Why the endless questions and arguments about the origins of the Chrysler minivans? It’s the old story: “success has a thousand fathers”. You don’t see designers and execs fighting about the paternity of the Aztek. We stepped on some toes regarding the origins of the Espace, and heard from its father. And we took a wild (and disputed) stab at finding the maternal lineage of European minivans, but the American minivan paternity wars go on. Its origins clearly go back to the early seventies, when both Chrysler and Ford developers claim to have been working on “garageable vans”. Meanwhile, the commonly held story is that Hal Sperlich and Lee Iaccocca’s Minimax concept was spurned by Henry Ford II, and they took it with them to bring to fruition at Chrysler. And as usual, its not quite as simple as that. (Read More…)
Tagged as Chrysler, dick nesbitt, dodge caravan, father of the minivan, Ford, ford carousel, hal sperlich, lee iacocca, minimax, Minivan, origins of the minivan
Recent Comments
Tomifobia - You sound like a disgruntled third party.
car_guy2010 - Yes. YESSSSS!!! More features like this and less of Bertel’s dyke-bashing please!
28-Cars-Later - That’s nice to hear… the Panther is obviously a superior choice :)
28-Cars-Later - I had an ex who in 2006 was obsessed with the idea of seven row seating in an SUV (she had three kids). She had a ’99 Caravan held together by...
maciejewskiadam - Jonny- great review. I have one thing to say, though: ‘Aluminum Look’.
MRF 95 T-Bird - Corvair’s with automatic transmissions(Power-glide) had the lever on the dash which lacked the Park function. Just...
Scoutdude - Those Chinese bumpers will likely loose their chrome or start rusting like crazy in only a couple of years and even brand new it...
Landcrusher - No, I in no way even implied that. You could demilitarize DARPA, whatever. Besides...
86SN2001 - Warning, threat…….whichever works I guess.
jmmz - I still have my blue 1983 Honda DX automatic Hatchback and it is going strong. Super fun to drive.