeah; I was that burned out. But then only a few days later we were out at the coast with my nephew and his wife, and we stumbled into this. Without a moment’s hesitation, I reflexively whipped out my little new-used iPhone SE (recently upgraded from the no-longer supported 5S) and started shooting. This rig speaks to me on a whole lot of levels.
Obviously I have a real thing about campers and motorhomes and such. And then there’s my Dodge karma; well Plymouth in this case, but close enough, as is my Ram van. But most of all, I always have a lot of admiration for folks who build their own thing, regardless of what is and how it turns out. And although this looks a bit odd at first glance, it’s a pretty nifty little rig for a single person.
How do I know that? There’s only one seat, and the passenger side door is the entry way into the back of the camper.
The side window was partly open, which allowed a half-way decent look into the back. It’s a got a single transverse bed, made possible by the custom-built wider body. Looks pretty basic otherwise; just some food boxes and buckets and stuff.
It’s built out of plywood with a layer of fiberglass over it. There’s that tell-tale fiberglass yellowish-brown on that repair on the rear corner. I didn’t linger too long; I was retired, after all. It’s a pretty efficient design, with enough width for the transverse bed and enough height in the middle for stand-up room.
According to my license plate looker-upper, this swb Caravan is a ’91 and has the 3.0 Mitsu V6, which means it also has the Ultra-Reliable 3 speed Torqeflite transaxle instead of the one whose name shall not be mentioned. I like the hood restraint. Or does it serve some other function?
The mismatched driver’s door and the paint on this front end suggests the very good likelihood that this Voyager was probably wrecked, and as such particularly suitable for a new body
Which probably explains why it’s a swb version, as a Grand Voyager would have made a more obvious choice as a starting point. And that raises the question as to why I didn’t do this to our old ’92 Caravan in its last years. It could have made a pretty nifty little rig, although not as roomy as the old Dodge Chinook I did buy. But it would have gotten a lot better mileage.
This makes a nice companion to the Caravan pickup I shot in Eugene a few years back. Got any other nice Caravoyager conversion pictures to share?
I admire the owner’s skill and tenacity. Building that could not have been easy.
Two comparisons stick out….south of me (south of Eugene, in fact) is a GM Dustbuster minivan that has been planted on a huge 4×4 chassis. It’s been a yard ornament for years. The other is a late ’90s Accord I saw a while back that had been converted into a pickup. But neither are as ingenious as this Caravan.
Wow, this is both horrible and fabulous all at the same time. I like it more the longer I look at it. Ventilation is the only thing that looks like it would need attention – I don’t suppose the Voyager’s air conditioning still works?
I am not coming up with anything remotely like this in my mental inventory of photos. Big vans were popular enough in the midwest that they tended to get all of the camper conversions while used-up minivans just went to the junkyards after a final life of transporting landscape workers who might or might not have had drivers licenses.
Just quietly, I like it. Got a Renault 4/ Citroen 2CV van vibe at the back, along with the flat-topped rear arches. If painted as one with the cab, it would work a bit better. And it seems uncracked, something unlikely if you’re adding a fiberglass topper to a unibody sans roof.
Nothing equivalent here, other than on the Circuit of The Previas.
To explain, VW vans long ascended into auto expensiveness, where, as far as I’m concerned, their hipster owners are welcome to spend the rest of mortality cutting out the rust each year whilst rebuilding the 19th engine. This elevation left Taragos, as the Previa is here known, for the backpacker crowd.
These thousands of tourists – in this field, there were 11 last year who were not German or English – buy a Previa from its previous lap-of-Aus custodian, wash the stinking sheets and moudly fridge and replace the next major ancilliary that is due before doing the same lap and selling it to the next German or Pommy arrival.
These vans retired from family life many years ago with, aw, 250K miles up, and began the servitude of their retired years on this circuit, adding a mere 30K miles through dust and heat and snow and neglectful young custodians on each lapping and are now all in their dotage at 900K+ but unable to leave. It’s not they refuse to die, it’s that that they don’t know how to. The many remaining enchained thus are jealous of their wrecking yard relatives euthanized by a kangaroo at dusk.
Doubtless they could tell some great stories, but a small whiff inside one – everything from the first owner’s incontinent babies through to the latest in unwashed Germanic armpit as intensified in the outback heat – would leave one happy to remain wondering.
A few scrapes in the right rear indicating some unintended bumps due to visibility issues perhaps.
With all that wood etc. inside, I hope it would still be safe in case of a crash. Reflecting on that made me think of the roof’s strength in case of a catastrophic crash. I hope it would keep the owner safe.
To get this licensed, would the state require any sort of inspection, or do they just walk in and say it’s a Dodge Caravan?
I must say I admire the workmanship evident from the outside. Nicely done as they say.
I think a crash would be the last thing I’d want to experience in this thing!
I tried registering my home-built ’88 Toyota camper truck in Florida many years ago. In a state built around consumerism, bureaucracy, licensed ‘professionals’ and amid a population lacking in manual skills, I was compelled to register it as a “kit car”. This meant grinding off the original serial number, stamping in a new one and registering it as of that year ( a 2006 KitCar). They actually got angry when I said no. How would I have insured it or eventually resold it? That didn’t matter to them.
Fortunately I had a fallback state to continue my registration elsewhere.
It would depend upon which state you lived in. Here in Indiana there is no vehicle inspection unless you want to license a vehicle from some other state. That entails nothing more than a cursory check to see if the VIN on the car matches the VIN on the paperwork. I can’t imagine any difficulty registering the featured vehicle as a Dodge Caravan here; no real difference between this and any other car with modified bodywork.
Cybervan!
What a cool find indeed!
I’ve mentioned it before, but somebody from Minnesota back in 2015 took an obviously non-running 1st-gen Caravan/Voyager & turned it into a trailer to use for ice fishing. Basically the interior was stripped & the whole front end was replaced with a trailer tongue. The idea is entertaining but I know it had to be a ton of work! Not the only time it’s been done either. Here’s the link for more information: https://bangshift.com/bangshiftxl/brilliant-bangshifty-cl-find-this-old-mini-van-was-made-into-an-ice-fishing-hut/
The profile looks French. With some design polish, the exterior vaguely reminds me of what a minivan version of the late 80s Renault Medallion might look like.
It sort of reminds of of the Dumb and Dumber vehicle for some reason.
That and the Honda Fit RV that we featured here as well. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/curbside-capsule-2007-honda-fit-house-car-id-fit-youd-fit-wed-probably-all-fit/
Wherever there’s a will, there’s a way.
Here’s an extreme example from 2008 of a conversion to a racecar hauler: https://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/25/things-that-never-were-nor-ever-should-be-part-ii-the-dodge-ca/
Tesla minivan