worth fixing a 1987 caravan in MN? :-P

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What would you do?

Fix it and keep driving it
0
No votes
Sell it to someone who would appreciate it
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No votes
Part it out
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No votes
Haul it away for junk
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Total votes : 0

worth fixing a 1987 caravan in MN? :-P

Postby stillrattlin » Tue May 07, 2019 2:53 am

Hi

So I joined this board because i've got this Dodge Caravan and i'm trying to decide whether to fix it and drive it for a bit longer or maybe find someone that has an other-than-zero valuation for it. Ie i'd rather not just haul it to the junkyard, but neither can I afford to LOSE money getting it to someone who loves the vehicles. Even if I fix it I have too many vehicles to keep long term and although I potentially have a place to park it for awhile that wont last forever so i'd still be curious who might be interested in the future.

The Basics: its a 1987 Dodge Caravan SE, 4 cylinder 2.6L Mitsubishi, 3 speed automatic, the seemingly rare-ish fold down bed/seat ie 5 passenger seating but the rear seat turns into a total bed. Often thought it'd be nice for camping tho i've never taken it such. It's NOT the grand caravan, it's the shorter one. I forget the exact mileage (it's not parked conveniently to doublecheck) but I want to say 136k? NOT that much, not that many miles cuz the family had too many other cars, and it was my moms driver who isn't around anymore. Also spent most of it's life garaged tho not all - the body is pretty low rust for an MN car and interior above average, although the undercarriage has it's rusty bits from sitting in parking lots with snow in them when at work. One owner vehicle - we bought it brand new in the family and it's never left the family. I didn't mind driving it myself as it got 20mpg around town (as good as any of the new minivans get... around town... highway is no better tho as it's geared for 55mph) but I had a better MPG compact and got used to driving that for most miles.

Downsides include totally faded paint or maybe its the clearcoat or sunburn on it. The rear brakes need a rebuild (I stopped driving it maybe 5-6 years ago due a brake that seized up parked thru the winter/in spring it didn't want to get loose again, i've kept Pri-G in the tank and ran it periodically but then 2 years ago it stopped wanting to start and I haven't figured out why. Maybe fuel filter? Or fuel pump? Rust in the tank from the stupid ethanol jammed something? I'm not sure but it was running fine 2 years ago and I wasn't going to resume fixing the brakes unless I got it to start again. :-/ AC hasn't worked in awhile, I have some new old stock R12 from decades ago and should have the equipment to recharge it IF it's worth doing. (inherited the tools)


I know pictures are worth a thousand words tho I don't have them handy yet, this is just a rough feeler. I'll make some pictures available for people possibly interested for if/when I choose to sell it which would be later summer at earliest. But before anything i'm trying to decide how much work and trouble it's worth in the first place, and to have an exit strategy for if I decide that's too much work to fix and hold onto things. I have other vehicles to fix first and decide what to do with and a busy summer.

So short version... does anyone even care about these vehicles, especially if it's not even a grand caravan'n'all that for the extra interior space? I mean I like the vehicle fine, if I didn't have too many vehicles and I had the parking space I wouldn't be planning an exit from it but i'm not like a collector of the minivans.
stillrattlin
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu May 02, 2019 3:40 am
Car Information: 1987 Dodge Caravan

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