Chrysler Minivan Thursday Outtake 2: 1985 Dodge Ram Van

by Paul Niedermeyer

Updated: February 25th, 2011 Published: March 18th, 2010

chrysler minivan thursday outtake 2 1985 dodge ram van

In another of repeated examples of stumbling on a variation of the same car twice in an outing, this Ram Van (later called Caravan C/V) was shot about thirty minutes before today’s featured CC. Caravan C/Vs were never that popular, probably because Chrysler preferred to build more profitable loaded passenger versions. Or was there another reason? After all, this is the Transit Connect of another era.

I bought one of the first long-wheelbase C/Vs in 1987 for the tv station, and it acquitted itself very well, although the young bucks driving it were miffed not to be in a big Econoline like the big stations’ crews drove.

More new Curbside Classics here

#CaravanC/v

Paul Niedermeyer

More by Paul Niedermeyer

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 12 comments

Monty on Mar 19, 2010

+1 to Syke for "They could haul, however" but it should read: "They could haul ass, however." I had a 87 Ram Van with the 2.7 V6, and with no load other than me in it, that little van smoked an awful lot of cars trying to hole shoot me at intersections. Add to that the bonus of laying flat sheets of 4' x 8' plywood or drywall in the cargo area, and it was an awesome little van. If I could find one as nice as the featured one in the article, I would buy it tomorrow.

Like Reply
Moparman426W on Mar 19, 2010

I remember a few years back there was a monster truck with this type of body on it. I don't recall who drove it but it had tank tracks. Does anyone remember who had it and what it said on the sides?

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Lou_BC Honda plans on investing 15 billion CAD. It appears that the Ontario government and Federal government will provide tax breaks and infrastructure upgrades to the tune of 5 billion CAD. This will cover all manufacturing including a battery plant. Honda feels they'll save 20% on production costs having it all localized and in house.As @ Analoggrotto pointed out, another brilliant TTAC press release.
28-Cars-Later "Its cautious approach, which, along with Toyota’s, was criticized for being too slow, is now proving prescient"A little off topic, but where are these critics today and why aren't they being shamed? Why are their lunkheaded comments being memory holed? 'Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.' -Orwell, 1984
Tane94 A CVT is not the kiss of death but Nissan erred in putting CVTs in vehicles that should have had conventional automatics. Glad to see the Murano is FINALLY being redesigned. Nostalgia is great but please drop the Z car -- its ultra-low sales volume does not merit continued production. Redirect the $$$ into small and midsize CUVs/SUVs.
Analoggrotto Another brilliant press release.
SCE to AUX We'll see how actual production differs from capacity.