Junkyard Find: 1987 Plymouth Caravelle

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

The alphabet soup of platforms that Chrysler based on the K-car during the 1980s and 1990s gets a little overwhelming to sort out. The “extended” K-car chassis was known as the E Platform and included the Dodge 600 ( we’ve seen one in this series), the Chrysler E-Class ( we’ve seen one of those as well) and the Plymouth Caravelle — essentially an E-class with a different grille — appearing for the 1985 model year. They didn’t sell particularly well, nor did they retain much value over the years, so spying one in a wrecking yard today is unusual.

No cassette deck, but at least you had FM to go with your AM in this car.

Not quite the “ Tormented Faces In Hell” badness of the Ford Granada’s fake wood, but still not very convincing.

The owner’s manual stayed with this car to the very end.

The interior is a sea of cushy Simu-Velour™ upholstery.

A Plymouth, engineered with quality and luxury to challenge the Buick Century and Olds Ciera… but for hundreds less.

Here’s the Canadian version.







Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

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, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • NoGoYo NoGoYo on May 07, 2015

    I love that stereo. I miss the brushed metal look of the 70s and 80s, now everything has to be glossy piano black and attract dirt from all over the known universe. Also, did you take the manual? I snuck out a 1989 Thunderbird manual that was in better shape than my 1995 one on my last trip to the junkyard...

  • Speedlaw Speedlaw on May 07, 2015

    A friend of the wife had an E version of the K car. No maintenance, lived in Brooklyn. She was always cash short among other issues. I watched this car survive 265k with a 2.2 turbo motor into an automatic. No car washes, no oil changes, no vaccum. Tire pressures up to chance. Lots of dings. The K car was a tough bugger.

  • Joe This is called a man in the middle attack and has been around for years. You can fall for this in a Starbucks as easily as when you’re charging your car. Nothing new here…
  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
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