Rise of the Minivan

(Car Lust Blog) - The minivan we all know and love (or loathe) today did not
simply pop into existence. The story of how the North American minivan came
to be is actually a long and complicated one, wrapped up in the story of
vans and commercial vehicles in general, with a few twists and turns along
the way...

Continued: http://sn.im/RiseMinivan

 

For practical purposes in much of the world it was the VW van that got
things going in the 1960s for smaller vans.
Interesting that VW moved to the Chrysler van last year, but not
surprisingly they didn't sell very well in VW dealerships.

Today the Chrysler van has to be one of the best van deals out there.

 

but you have to buy a routan (town and country) to get people on the street
to punch each other in the arm.......

 

FWIW, my van history (all purchased new). The first two were still
running strong when traded.
1984 Dodge Caravan LE (200,000+ miles)
1997 Dodge Caravan ES (170,000+ miles)
2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT (currently 24,000 miles)

BTW, that URL isn't loading at this moment.

 

If you don't want a high-priced riceburner it's pretty much the only
deal out there.

 

http://www.carlustblog.com/2010/05/the-rise-of-the-minivan.html

works for me

 

I saw my first "Minivan" when I was in France in the late 1970's. It
was a Toyota "Hi Ace" working as an ambulance. It was 1983 when I saw
a Toyota minivan in the US. The Chrysler minivans soon followed.

KM

 

The first non-VW minivan I became aware of was the 1958 DKW
Schnellaster my dad drove as a work truck back in the sixties.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/the-mother-of-all-modern-minivans-1949-dkw-schnellaster/
The second mini-van I became aware of was the 1960 envoy/bedford
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/49324777@N00/1647409
my dad bought from the local hardware store (was their appliance
service vehicle)

A young farm-hand by the name of Enos Gerber that boarded with us on
the farm near Poole Ontario in 1954 owned the first VW microbus I ever
saw .

 

--

FWIW: Bought a used 1961 VW Minivan in 1964. Like all VWs of the period
they required almost continuous maintance, so I got to see a fair number
in the shop while waiting for mine to be worked on.

At this point, things change becuase there were no other minivans on the
market. Hence,I went to full sized vans.

Traded VW for a full size 1969 Dodge van. Good vehicle except for poor
carb.

When Dodge was T-boned, got a full sized 1963 Chevey van. Good car. Drove
it till it fell apart many thousands of miles and years later.

I guess my point is that full size vans were popular in the US market
until the smaller minivan pretty well replaced its big brother.


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A full-sized '63 chevy van???
You mean a Kurbmaster??? The "Chevy Van" came out in 1965/66

 

Sorry - it was 1964 model year for the first G10 - available with the
Chevy 2 4 banger or the 194 6, with the 230 becoming available
mid-year? Prior to the G10 (1963 year and earlier) there was only the
CorVan (Glenbrier) and the Kurbmaster/StepVan

 

--

Your question is still good. I mistyped. The year was 1973 and it had a
small block 350 cu V8.

Sorry and thank you for your question.


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