Junkyard Gem: 1998 Plymouth Voyager Expresso
For the 1994 Chicago Auto Present, Chrysler introduced a Neon-based idea automotive that seemed like one thing households would drive across the Mars Base within the 12 months 2094. This was the Plymouth Expresso, and also you’d by no means have guessed that the Plymouth Division itself can be terminated simply seven years later whereas gazing at its whimsical form. As typically occurs with idea automobiles, the Expresso’s design itself was a useless finish (although some declare it influenced the later Chrysler PT Cruiser), however its title survived… on an choice bundle.
Because the Nineties started, Chrysler felt Plymouth remained related regardless of few American automotive buyers understanding that the model was presupposed to reside beneath Dodge within the firm’s status hierarchy. The PT Cruiser initially was deliberate as a Plymouth, and the Prowler actually did begin out bearing the badging of the Chrysler division named after a model of twine well-liked with Twenties farmers.
The primary use of the Expresso title on a Plymouth got here within the 1996 mannequin 12 months, when Plymouth Neon and Breeze patrons may get the Expresso Package deal for $375 (about $762 in 2024 {dollars}). The reviewer for Edmunds was scathing about “a brand new transparently-named Expresso bundle geared toward so-called Era X patrons who supposedly spend all their time slacking off on the Espresso Plantation sipping java.” By 1998, each single Plymouth mannequin besides the Prowler may very well be Expresso-ized.
Expressos acquired these rad badges (see: Mercury Tracer Trio), body-colored trim and a midway first rate AM/FM/cassette radio. As a member of Era X who had simply hit age 30 on the time, I had no urge to commerce in my 1965 Impala or 1985 CRX for a Plymouth Expresso, however my response might have been atypical (it wasn’t).
Below the pitiless rule of DaimlerChrysler, the Plymouth Division suffered indignity after indignity throughout the late Nineties. Even earlier than the axe fell on Plymouth’s outstretched neck, the Voyager was snatched away and given Chrysler badging. The Prowler stayed a Plymouth by 2001, then spent a single neglected 12 months as a Chrysler.
As you’ll be able to see, this Junkyard Gem is extra in regards to the Expresso Package deal and the decline of Plymouth than the Voyager itself, as a result of typically junkyard automotive historical past works that approach.
The Voyager was the most cost effective of all of the Chrysler minivans for 1998, which made it a really sturdy deal for the cash regardless of the depressingly forced-cheerful Expresso badges. The MSRP for the bottom 1998 Voyager was $17,995, or about $34,915 in 2024 {dollars}; its Dodge Caravan sibling began at $20,535 ($39,843 after inflation).
This era of Chrysler minivan (the third) was offered in america for the 1996 by 2000 mannequin years. European minivan buyers may purchase them with Chrysler Voyager and, afterward, Lancia Voyager badging.
Stand up to $1,000 money again! Hurry, earlier than Plymouth itself disappears.
Wait, make that as much as $2,145 again in “complete values.”
