To call the Dodge Caravan iconic is hardly an overstatement; there’s even one in the Smithsonian! This once ubiquitous minivan ushered in a whole new class of passenger vehicles and was instrumental in helping Chrysler turn a corner during its financial woes of the 1980’s. Maybe I’m biased, as my parents had basically this exact same Caravan when I was a kid, but I still love the design of these boxy family haulers, especially when they sport the woodgrain fascia. Located in Fairfield, Connecticut this 1988 Dodge Caravan LE is the cleanest one I’ve seen listed for sale in ages and can be found here on Craigslist for the asking price of $6900.
While it has some imperfections, the van is about as close to showroom condition as you’re likely to find one of these anymore; seeing a Caravan still on the road will always turn my head, and pretty much without exception they are bound to be rusted out claptraps that you’ll want to keep several car-lengths away from. Some road wear is always to be expected on a 30-year-old vehicle, and the seller is upfront about some minor cosmetic blemishes and a dent to the front fender. My main complaint with the exterior is the addition of the grab bar next to the driver’s door which could hopefully be removed without too much damage to the pillar there.
“Can we make the interior like 110% more burgundy?” -Lee Iacocca, probably. Sure, the womb-like interior isn’t for everyone and the velour upholstery would be right at home in a burlesque house, but I sill have soft spot for it as it reminds me of all those childhood road trips. And for what it’s worth, it is an extremely comfortable ride! This interior looks to be impressively preserved, with little discernable wear besides some scuffing on the back of the rear seat in the cargo area.
As the saying goes, a car is “worth” precisely what someone is willing to pay for it. Sparked by recent listings such as this immaculate Hyundai Pony, there’s been a lot of debate lately regarding the intrinsic value of well-preserved examples of otherwise mundane vehicles. Is this Caravan “worth” $6900, even in this condition and with 86k miles on it? I don’t think we’re quite there yet, but there’s no denying we’re already beginning to see the “Radwood effect” on vehicle pricing from that era, as people who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s settle down with decent jobs and can spring for fun collector cars from the era they grew up in. Either way, best of luck to the seller and I hope the next owner loves it as much as our family loved ours.
Um,,,no. While there may be one at “Smithy”, it’s still what it is. I had a couple, put many miles on them, not without issues, but probably the easiest modern vehicle to work on. Very comfy seats, probably the nicest of any car I had. I’d go $1,500, maybe, just to have a nice one again.
Good thing it’s not light blue with sticky vinyl seats and the carpet my grandpa rolled out in his to protect the factory carpet, or my bank account would be down $6900, even though that’s an insane price tag for this car. But just like you said, Matt… these cars are at just the right age for nostalgic gen Xers who hope to relive their high school days in the shaggin wagon. Mine was a Plymouth, 84… with the Mitsubishi engine. I loaded everything I owned into that car, drove to college 8 hours away, unloaded, and the next day I piled 6 friends in the car and drove to Busch gardens. What’s not to love about a car that can do that?..
And fittingly slightly cheaper than the VW Bus from the Baby Boomers’ youth!
My folks never had one of these. But for some reason, I want an 87 Cavalier RS. Help me…
My wife and I had one my daughter is the gen xer, ours was a 1990 model it too was not with out issues. But it was a fairly reliable hauler. I even used it to pull a small holiday trailer to go camping. I still have the trailer but the van is long gone. I’d say a fair price for this van would about $4500.00. I hope the next owner takes care of it like the current owner has.
Looks to be a nice veh, but it still is just a mini van ..lots more out there newer , and safer ( just the age and improvements on current ones) might garner some looks
We sent many white oil smoke signals to Senator Warren with our first of two that we owned…..a nice white woody one with maroon leather interior. We were throwing quarts of oil in that thing weekly…. Despite that…I still loved the Caravan!!
Wagon masters please for selling family heirloom old mini vans … 😆
Oh lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes umm I mean olh lord buy me a box with wheels to haul my kids around …
Oh man… gotta be honest. Hated these things 30 years ago and they haven’t grown on me since. Of course this one deserves a thumbs up for being such a clean original, and the nostalgia factor is understandable but I myself still wouldn’t have it. I’ve got a thing for minivans anyway as parts of my hour commute are crap and tend to be made worse by these things poking along as if they’ve got nowhere to go and no time they have to be there…
Exactly!! Everytime we’re out on the motorcycles we get behind a few of these portable mosquitoe foggers.
This does not classify as a classic in my book.
