McT HATES Grenadas

[RockJustRock]

Actually I remember an ad full profile, no Euro-brick background (hate those) and even more in your face copy. Can't find it. Meanwhile back to the atrocity already in progress.....

[RockJustRock]

And to clarify further I LIKE the Charger 2.2. The 2.2 motor had hopes up all over until the Mitsubishi substitutes started walking all over it.

Which leads us to.....

[RockJustRock]

MINI VANS!

Few remember that Hot Rodders INVENTED the mini van. There were Vans. There were Mini Trucks. Hot Rodders lobbied Detroit HARD for Mini Vans. Got really pissed when the window versions were added to the concept. Can't sit three wide in any comfort, WHY oh why a window version? Again we wanted Brubaker Box.... Except without the Dune Buggy part. Dune Buggy+Mini Truck+Van=Clusterf*ck. HUGE pre-orders for Brubakers got Dodge off the dime first. Then somebody said "Why not wood paneling and windows?". The Caravan GOT wood, hot rodders lost their wood.

[Gateclyve Photographic]

William Stout invented the minivan in 1935. He called it the Scarab. It was a commercial failure.

Next up was the horrendous VW Type 2, circa 1950 (although I wouldn't be surprised if there some Euro pushback on this point).

The Ford Taunus Transit (1953–1965) was not sold in the US, but certainly was in the same vein. There were certainly Bedfords and Renaults and probably others over on the Continent back then as well.

Detroit finally answered in the 1960s with the Corvair Greenbriar and the original Falcon Econoline.

When the Detroit offerings inevitably became more truck-based and too large for residential garages, Hal Sperlich -- a Ford product planner who worked on the original Mustang -- pitched an idea for a compact FWD “people mover” he called the “Mini-Max” Henry Ford II himself reportedly vetoed it.

In 1977, Sperlich left Ford for bankruptcy-bound Chrysler and immediately began pitching his "Mini-Max" concept. Lee Iacocca joined Sperlich at Chrysler in 1978 after Henry Ford II canned Iacocca (a precedent-setting criminal indictment of the corporation and millions paid out for immolating customers with "exploding Pintos" probably wasn't a small factor in the sacking of old Lido . . . .)

With Iacocca soon running Chrysler on Federally-guaranteed loan money, gambling the company on the Sperlich "garagable van" "Mini-Max" concept was assured. And more than any other product, the minivan idea that Ford rejected more than a decade earlier saved Chrysler.

[RockJustRock]

I stand by my OPINION. Greenbriar, Econoline, close to full size pickup and van in size. Ditto VW. Ford U.K., not imported. Thames panel, close but still truckish. American concept Van on mini truck size frame.

Anyway I made this thread for me and McT and I like the Mini Van, he don't.

[Gateclyve Photographic]

Opinions are great.

BTW, it's interesting to compare the Falcon Econoline dimensions with the '84 Voyager.

Falcon Econoline standard-length van:



Wheelbase: 90"
Height (unloaded): 77"
Width: 75.8"
Length: 167.4"
Curb weight: 2755 lbs.

1984 Plymouth Voyager standard-length van:



Wheelbase: 112" (2,845 mm)
Height 64.4" (1,636 mm)
Width 72.2" (1,834 mm)
Length 175.9" (4,468 mm)
Curb weight: 2990 lbs.

Certainly, the main differences are height and wheelbase. FWD makes the Voyager lower. Forward control makes the Falcon Econoline's wheelbase shorter.. The Falcon Econoline is slightly wider, shorter in length and lighter than the Voyager.

[RockJustRock]

Higher and wider trumps all else. My thread, I win. Go home.

[Gateclyve Photographic]

[RockJustRock]

Bump.

The Street Machine Nationals were as much fun for the cars that would NEVER make the magazine as the ones that did.....



USA-1 plate on the rear, bet THAT amused the police OR is this thing too RACE for the highway? But hey, at least it looks like it's a 12 bolt.

[silver_bullet]

[silver_bullet]

the one i dreamt about.....

[RockJustRock]

Like THIS:

[RockJustRock]

TURN IT UP! Who needs a deuce coupe?

[silver_bullet]

Like THIS:

Yup!!!

[BangShift McT]

Excuse me, I need a moment...