If there’s a more forgettable Big Three car from the 1980s, I can’t remember what it could be. Just thinking of Plymouth’s Caravelle can create mental gymnastics: For example, When was the last time you noticed one? Or, Can you recall the differences between Caravelles and Dodge 600s? Fortunately, we can use these images, posted at the Cohort by William Oliver, to rekindle our collective memory.
Being a 1980s Chrysler Corporation product, this Caravelle is (surprise!) a stretched K-car. Specifically, an extra 3” of wheelbase and 10” of length created a mid-size, six-passenger sedan. Designated as the E-body when it debuted for 1983, this car range included the anonymously-named Dodge 600, the even more anonymously-named Chrysler E Class, the fancied-up Chrysler New Yorker… and, in Canada only, the Plymouth Caravelle. Two years would pass before Caravelles drifted south into US showrooms.
Having first used “Caravelle” on Plymouth’s Canadian-market M-body (Gran Fury in the US), Chrysler Canada Ltd. bestowed the name upon Plymouth’s E-body for ’83. And in a bid to confuse customers even more, the aged M-body became the Caravelle Salon. All E-bodies were offered only as four-door sedans and only with four-cylinder engines – not quite a recipe for excitement. Dodge’s 600 presented a somewhat sporty image, as the 600ES offered a firmer suspension and meatier tires, however anyone could see that the Dodge, Plymouth and Chrysler were virtually identical cars.
In the US, Plymouth made do without an E-body for 1983 and ’84, through the Chrysler brand offered both the E Class and then (added mid-model year) the more upscale New Yorker appeared. For $2,200 on top of the E Class’s $9,700 base price, Chrysler shoppers could receive standard power windows, electronic instruments, a landau roof, wire wheel covers and other such amenities by purchasing a New Yorker. It turned out that most Chrysler shoppers wanted those things, and in 1984, New Yorkers outsold E Classes 2-to-1. Left with two awfully similar Chrysler-branded sedans, Chrysler Corporation cast the cheaper one off to Plymouth for 1985, figuring that thrifty shoppers ought to be Plymouth customers anyway. So US Chrysler-Plymouth dealers saw a switcheroo, as the E Class went away, to be replaced by the Caravelle… and the New Yorker continued in its crystalline-hood-ornamented glory as the Chrysler brand’s sole E body.
Therefore, US Plymouth dealers joined their Canadian counterparts in offering an E-body Caravelle. Virtually identical to the Dodge 600 – both mechanically and visually – the ’85 Caravelle featured an eggcrate grille (as opposed to the Dodge’s slatted grille) and very minor trim variations. Perhaps most amusingly, the Caravelle carried a base price a whopping $74 less than Dodge’s 600.
And regarding this car’s name: Just what is a “Caravelle” anyway? Why, it’s a 15th-16th century Spanish or Portuguese sailing ship – usually spelled “caravel” in English… the added “-le” being the French spelling. Though few customers likely made the connection, the ship theme was a throwback to early Plymouth badges and hood ornaments that featured the Mayflower and other nautical themes. Plymouth scarcely used seafaring symbolism in the 1980s (Voyager being the other example, since the term typically applies to a long water journey), however sailing vessels made a comeback with the brand in the 1990s in the form of a modern interpretation of the old nautical badge. The Caravelle model name, though, never resurfaced after the E-bodies were discontinued.
Incidentally, Plymouth wasn’t the only make to offer a Caravelle. Both a 1960s Renault coupe/cabriolet and numerous versions of Volkswagen’s Transporter also carried the Caravelle name. Combined with our Plymouth, this must be the most unusual trio of automotive namesakes ever produced.
Now back to our featured car. This is a 1987 model, which benefited from a mild refresh that debuted the year before. For this refresh, Chrysler softened the car’s formerly hard lines, such as in the front fascia, grille and tail lamps. Headlights, which had previously resided in individual eye sockets, now sported a more contemporary appearance. And in a shockingly bold move, the stand-up hood ornament disappeared, replaced instead by a Pentastar integrated into the grille. Take a good look at this grille, because it was the most apparent visual difference between the Caravelle and its Dodge twin… Dodges featured blacked-out grilles with chromed crosshairs.
