[1988]

short frame still looks great Dotyj! That side lift is awesome... I can imagine all the gear loading / unloading ease. Hard to tell is it sky blue and black?

 

[dotyj]

short frame still looks great Dotyj! That side lift is awesome... I can imagine all the gear loading / unloading ease. Hard to tell is it sky blue and black?

I love the old ramp. It's worked very well for me.

The body's sort of a sky blue with dark blue trim. I think it looks pretty good except for the hood and the leading edge of the roof which both need repainting.

 

[blacknflames]

My van in theUK

 

[Caraman99]

I bought one of those, an '87 for $400 with the speedo/odo cable broken at 280,000km. It had the Mitsubishi 3.0. I drove the crap out of it for 8 years, only did timing belt and fuel pump. Started best at -30C!. God knows what the mileage was when I scrapped it; only because peripherals were failing (cracked windshield, mirrors falling off, power windows dead, headlight full of water, motor mounts, etc.) driving to the scrap yard I must have hit 180kmh!! My personal favourite.

 

[LEVY]

My van in theUK

Your image can not be seen.

 

[richcity]

Friend's dad has a late 80s Grand Voyager (I think it's an 89) rotting away in the driveway. Very poor condition (wood decals ripped off, faded clear coat, lots of green stuff growing on it, interior is filthy, back seats' backs are scratched up but none of the seats are ripped), but no leaks, rust, or damage. Surprisingly, still runs and drives and is used to haul things from time to time.

Last time it's been used was about a year ago, but as of last week it still fired up and moved.

 

[richcity]

There is a First Gen 1990 Chrysler Town & Country that sadly I wasn't able to afford to pick up a few months back. When I seen the ad I couldn't believe my eyes and wanted to see it. One asking price was 7999 and when I seen it in person I called everyone I could think of to try and get the money together. Couple of reasons really. First the mans story was heart warming and very sad. and Second the Van looked like it rolled off the showroom floor. 89k miles and was bought new in 1990 by his parents. Still had all the paperwork and the story of how his parents used this van for his ball games, camping trips and all the family outings. His parents passed away 6 months apart from each other in 1999 so for the last 15 years the van has only been driven a few times when he would return home on leave or a few other times that he was around. Miles that he has put on the van he said was less then 4000 miles. Sadly he said there was some things in life that he then needed to sale his assets and sadly the van was one that needed to go.

Now every day i am always looking to see if I can find one. I know I will never find one in the shape that this van was in. I did take a few pictures but need to fix the screen on my old phone so I can get them pictures off. There was no paint pealing or fading. the leather seats were in perfect condition. My hope is to one day find one of these hidden gems and even if it was almost bare and build it back. It has prompted me to start collecting one from each Gen and in first Gen I want the 1990 T&C. Mostly do to the year of my sons birth, but also because it is the year it started with the 3.3 where the 89 has the 3.0.

Would love to see some more pictures of other peoples 1st Gen Vans.

This is an old reply, I know, but I'm just looking at other replies in this thread and you reminded me of the time I saw one being worked on at a local classic car shop. Mint condition black van with collector plates and everything. Had no idea what was under the hood. Wasn't interested enough to ask about it.

I don't think the '89 T&C ever existed, because from what I learned from a discussion in a Facebook group, the only '89 was a pre production van tested by the EPA and some early brochures on eBay because a May 1989 built production van was VIN'd as a 1990 instead of a 1989 (I believe that a Plymouth or Dodge produced in that month would still be a 1989 since my Grand Voyager was made in May '91 and was not VIN'd as a 1992; therefore this means that a 1989 Town and Country never existed apart from what I mentioned before). So yeah, both the 3.0 and 3.3 vans were 1990 models.

 

[K3ViN]

Greetings,

I just wanted to share my 2nd 1st Gen Minivan that I newly purchased. Its also 1987 Dodge Caravan with 2.6l G54B Mitsubishi engine but is an LE variant.

The day I got it.


Changing to the ram van front fascia or the Europe Version as they call it.


Ram Van front headlights with Voyager grille.


Decided to remove the hubcaps and buff and polish the steel wheels.


The finished product.


Gotta love that 1st gen styling.


Some random pictures of the van.

 

[K3ViN]

Im only limited to 8 photos in each post, so heres some other pictures.







The Almighty 2.6L with a Weber 32/36 DFEV bought new in the U.S.A.

 

[Damoncaravanman]

Awesome find! Is that still a Mikuni carb on it?

 

[K3ViN]

Awesome find! Is that still a Mikuni carb on it?

