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Welcome to Down On The Street , where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Since it's Maximum Minivan Day , I knew I had to prowl the streets of Alameda and find a first-generation Chrysler minivan for this series. Easy, right? It turned out to be the hardest DOTS search I've ever done, because I've tuned out minivans from my personal Cool Vehicle Detectors the way treasure hunters adjust their metal detectors to tune out bottlecaps; I just don't see them. Not that I'm anti-minivan, mind you- if every SUV owner whose lifestyle would be better served by a minivan… well, no need to go there, eh? Anyway, I figured I needed to find a Mopar minivan with some character , and that means we're looking at an example of the very last year of the first-gen Dodge Caravan today. You think an 18-year-old minivan doesn't qualify for this series? Sure, I could have shot any number of mid-80s examples, but come...
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After Uncle Sam bailed out "too big to fail" Chrysler in 1979, the race was on to bring to market small front-wheel-drive cars that could compete with Japanese imports better than sluggish Cordobas and Volares. The K-cars were powered by Chrysler's very first all-metric four-cylinder engine, the 2.2, and it proved to be a reasonably reliable and versatile powerplant. Just about every car Chrysler built from 1981 through the mid-90s could be had with some flavor of the 2.2 or 2.5 engine, and the turbocharged versions made plenty of power; the peak was the Turbo III, with Lotus-designed DOHC head and an output of 225 horsepower. Be sure to check out Allpar's interview with engine designer Pete Hagenbuch , for the scoop on how the Slant Six and 2.2 were developed. [Allpar]
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How about an engine family that included V6, V8, and V10 variants and is still being manufactured today after more than 40 years? Starting with the 273-cube V8 in 1964 (itself a descendant of the mid-50s-vintage A series engine) and proceeding through vast numbers of 318s and 360s (and let us not forget the screamin' 340 Six-Pack pictured above), the LA design ended up as the basis of the 488 and 505 V10s used in Vipers and SRT-10s. While the Slant Six has pretty well established itself as the top contender for the All-Time Most Bulletproof Detroit Engine Award, its 318 stablemate makes a strong bid for second place. [Allpar]
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newVideoPlayer("92_LeBaron_Mexico_476.flv", 463, 387,""); Some might say that a '68 Ford Galaxie with big tires and 428 engine is the correct choice for driving the roads of Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, but what if you're looking for some anachronistic romance? Just break out the wedding rings, pop the cassette into the 1992 LeBaron's deck (yes, a cassette deck ten years into the CD Era), and watch your rival angrily slash a bunch of candles with his sword.
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After seeing the sheer 80s awesomeness that was the '85 Plymouth Duster yesterday, you might have thought that every drop of branding goodness had been squeezed from the corpse of the once-glorious Duster name. You'd be wrong! After the Omni-based Duster limped off into oblivion in '87, Chrysler slapped some stickers and wings on the '92 Sundance (which itself was also a recycled name ) and called it a Duster. You won't find many on the street, but I was fortunate enough to run across an example in a junkyard located mere blocks from MC Hammer's former practice studio. As you can see, the 80s lingered on well into the 90s. [Allpar] galleryPost('Junkyard92Duster', 6, '1992 Plymouth Duster Down On The Junkyard');
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