Tail lights, too, were subtly different on the Plymouth and Dodge versions; while the Caravelle featured tail lights with horizontal ribbing, the 600’s lights were divided into rectangular chunks. Wheel options differed as well, though both versions offered these wire wheel covers — after all, what kind of K-car-derived sedan could do without them?
This particular car is an SE, a model that added a few extras to the base Caravelle, such as a split bench seat, stereo, intermittent wipers, etc. About 45% of the 94,000 1986-88 Caravelle buyers splurged for the SE. Caravelle’s most significant option, though, was the engine. These sedans came standard with a 2.2L 97-hp four, but two optional engines provided much more acceptable performance. Our featured car’s original owner opted for the $280-extra 2.5L four, whose benefit wasn’t so much horsepower (only 3 more than the 2.2), but torque, of which it had more and at lower RPMs. Also optional was the same 2.2L turbo four as found in the Dodge Daytona Turbo Z, though with Caravelle’s 3-speed automatic, it wasn’t an ideal match.
The 1986 smoothing of the E-bodies’ design produced a pleasing and well-proportioned car – but certainly not an exciting one. Caravelle’s K-car roots showed through in many ways – with a noisy ride, unrefined handing, and lots of inexpensive interior materials. However, for consumers looking for a basic, but not punishingly ascetic family sedan, this was a reasonable choice. Caravelles typically cost less than GM A-body sedans, though the lack of a V-6 and more limited optional equipment likely put the Plymouth out of contention for many buyers.
Chrysler manufactured over 700,000 E-body sedans between 1983 and 1988, with our featured car coming from the E-body’s most successful year. For the 1987 model year, 151,135 E-bodies rolled out of the Jefferson Avenue Plant in Detroit, including 42,465 Caravelles. While seemingly a fair showing, this was somewhat meager in the large 1980s mid-size sedan marketplace, and just a fraction of the sales raked in by some competitors, such as the Olds Cutlass Ciera. Having a pleasant design and offering good value could only take a car so far… Caravelle ownership was likely limited to the Chrysler faithful, and to those looking for a step up from a Reliant.
Caravelle and the rest of the E-bodies were discontinued in 1988. Its place in Plymouth’s lineup was the filled by the Acclaim and/or Dynasty (a case could be made for either, or both, being the Caravelle’s true successor). With that, this easily overlooked Plymouth sailed away, hardly to be remembered. In retrospect, Caravelle ended up being forgettable due to a lack of distinction – it wasn’t a sales leader, a styling trailblazer or a technological breakthrough. The model simply existed for a few years in a lineup of badge-engineered, value-oriented Plymouths. But thanks to these Cohort pictures, forgettable doesn’t mean forgotten.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
Related Reading:
1986 Plymouth Caravelle SE: This Ship Still Sails Jim Grey
1986 Plymouth Caravelle: All In The Family Jason Shafer
1986-88 Plymouth Caravelle: Mint In Manhattan William Stopford
My town is on the edge of a large agricultural region that’s primarily vegetable row crops and berries, and some orchards. Hand-picked, labor intensive, and the field workers’ cars are very visible parked alongside the fields; often a good showing of CC’s. When we first moved here 15 years ago a large percentage were still domestics, and I remember seeing many KCars and their derivatives that had long disappeared from the streets of Silicon Valley where we had moved from. Of course they’re all gone now, replaced by 20 year old Accords, Odysseys, Camrys and Altima’s.
Once we moved to Texas my Dad’s first company car at his new gig was a 1986 Dodge 600. We were never, ever, ever, ever Chrysler people (other than one Ford station wagon everything else purchased during my life– we or used– was a GM product). I had a couple chances to drive it and it truly felt cheap, rode cheap, everything you touched with any part of your body had the essence of cheapness.
That might be magnified because his last car with his prior gig was the Toyota Cressida I’ve waxed poetically about. Yep, anything would seem cheap after that – but no Cressida’s were forthcoming.
Soon as he got a chance to upgrade came the first in a series of 10x better Pontiac 6000s. He hasn’t Chryslered ever again except for rentals.
I remember these, didn’t know they were so awful to drive .