Damon, its the Weber 32/36 DFEV carburator, its the generic carb with adpator plates to suit the 2.6 engine. I still have a complete mikuni carb that I uninstalled in my other van and been planning to open one up but the screws on the body of the carburator wont get loose. And repair kits for the carb are hard to come by here in the Philippines.

 

[Caraman99]

I bought one of those, an '87 for $400 with the speedo/odo cable broken at 280,000km. It had the Mitsubishi 3.0. I drove the crap out of it for 8 years, only did timing belt and fuel pump. Started best at -30C!. God knows what the mileage was when I scrapped it; only because peripherals were failing (cracked windshield, mirrors falling off, power windows dead, headlight full of water, motor mounts, etc.) driving to the scrap yard I must have hit 180kmh!! My personal favourite.

I found one of the few pics I have of that van:

(ignore the filthy speedboat)

 

[dotyj]

That's just awesome. I have Weber 32/36 on my '86 Caravan LE and love it. It's so much better than the Mikuni. I replaced the Mikuni on my van once, and then a year later had to rebuild the replacement. A year after that I gave up on the Mikuni and friends and I spent a weekend installing the Weber. Performance and fuel economy both improved dramatically.

I love your van, very nice.

 

[K3ViN]

That's just awesome. I have Weber 32/36 on my '86 Caravan LE and love it. It's so much better than the Mikuni. I replaced the Mikuni on my van once, and then a year later had to rebuild the replacement. A year after that I gave up on the Mikuni and friends and I spent a weekend installing the Weber. Performance and fuel economy both improved dramatically.

I love your van, very nice.

Thanks for the compliments dotyj, Did you change your jets on the Weber carburetor or did you just install it as it is when it came new? Mine seems to guzzle a lot of gas but there are no signs of it being rich or whatsoever but performance wise I really have nothing to complain about.

 

[dotyj]

Sorry for the delay.

I kept it stock. We had to repurpose some of the old mounting hardware and fabricate some of our own hardware to make it work. But we did manage to get the cruise control linkage set back up and working properly.

The Weber allows for a lot less throttle pedal through but not annoyingly or dangerously so. It "feels" good.

I went from averaging 12mpg in town and 17mpg on road trips to 16mpg in town and 19mpg on road trips. I don't know though if this is proper. Other than being a year older than your LE I have the same set up.

I'll say this though. My van is likely someone heavier than yours due to the accessibility modifications for wheelchair use. The floor between the back of the front seats and the front of the rear row seats has been dropped nine inches and the sliding door is now hinged at the top and uses a linear actuator to open and close it. There's also a bi-fold wheelchair ramp that folds down the section of body under the door as it's deployed. It looks awesome when the door opens and the lower body panel and ramp deploy.

How does this fuel economy compare with any of the other 2.6 liter Caravans folks own?

 

[1988]

1988 time machine....

Now arriving in 2017, the panel side caravan LE from 1988.

I cheated some in that these pic's are from last years overhaul, but the '88 is pretty much the same today. It maybe the last year for it as the work van and will be heading to the comfort of the garage but then I have to say it's really reliable so who knows. On one hand hate driving it with all the texting assholes on the roads, on the other hand: Screw them! They hit it they'll pay full out. I can have it appraised.

The '88 was purchased new, one owner, well kind of my parents bought it new. It's now in my keeping.... guess that counts as same owner for the most. I've worked on it for 30+ years so.

Pretty much just had the regular 3.0 automatic engine work, passing emissions just fine. Headliner still as good as can be! Wish I could say same for '93 and the '94.
Need something to unfog the headlights that really works. I've used various products, they hold up for a few months then... haze again.
14's are new but really hate working out of the lift back hitting my head so thinking sometime in the future to do another inch on the wheels. Oh, lift back... yeah, had to do some work around the piston mounts at the body. That was a fail but have managed a fix that and the reinforcement's holding up terrific.

Drive side door to body harness splice repair. That's o.k. but will figure an upgrade of some kind when the door is off and it get to a full on replacement. Would hate to have to do the work again in 30 years.

Leak... yep. Can't figure it. So when we get a hard rain everything is tight. However after being parked and sitting, rain accumulates somewhere in the roof. Then you drive it after the rain and go to stop, water pours out on the passenger side, where the headliner and window meet up. A good stream of it too! My son rides shotgun and he always acts surprised when he gets a soaking on the knee of his pants. Been that way for 20 so years, not seeing any rust, leaving that for my son to fix when it's his. :headbange

 

[dotyj]

Wow. That looks really nice.

 

[blacknflames]

 

[blacknflames]

1988 3 litre v6 mitsubushi engine

Murals added in 93 pictures taken last year. I have owned my van for about 8 years now.

 

[dotyj]

That looks fantastic. I love the custom skirting.