Webber Becomes Sixth F1 Winner With Monaco Victory

Franchitti Earns Third Indy 500 Win

Hong Kong Witnesses First Aston Martin One-77 Crash
2013 Volkswagen CC Gets Sporty R-Line Trim

Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix Weather Forecast

Sarrazin Gains Final Seat For Toyota Racing At Le Mans
Indy 500 Carb Day Practice To Franchitti; Dixon Takes IZOD Pit...

Volkswagen Golf R Cabrio Patent Photos Revealed

2013 Cadillac XTS Configurator Launched

Guilty Pleasure: 1989-90 Turbo 5-Speed Chrysler Minivan

Murilee Martin

Contributor BIO

Once pushed an Opel Manta 50 miles using a '63 Impala wagon with tires tied to the front bumper More

LATEST ARTICLE
Guilty Pleasure: Isuzu I-Mark Diesel
When you start looking at the General Motors family tree, things really start getting weird when... Read More

N/ALEADERBOARD RANK
56ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED
0COMMENTS POSTED

2 1,737 views Feb 15, 2012

1989 Dodge Caravan

Enlarge Photo

We went a little crazy last week, diving into the toxic waters of Triumph Stag ownership, but you'd probably manage to find a handful of people who thought the Stag was quasi-cool.

Where's the guilt?

So, this week we'll be returning to Detroit and a vehicle that's both completely ridiculous and so comprehensively uncool that you'd be able to travel through several time zones without finding a single self-proclaimed car freak who would admit to the slightest admiration for it.

I speak, of course, of the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager minivans, which were available for two years with both manual transmissions and a turbocharged Chrysler 2.5-liter engine. That's right, 150 torque-steerin' horses and a clutch pedal!

Granted, the 1989-90 K-platform-based Chrysler minivans weighed about 3,000 pounds, but imagine gutting the interior and then turning up the boost in one!

After seeing one of these vans (painted as the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine) blowing away Sentra SE-Rs and Nissan 300ZXs at Thunderhill Raceway in the Arse Sweat-a-Palooza 24 Hours of LeMons, I came to realize that there's great sleeper potential in a turbo five-speed Voyager or Caravan. Yes, they'll all laugh at me… but that's how Guilty Pleasures work.

Photograph courtesy of Head-On Photos.