Did Astros ever come with a manual transmission?
Did Astros ever come with a manual transmission?
I don't think the Astro did, but the E150 did, as did the Aerostar.
Rock Auto lists parts for Astro manuals.
In reply to Danny Shields (Forum Supporter) :
You are right. They made 1500 of them from 1986 to 1988.
Wikipedia says you could get them with a T5 manual trans from 1985 to 1989. You can check factory brochures for each year to get more specifics at the Old Car Brochures website: https://oldcarbrochures.org/United%20States/GM%20Trucks%20and%20Vans/index.html
So wild! You could also get the Previa with a manual in the US for a few years. Also the prior gen Toyota Van.
ASTRO definitely could be had with a T5. The tail housing is desirable to some people because it put the shifter in a unique position of all of the T5 trans.
Were they 4wd manual?
I'm not saying I'm going to go out of my way to track down a manual Astro, but I'm definitely going to keep my eyes peeled when I'm window shopping. 
Astro came with a Iron Duke mated to a manual trans.
The stick shift itself was mounted oddly beside the seat and if you were short (with the seat pulled forward) the stick was then generally behind the seatbelt latch. Either way, the stick itself was not something you looked at when using it.
I worked for Coca-Cola Distribution in the late '80 and early '90. We had one of these. Complete bare bones but it has a very nice Coca-Cola wave paint job of red/white.
Dog slow and completely "unsporting".
Speaking of stripped vans, we also had a full size Chevy van that had no power steering! And, if memory serves me right no power brakes. If those brakes were power then the idle was so high because I remember when sitting at stop signs the method was to jam your knee under the steering wheel to stop the van from moving forward .
I think they're 99% gone because they were rare enough then someone figured out they had a magical bellhousing that allows you to stick a ford t5 behind a chevy v8.
Random Internet photo
I grew up driving a 5-speed E150 with the 300 I6. My dad ordered it in 1978 to save on fuel costs. It had the OD transmission and a really tall set of rear gears. Slow didn't begin to describe it. He got it down in a culdesac in the mountains that it would not climb out of. My brother and I had to get out and push. It wouldn't pull a sick whore off a bed. It did get 19 mpg at 55 mph, though.
Speaking of rare Asto vans.
John Welsh said:Speaking of stripped vans, we also had a full size Chevy van that had no power steering! And, if memory serves me right no power brakes. If those brakes were power then the idle was so high because I remember when sitting at stop signs the method was to jam your knee under the steering wheel to stop the van from moving forward .
I always love these kinds of stories, especially when the owner follows it up with something like "and it was my favorite car I ever owned."
iansane said:Were they 4wd manual?
I think all the AWD Astros were 4.3L/4L60
I recall riding in a friend's manual Dodge Caravan, and I have also known of manual Aerostar vans.
Colin Wood said:I always love these kinds of stories, especially when the owner follows it up with something like "and it was my favorite car I ever owned."
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. Not powerful enough, unfortunately, to make me ever want anything to do with an Astro. My parents bought a one-year-old '87 with 4.3. The blessed thing went through no less than four 700R4 transmissions, and the barn doors chirped like a nest full of baby chicks armed with a Mr. Microphone. Not a pleasant place to be.
That rear A/C was something else, though. And it looked alright on Enkei sawblades.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:iansane said:Were they 4wd manual?
I think all the AWD Astros were 4.3L/4L60
I recall riding in a friend's manual Dodge Caravan, and I have also known of manual Aerostar vans.
All manual trans Astros were 1st gen and they didnt make an AWD one until the 2nd gen.
When I was a kid, my next door neighbor had a manual trans Astro. He smoked the clutch backing his new boat up his (narrow, uphill) driveway. I still remember how awful that smelled.
In high school, my autos teacher had a manual trans Aerostar, and the 5 speed Caravan was so popular that Mopar made another batch of them in the mid 90s. (Before you ask: they were all 2.4l front-drivers)
My dad had a manual 1988 Toyota Van growing up, it was awesome, and what I learned to drive on. The Previa had a manual option but not with the SC or AWD if I remember right.
That Astro would have you shifting at your ankle, lol!
an old coworker had a 4.3l S10 pickup /w a 5 speed, i remember that the clutch was weird because it was a long throw and given the upright seating position and how close you sat to the dashboard; you ended up with your knee going up in a weird way that wasn't nearly as comfortable as the Honda stick shift cars I was used to driving at the time.
Thank you for the information.
In reply to ClearWaterMS :
It was a far sight better than a manual trans Comanche unless you were under 5'6. Even with an automatic they were cramped, but with a manual it felt like you had to touch your ear with your left knee to use the clutch.
IIRC the AWD transfer case is interchangeable with the same generation 4WD case and should swap onto a 5 speed trans. Can anyone verify this?
In reply to Crackers (Forum Supporter) :
Only if the trans was a 4wd trans. The tail end is completely different RWD vs 4wd.
As far as the transfer cases themselves, New Process/New Venture had a very simple numbering system for their units. All units with a number starting with a 1 had one range and those generally were all AWD.
There were some 2 speed units that had a center differential but I think those were only used in Jeeps.
One of the guys I went to Vo-Tech school with in the 90s has an Iron Duke manual trans Astro. The dad of a friend of mine at the same time had a manual Aerostar. A few years later I had a roommate with a manual Aerostar. By my research Ford sold twice as many manual Aerostars as Chevy sold manual Astros.
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