Junkyard Find: 1991 Dodge Grand Caravan LE
We've had a run of European machinery in this series lately, with six of the last ten Junkyard Finds coming from across the Atlantic ( one from Sweden, one from Italy, two from West Germany and two from France), so today it's the turn of that most Michigandic of machinery: A Chrysler minivan.
Chrysler scored a huge sales hit with its K-platform-derived Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager front-wheel-drive small vans, which debuted as 1984 models and immediately joined forces with the new XJ Jeep Cherokee—also new for 1984—to begin the process of annihilating the station wagon once and for all.
That first generation of squared-off Chrysler minivans lasted through the 1990 model year (the Chrysler-badged Town & Country showed up that year), and it included hot-rod turbocharged vans as well as some with manual transmissions.
The second-generation Caravan/Voyager/Town & Country stayed on the same wheelbases but got got smoother lines and packed on an additional 500 pounds or so of added bulk. Today's Junkyard Find is one of those first-year second-generation Caravans, and it's loaded.
The interior in this van is so nice that I thought it might be a church-on-Sundays-only 50,000-mile vehicle, but in fact it had 165,920 miles on the clock at the end.
Just look at the well-preserved glory of those Nearly Velour™ seats!
This is a high-zoot LE Grand Caravan with front-wheel-drive, just one notch down from the LE AWD Grand Caravan on the Dodge minivan prestige ziggurat for '91.
List price started at $19,255, which comes to about $44,013 in 2023 dollars.
Lesser Caravans got a Chrysler 2.5-liter straight-four engine or Mitsubishi 3.0-liter V6 that year, but the LE received this Chrysler 3.3-liter V6 rated at 150 horsepower and 185 pound-feet.
A five-speed manual transmission was available on the Caravan and Voyager all the way through 1995 (the final year of the second generation), but only with the 2.5 four-cylinder engine. As a Grand Caravan LE, this one has the four-speed automatic rather than the three-speed automatic that went in the more proletariat-grade vans for '91.
Chrysler was going all-out with standard driver's-side airbags in its vehicles by this time, but a bag was still an option for the 1991 Caravan. This one doesn't have one.
This Infinity AM/FM/cassette radio was a $461 option if purchased separately ($1,054 today), but it appears that this van has the Luxury Value Discount Package that included the Infinity audio rig, at a price of just $232 ($530 after inflation) on the Grand Caravan LE.
Were these seats ever used?
All-wheel-drive was new for Chrysler minivans in 1991, and Voyager advertising pushed it relentlessly.
It's the Magic Wagon.
1991 Dodge Grand Caravan LE in Colorado wrecking yard.
1991 Dodge Grand Caravan LE in Colorado wrecking yard.
1991 Dodge Grand Caravan LE in Colorado wrecking yard.
1991 Dodge Grand Caravan LE in Colorado wrecking yard.
1991 Dodge Grand Caravan LE in Colorado wrecking yard.
1991 Dodge Grand Caravan LE in Colorado wrecking yard.
1991 Dodge Grand Caravan LE in Colorado wrecking yard.
1991 Dodge Grand Caravan LE in Colorado wrecking yard.
1991 Dodge Grand Caravan LE in Colorado wrecking yard.
[Images: The Author]
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Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
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These first crude minivans made a lot of sense, and were hugely successful. The station wagons they replaced were inefficiently designed, very long and wide but with a low roofline. This is an IDIOTIC Design for a car that needs to maximize its volume.
Having said that, I remember a bunch of us visiting an oil company at Houston for a consortium meeting (we had research proposals for rather modest grants) around that year, 1990 or 1991, a some idiot decided to rent one of these so they would save a few bucks. On the trip back to the airport I sat in the god damned middle row, and it was sheer torture, very cramped, zero legroom.
Minivans since then became far superior megavans, really. The Odyssey above all and the Sienna also are great family haulers, heavy, big, long wheelbase, and perfect for long trips of a large family. But morons buy Fake SUVs ("Crossovers") instead. Or, even worse, "Broncos".
Seeing the adjusted-for-inflation amount always makes me sick, I can't believe how much it has gone up in my 40-some-odd trips around the sun. Still fondly remember seeing these and Ford Explorers everywhere.