Hi PearlVan, sorry to hear of your experience. Please keep in mind that different manufacturers will make slightly different sizes that will fall into the same specs......but in this case you should have been fine. I looked up the manufacturer specs for the Thunderer Ranger 195 R14C tires and found them to be slightly smaller than the specs for my Hankooks of the same rated size (both diameter and width).............Although it's possible there could be differences in the tire shape that wouldn't show up in the specs (like tall square corners where the tread ends and the sidewall begins).
I guess it's possible it's a 1st gen van issue, but I doubt it (FYI I know nothing of 84 - 85 vans). I know they have a smaller recommended tire size, but wasn't aware of any differences regarding height or tire clearances.
Another possibility is perhaps somebody lowered the van. Usually when this is done the rear springs are cut, but the front is usually dropped by torsion bar adjustment. I checked the service manuals and found the 1st gen vans show slightly higher specs for the front torsion bar adjustments than the 2nd gen vans (go figure). Check your ride height using the information from the 1987 service manual below.
Note: The height dimension (9.21") is shown (above) for 86 - 89 2wd vans with P195/75 R14 tires. For the 84 - 85 vans, the called out height is 9.57" even though it has the smaller P185/75 R14 tires. Tim