1989 Dodge Caravan

1989 Dodge Caravan

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.

1989 Dodge Caravan

1989 Dodge Caravan