Wohnwagen: A Seedy Yet Intriguing Interactive Photo of Various Cars

We found this on a Dutch blog with very little explanation, but an underlit trailer park with a caravan, an Impala and a Gallardo is already exciting enough. Potentially NSFW. More »

Maximum Minivan Day: All Hail The 25th Anniversary Of The Minivan!

It's not often an automaker has the opportunity to create an entirely new segment. Chrysler did it 25 years ago when they launched the Dodge Caravan. The engineers at Chrysler created a FWD-platformed vehicle offering wagon-like space, van-like utility and car-like fuel economy in a package fitting in the standard garage. Though the original designs go back as far as the 1970s, the leadership of design chief Hal Sperlich and the courage of CEO Lee Iacocca provided the energy to bring the final product to market. Though there are earlier models with similar characteristics, the minivan is, like Jazz, a uniquely American creation eventually co-opted by Europeans (and the Japanese, but our analogy fails us here). In order to celebrate 25th anniversary of the minivan, today shall be known as Maximum Minivan Day. Sound the alarm, take the kids out of school and hold on to your swiveling captain's chairs! Let the maximuming begin... [For more history of the minivan check out the Allpar history]

New Chrysler Minivans Selling So Well They're Closing The Factory

Come Halloween, Chrysler will idle its St. Louis South minivan plant indefinitely. And, just so the 1,500 employees at St. Louis South are clear about the meaning of "idle indefinitely," co-president Tom LaSorda said, "We see no intent to rerun this plant. We're idling it and it will likely be fully closed." More »

Turbo Trailer Pops Up Wheelies

Camping is a great way to break free of the urban jungle and enjoy the great outdoors. But what to do if you can't afford a nice motorhome, and you really don't want to put a trailer hitch on your little Renault? Just drop that engine into an old camping trailer! Ok, so you could just go tent camping, but then you wouldn't be able to enjoy all the wheelstandin' hoonage of your 105hp 1.4L turbo camper. Just imagine the looks on the faces of your fellow motorists as you cruise down the turnpike! More »

Get Ready To Eat Aluminum: Banger Caravan Racing

It was fun providing some workplace-disrupting roaring engine sounds yesterday, so we're going to do it again today. This time, however, we're going to cross the Atlantic and add some crunching metal and general apocalyptic atmosphere to the mix. That's right, it's Nighttime Banger Caravan Racing! We approve strongly of Banger Racing, and it can only get better on a track littered with bashed-in low-end trailers.

Detroit Auto Show: Dodge Caravan R/T Concept Gets You to Target Faster

Dodge brought their the Caravan R/T to the floor of the Detroit Auto show. This sporty soccer sled debuted at SEMA last year, but you'll have to forgive us from passing on it the first time. The powertrain details are vague (though there's definitely a sport-tuned dual exhaust and revised power control module), but the vehicle clearly got the sport treatment with new front/rear fascias, rocker panels, lowered suspension and what's clearly an entirely functional spoiler. On the inside, you'll find perforated suede seating inserts with R/T-red accented stitching. A quicker answer to the neverending query: "Are we there yet?" More »

Commenter of the Day: I Hate Myself Edition

Upon first meeting me, lots of folks get the wrong idea. Yeah, I'm a big hairy dude, I write about cars, have close to 1,000 beers in my cellar and spend most of my free time losing money playing poker. Also, I've yet to take off my Green Bay hat this season as I am convinced doing so might jinx the Packers. However, I have a softer side. In school I studied religion and philosophy. Even though I got tossed from grad school, they at first let me in for poetry. Most of my closest friends are women as I find men to be by and large pretty dull. In fact, I have no qualms identifying myself as a feminist, something I regularly do. All of that makes today's COTD so much more difficult... More »

Dad's Turbo Dodge Caravan

From the 800-dollar turbocharged minivan department comes this 1989 Dodge Caravan SE with genuine simulated woodgrain trim. Along with doing toasty burnouts, the minivan has run the quarter mile in 12.65 seconds at Route 66 Dragway thanks to a set of slicks and 24 pounds of boost pushing through the stock 140K plus miles mill. The initial 800-dollar purchase price has been long-forgotten after all the modifications required to get the Iacocca Special into the 12-second zone. This guy figures if a 14-second minivan can beat most cars on the road, then a 12-second minivan can beat them all! [Dad's Turbo Minivan Bonanza]

Chrysler Group to cut prices on the newly redesigned 2008 minivans by as much as $3,585 to fend off an assault from foreign automakers with their own egg-mobiles. [Bloomberg]

Question of the Day: What is Your Automotive Nemesis?

