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Junkyard Gem: 1994 Dodge Caravan with manual transmission

The K Platform saved Chrysler from certain doom after the company's 1979 bailout by the federal government, and one of the most successful K-based vehicles was the one that spawned the American minivan craze in 1984: the original Dodge Caravan/Plymouth Voyager. Built all the way through the 1995 model year, these K-Caravans or K-Voyagers could be purchased with a four- or five-speed manual transmission, but just a handful were sold that way. Here's an extraordinarily rare late 5-speed example, spotted in a San Francisco Bay Area wrecking yard. The shifter location is a little awkward, requiring the driver to reach back a bit more than would be the case in, say, a Dodge Shadow (which shared the same powertrain). It's too bad that Chrysler never offered these vans with five-on-the-tree manuals. Even though plenty of Mitsubishi-V6-powered front-wheel-drive Chryslers of the late 1980s and early 1990s were available with manual transmissions (e.g., the Chrysler Laser/Dodge Daytona or the Plymouth Sundance/Dodge Shadow), Chrysler minivan shoppers who wanted a stickshift had to take the four-cylinder engine (either a Chrysler 2.2/2.5 or, in the early years, a Mitsubishi 2.6 Astron). This one has the naturally-aspirated 2.5-liter engine that went into so many Plymouth Acclaims and Chrysler LeBarons. In 1995, it was rated at 100 horsepower, which made for stately acceleration with a full load of passengers. For the 1989 and 1990 model years, a 150-horse turbocharged Chrysler 2.5 with 5-speed was the high-performance minivan setup... and you should let us know if you find a factory-built one. This is only the second example of a manual-trans-equipped 1990s Chrysler minivan I have found in the junkyard (the first was this '93 Voyager), and both vans were lightly-optioned El Cheapo models with cloth seats and hand-crank windows; the manual transmission was a bit cheaper than the automatic in those days. At least this one has air conditioning. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Advertising for these minivans tended to focus on price, price, price. Featured Gallery Junked 1994 Dodge Caravan with 5-speed View 18 Photos Auto News Dodge Minivan/Van dodge caravan

Junkyard Gem: 1988 Dodge Diplomat Salon

Except for the Viper, Prowler, and some Mitsubishi-derived AWD machines, all Chrysler cars went front-wheel-drive starting in the 1990 model year and continued that way until our current century. The last holdout was the Dodge Diplomat (and its Plymouth Gran Fury and Chrysler Fifth Avenue siblings), and these cars were the most common police cruisers in America throughout most of the 1980s and well into the 1990s. You won't see many Diplomats today, but I found this high-luxe civilian Salon version in my local Denver self-service yard. This one was purchased new in Cheyenne, which is just up I-25 from Denver. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. A Diplomat was one of the automotive protagonists in the classic car-chase scene from the 1990 film, Short Time. Diplomats have figured heavily in many films over the years. I got my first driver's license in 1982, in a Navy town with ruthless Diplomat-equipped traffic-law enforcement, and so my right foot still twitches in the direction of a brake pedal when I see this grille. This one was full of Denver-centric ephemera from the early-to-middle 1990s, layered with the shredded paper and rodent poop that indicates long-term outdoor storage, so I'm guessing that the car's elderly owner stopped driving it 20 years ago and it sat until finally evicted by an angry landlord. These cars weren't known for being particularly quick in stock form. This one has the carbureted 318-cubic-inch V8 (yes, some cars still had carburetors as late as 1988), good for 140 horsepower. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Fiendishly seductive! Related Video:

Old Dodge vans are big in Japan

One of the great things about Japan and its car culture is that it plays host to some of the most unusual and unique vehicle trends in the world. Whether it's neon-clad Lamborghinis or luxury sedans with insane negative camber, the country always seems to have something new up its sleeve. One of the most surprising trends is track-ready, full-size Dodge vans called Dajibans, and the video above presents a great look at these absurd machines. This isn't the first time we've covered these racing Dodge vans, but it's a subculture too awesome not to merit a second look. For one thing, just as American fans of Japanese cars here like to use JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) parts on their cars, the owners of these Dodges like to use American parts. Many of the vans feature Little Tree air fresheners inside and even have Spectre air filters on the intakes. Who would've thought there would be a market for Autozone's bread and butter auto accessories? Plus, these vans get some other impressive mods. Notice that some vans that appear to have stock metal bumpers, but they're actually fiberglass replicas in the original shape and given a chrome-like paint job. The video's host, an Australian drift fanatic named Alexi who lives in Japan and runs website called Noriyaro.com, gets some great onboard footage, too. One of the vans he rides along in is powered by a generally stock 318 Dodge V8, and still has the original automatic transmission and column shifter. Impressively, the driver manages to manually shift it without grabbing the wrong gear, and even rev matches the shifts. Alexi explains that the driver can catch neutral in-between gears three and two, so there's a brief moment where he can blip the throttle. There's even more information in the video, and it's all fantastic fun to watch. If you decide you haven't seen enough of Dajibans, you can also check out our previous post on it, which is more polished and provides some history and context to the trend. Related Video: News Source: Noriyaro via YouTube Auto News Dodge Minivan/Van Performance Videos JDM trends