I remember a placard that was on a ’57 Chevy at a car show when I was a kid… probably ’83-ish that said ‘Can you imagine a Honda or Toyota being called a classic 30 years from now?’. I think the person who displayed it was doing so to say they wouldn’t be classics. I’d say the joke was on him or her, as frankly, very little from the 50’s has appeal to me, but the Japanese stuff from that era (say 70’s) that I actually didn’t care for at the time now has appeal. The early minivans fit that category. The definition of ‘Classic’ adjusts over time. I personally would only classify a handful of 50’s stuff as ‘Classic’. Tri-5 Chevys, ’55 Chrysler 300, early T-birds, ’53 Corvette, maybe some later Exner stuff (the DeSoto’s mainly)… the icons of the era. The rest are just antiques, or to my line of thought, old cars. I think you could make a case that certain cars today are already ‘Classic’… the Hellcats, for instance. The Honda S2000 of a few years back. Not all Antiques are Classic, and not all Classics are Antiques. The early Chrysler minivans? Ugly. Uninspiring. Classic. They are icons of their era.
Gives a whole new meaning to “Getting a Woody while looking at pictures on the internet !”
Far from a barn find. Let’s get back to real true finds
My late wife and I owned a ’93 model
with a Mitsubishi sourced 4 cylinder
engine. Great little vans. The only
issue we had with ours was the fact
that it used quite a bit of oil which
fouled out a lot of plugs. Despite all
that, the van did everything we asked
of it and then some with no complaint
at all. Sadly though, that van would be
the last car that we would own together.
On September 12, 2003, my wife suffered
a massive stroke behind the wheel of our
van while delivering newspapers. She
passed away a few days later. I guess
seeing one of these makes me want one
just to relive the good times we had with
it. Would love to have this one if I had
a little more cash. Nice van.
Thanks for sharing that Ken. I am sure I can speak for most of the regulars here on BF that you have our condolences. I am glad you had “the good times” to look back on.
I wish I could buy it for you! Unfortunately the recession cleaned me out of just about everything and I am, like many, rebuilding. God Bless you my friend.
My nephew was the only family member who owned one of these. One summer afternoon we had a cookout at our farmhouse, him and his family left about 6pm and drove his 15 miles home, ran out of gas about 8 miles away and his mom & dad were not far behind so they picked them up and took them home only to return the next morning to put gas in it to find some a..holes had broke every window out of it. They called me and I went and picked it up and brought it to my place. Cleaned all the class out and went to our local junkyard and there were hundreds of them there. I got every window I needed including windshield for $300 and had him back on the road in less than a week. He loved his that I know.
I like it… makes a lot more sense than a sedan. If I couldn’t get a Vanagon, I would have one of these. = JAH
When our kids were young, the minivan was a Godsend. I have never been so insecure of my manhood that I was ashamed to drive it, because I knew it was a smart choice for our family. Not like we could have gotten three kids and all the assorted extras kids require on a road trip in a 911. I will say, I think the fake plastic wood sides look silly, but otherwise a nice little unit. Bought a new 95 Plymouth Voyager with the Mitsu V6, liked it a lot, traded it later on a new 2003 Mazda MPV, even nicer. Now being empty nesters, the missus and I drive turbo Civics, but the minis are something we recommend to all families, though the prices seem to have gotten atrocious.
Thanks Tom, I know the feeling when it
comes to rebuilding your life after a
catasrophic event. Lost everything we
had paying her medical bills and final
expenses which came to somewhere
near $450K. Since then, I live with
family now and maybe someday I’ll
have a house again. It just takes
time.
Hal Sperlich who invented the Chrysler minivan is a friend and an amazing guy. If you have a cottage and a dog, kids who play sports, or like to work on your house – you need one of these. If you couldn’t stomach the original generations – you should go test drive a Pacifica!
“Um, no” is correct….We owned one of these when we had little one, and loved it back then. That is, until the transmission locked down into 2nd gear on the highway, from 70 to 35 in as many seconds. After learning Chrysler knew about the “issue” and yet still sold these, we were sick. After 3 tranny repairs and no more fingernails, we unloaded our creampuff.
Along with the Type 2 all generations, the original Chrysler minivan is one of my favorite dull as hell collectibles. Love alongside any station wagon from any make.
I worked at a Chrysler Plymouth dealer in 84/85. These things defined a time and created a huge market. One this nice should be preserved.