As long as they’re making it why not add in decent handling and seating, even in the “cheap seats” ? .
-Nate
Mine was an “88”. Gray, turbo. Nice to drive actually. Quiet, roomy, not bad on gas. Build quality was bad; too, to many trips to dealership for ‘dumb, issues”.
Vast majority was under warranty. Still, just an annoying use of time//efforts.
Traded in “91”, super clean, low milage. Got hosed. Grrr.
The styling refreshes of the E-body sure say not only, “Iacocca-mobile” but a bit of late fifties Studebaker, as well, when Studebaker tried to stay abreast of styling trends by tacking on JC Whitney style quad headlight pods and tailfins.
So, too, with not only ersatz fake wire wheel covers (there’s the Iacocca touch, of which three of the four center caps are missing here) but in an effort to match the rounded Taurus and Thunderbird that was suddenly the new eighties styling fad, Lido tacked-on (Studebaker style) the softened front and rear fascias to the same old sharply creased K-car fenders and body lines. Doesn’t really mesh.
I thought these to be attractive automobiles back in the day. Still do. May you RIP, Plymouth. You are not forgotten.
Despite the ad, water cooled turbochargers did not make anybody forget the V8. They are more alive and well now than they have ever been. I lived thru the “V8 is dead” era….What happened? Aftermarket parts sales for Ford and Chev V8s shot thru the roof. Summit Racing became a household name, and NASCAR became more than a side show on Wide World of Sports
The red car in joint Dodge 600 advert shows a Canadian car that was more poverty-spec than US versions ever were – US cars all had body side moldings and some chrome around the windows and wheels.
This Caravelle is not a bad looking car at all. The transformation from K to E wasn’t as thorough from a visual standpoint as GM’s concurrent transformation of the X to the FWD A, but the concept is the same. Aside from some wonky steering in earlier examples, the K was good bones to start with and not nearly as problematic as the X cars.
I always wanted the Plymouths to sell more units than they were moving by this point. With a mere $74 difference in base price between this and a Dodge 600, and given that Dodge had a performance image by then, it’s really no wonder, sadly, that the Dodge 600 outsold the Caravelle.
These sad square vehicles showed up at the beginning of the Taurus/Sable multi-million sales boom and were immediately seen as pathetic also-rans in this class. All the oxygen in the market went to Ford. The Taurus/Sable were revolutionary externally and internally. Built with Demming’s quality methods, Ford’s duo commanded attention the competition couldn’t match.
Caravelle, 600, Celebrity, and other square cars ended up in rental car fleets for Avis and National. All these cars had were lower prices and brand loyalty.
There was a reason that within a few years, these cars had rounded front end redesigns – they were obsolete.
On their own, these cars seem acceptable. Yet, in the face of the contemporary competition, these were ignored for a reason. Just as few shoppers still pined for a Falcon in 1965, few wanted anything other than a Camry, Accord, Taurus or Sable in 1987.
Someone should have told Chrysler that people didn’t really want a Granada when Ford made them. So they probably weren’t going to want one when they made it either.
Speaking of Plymouth nautical themes, it wasn’t until somewhat recently that I realized this version of their logo was probably meant to resemble a Mayflower-type sailing ship viewed from water level in front, with the lower part being the hull, the spire being the prow and bowsprit (and/or mast), and the upper parts being a sail:
That’s an interesting observation. I always thought it was an effort by Chrysler to market a Plymouth version of the Oldsmobile rocket emblem at about the same time the Dodge ‘fratzog’ was created in1962.
Dang, once you see it, you can’t unsee it! I too thought it was a bit, um, borrowed from Oldsmobile.
Unfortunately it’s hard for me to not see a coffin in the background of that logo.
When I saw the title of this post I was expecting to see that larger Caravelle / Diplomats from earlier versions. I don’t believe those sold any better than these did. This was Chrysler wringing every last dollar they could out of the K car platform. Nice to see these here, they haven’t seen asphalt around here in decades.
Mom had a used Caravelle, in that blue color. It got passed down to one of her nieces. It now sits rusting away on my sisters farm.
I’m not sure which invokes more apathy in me: the Plymouth Caravelle or the Caravelle candy bar.