The Simpsons' Mr. Burns once famously said of his unflattering portrait "You know, I'm no art critic, but I know what I hate. And... I don't hate this." Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Voyager Art Van offers a lot not to hate, and it's up to you to say whether that includes its price.
You can make a lot of jokes about yesterday's L67-powered '78 Courier - you know, how it can not just haul, but haul ass - they pretty much just write themselves. It was no joke however that the mini truck came away with a not so mini 87% Nice Price win. There wasn't even any second-half drama to it either.
It may seem like mini trucks predated minivans by a good couple of decades, but truth be told when Lee Iacocca shrewdly boxed up three rows of seats on a K-car platform in the mid nineteen eighties, he was just bringing the sexy back that had previously rolled as the VW Type 2, Corvair Greenbriar, and Falcon Club Wagon, among others, all the way back in the fifties and early sixties.
Still, when one mentions minivan to anyone younger than Super Bowl XLVII then the first to come to mind is probably the Chrysler twins, and this 1987 Plymouth Voyager is prepped to make those memories come flooding back. Of course a mini-anything is kind of a marketing conceit as you are being asked to be happy about getting less of something. In the case of this Voyager however, you're getting more. In fact, much much more.
That's because this is Plymouth could be called Art Vandelay as it has been used as a canvas for the unique vision of a pistonhead Picasso. The end result really defies description, so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. I will point out however, that the NILLA PUDDIN printed above the windshield is a thought provoking touch.
The interior has also been oddified, sporting a PETA-unfriendly look in faux leopard over much of its surfaces, including the top of the squarer than your high school biology teacher dashboard. Exotic cat is an acquired taste and the leopard reflected in the windshield from that dash might just be crazy making, but at least it would take your mind off the non-working parts of the van noted in the ad. Those include parts like the immovable passenger door window, driver's side door latch, and the van's present radio silence.
Those are all elements that add up to what the ad says is to be expected of a vehicle with 291,000 miles on the clock. Under the women's basketball trophy sporting hood lies a Mitsubishi G54 2.6-litre four, originally good for 104-bhp. That engine was slotted in as a replacement about half-way through this van's present lifespan, and is said to run okay with the exception of same farts after extended runs. A three-speed auto backs that up.
Overall, the van looks to be completely serviceable and of course its bespoke paint and accoutrement treatment is either a boon or a bane to its chances of eventual ownership change. True art comes from the soul of the artist, and it's hard to put a price on that kind of individual vision, at least until the artist is long dead it seems.
The price for this still-kicking Voyager is $750, and it's now up to you to say whether you think that's just paint by numbers pricing or if that's a deal worthy of putting your name on its artistic license.
You decide!
Little Rock Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears.
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