We had a medium blue1990 Grand Caravan with all the goodies including rear AC and fake wood. We kept it 10 years as a family vehicle and a son in college. Not terribly reliable as it went through 4- transmissions, all paid for by Chrysler. medium blue paint peeled. However, the 3.3 liter v-6 ran like a top. Replaced by a Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer and that was replaced by a 2017 Outback Limited. I sort of miss the Grand Caravan
Chrysler went from the ultra reliable Torqflte to that 4 speed monstrosity that needed more development.
This was in a perverse way one of my favorite family vehicles. All that room. My son still has fond memories of it in school at Ole Miss. Just hated the transmission and AC problems. How can any car have 4-transmissions in 130,000 miles? I am still leery of any vehicle with dual AC systems to this day. :)
Why pay that much for this one when they are all over the place for 1/3 the price?
Miguel, it’s a good question. But it’s a nice van, and the ones I see here on the left coast are few and far between, very high miles, no wood trim and generally funky looking vans. Several years ago my Oldsmobile lost a timing chain and i borrowed one of these and drove it for a while. Obviously wonderful forward vision, not a great performer but acceptable in traffic, and endless space and room for everything if you remove the seats, quite a process in those days. I also agree with you at about $2500.00 for a nice one. I think this one is overpriced but on the other hand, what do you have to do with it when you get it? If nothing, then the figure is still to high but becomes worth considering.
Maestro1, all that is true if you actually want one of these.
Nobody is going to buy this because of the condition. Every car needs something and I bet this is the same.
The engines weren’t very strong and neither were the transmissions.
The asking can buy you a much better vehicle.
I’d have to disagree about the engines not being strong. Aside from a water pump and oil pickup replacement, the 3.8 V6 in my ’94 Grand ES was outstanding. It had two transmissions in 225K miles and yes, I wish I’d just put a third one in it and kept driving.
With the sport suspension and good tires on it, we had a lot of fun over the years. It took many memorable road trips and seldom needed anything other than regular maintenance.
I’ve yet to find another van I liked nearly as well.
There hasn’t been a true “Classic” since before WWll. There are collector cars, but not Classics. This is neither, just an old van. In better shape than most, but still just an old van.
What’s a collector car? I’m not joking. I hear that term and really don’t know what it means. Is it something many people desire? Is it something bound to increase in value? I currently have 10 cars that are similar. I would call it a collection, but I would never use that term on any individual car. As far as collections go, I’m pretty sure virtually every car ever made has at least 1 person ‘collecting it’… an ass for every seat, so to speak. So what does ‘collector car’ mean to you? I’m asking because to me it’s a term used by sales people to move crap and I’d love to hear a different perspective…
Obviously a collector car is a Collector’s Edition Corvette—is says so right in the name of the car so it’s gotta be true!
I owned 2 1988 Dodge/ Plymouth vans. One was a grand van loaded. Also had a 1990 grand and still own a 1992 grand van with every option available that year. Power steering, Brakes, Windows. Seats, Door locks. Mirrors, Rear vent windows, Heads up console with compass- temperature- fuel mileage, Air conditioning, Second seat fold out child seats, Wire wheel hubcaps, 6 speaker stereo with cassette player, Wood grain side faux veneer. Roof rack carrier, 15 inch wheels. 3.3 liter engine. Automatic transmission with overdrive. 125,000 miles. 27 year old van. The only option I added was fog lights. I have a much newer van but I still love to drive the old girl I owned for around 10 years. They are very versatile in which you can haul almost anything on or in them family wise.
Walrus If you go to classiccarclub.org there is a compressive list of what it accepts as true classics. Next would be cars that the majority of collectors dream of and strive to own. I would put tri 5 Chevys and all muscle cars in this category, then there are the cars that are loved and collected by some individuals, but aren’t generally sought after. My 65 Corvair falls into this category. In my opinion, any car you like and seek to own/collect is a collector car. Just not a classic in the strictest us of the word. Hope this helps.
That’s a club that only focuses on cars built through ’48, so, by default, their list of ‘classics’ is limited to vehicles considered icons from that era. As era’s come and go, the icons associated with them do as well.
Thanks for your take on ‘Collector’ cars. To me it’s a nonsensical term, but I’m happy to hear another take on it.
While I never owned one of these I have driven a few, they were fine for the times just not for me, my family hauler was a 80 Bronco 4×4 which never saw off road duty because the wife used it mostly while my 78 F-150 4×4 was used for everything from DD to off roading to hauling sheets of drywall and yes it was a shortbed. The only issue I have with the minivans of the 80’s was the soccer moms driving 40 in a 55 mph zone with the baby on board sign stuck to the back window and she was the only one in the van.