We all have one. Whether it's that Boss 428 with the Detroit Lokkas that you just can't beat in a straight line, a Park Avenue 'Scraper that insults your automotive aesthetic or the stupid motorcycle cop with the radar gun that hides behind the telephone pole on Riverside Drive (yeah, him), somebody is always out to ruin your drive. Allow me to go first. It doesn't matter where I am, what road or the time of day. Somehow, someway, a first-generation Dodge Caravan going double digits under the limit will invariably wind up in front me. I just don't get it. Every other bail-out K-Car built has long since rusted away or blown something vital. Yet thousands of Caravans (slowly) soldier on. And 9 times out of 10 they're blue. I don't get that part, either. I nearly died in a Boxster trying to pass one on the two-lane, blind-corner insanity that is Decker Canyon. I hate them. Seriously, mid-80s Dodge Caravans are my sworn automotive enemy. Plymouth Voyagers, too. You? – Jonny Lieberman More »

Manhattan Mopar Mishegas! Tudor City Jews For Jesus And Diplomats Heart The Minivans

While walking in Tudor City this weekend, that higher than First Avenue midtown east enclave of diplomatic immunity from parking tickets, I found two examples of people rolling in vehicles which one would not expect. Top among them is the Jews for Jesus "Manhattan Division," who apparently roll in a vehicle as confusing as their name suggests, i.e. a Plymouth Voyager minivan. This is of course rivaled only by what I've now found to be the diplomat's car of choice in these UN-is-irrelevant times. And no, it's not a Lincoln town car, or even a Cadillac sedan of some sort. Actually, it's another piece of Mopar not-so-much muscle... More »

Detroit Auto Show Preview: Dodge Caravan, Our Wayward Son

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The Embargo Is Breached, Will It Hold? Chrysler, Dodge Minivan Pics Hit Spanish Forum Site

Chrysler Group's been more tight-lipped about the money-making minivan than even the 600 hp Dodge Viper — and that makes sense, as they'll be selling somewhere around 100 times the number of minivans than cobra-kai cars. So it's no wonder they'll probably be a little upset some Spanish-language mopar enthusiast site's gone and swept their leg on these two shots — one of the ass-end of the new Dodge Caravan and the other of the frontward-facing Chrysler Town & Country. As of yet, no other deets have emerged — but, we're sure someone's gonna do their best to rip the rest of the info from the Jason Vines' warm and protective bosom. The Town & Country's above and the Dodge Caravan's below the jump — we'll have more come Detroit or you know, whenever this mutha's torn wide open. [Hat tip to Jim!] – Ray Wert More »

Avenger To Be Assembled! Dodge Dealer Memo Confirms Production Of New Sedan, Minivan

Production of two new vehicles was confirmed in a memo to dealers of the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid this week, obtained by Katie Merx of the Freep. The first, the Dodge Avenger, which was introduced in Paris this year as a "concept car" or "prototype" (depending on who you asked in Auburn Hills — of course a second later they'd then say "off the record, of course, you do know we're building it?") is reported to begin production in January at the Sterling Heights, MI plant also housing the manufacturing line for it's badge-engineered brother car, the Chrysler Sebring. In addition, the memo also confirms the date of September 1st as the start of the production of those twin towers of sales superpower, the Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country minivans (which, as you remember, we snapped some exclusively bedecked in fascia-obscura spy shots of) — and that the lines would stop on the current model minivan in mid-May. – Ray Wert More »

Ad Watch: Chrysler Group's Looking For You To Make The Folgers Switch

Chrysler's using the same idea as the "if you can find a better car, buy it" ads — except this time they're striking straight into foreign territory with some humor in these web-only BBDO Detroit ads designed to push import-owners into buying new Chrysler Group vehicles. The first commercial, above is for the Chrysler 300 and below the jump we've got ads for the Dodge Caravan and the Jeep Commander. Best line of the entire campaign's got to be "Oh, thank you Chrysler!" and the running "smooth, good flavor" gag running through them all. Glad to see the Chrysler Group marketing team's moving over to the Detroit team with this campaign, else we'd be again looking at a Dr. Z-esque explosive blast of "flavorable" poop. And plus, haven't you heard — now that we've got a cell phone lane, Detroit's the new New York. – Ray Wert More »

Spy Photos: 2008 Chrysler Town And Country

While travelling over to Auburn Hills the other day to spend some time scouting for up and coming co-eds at Oakland University, we spied with our beady li'l eyes something all clad in fascia-obscura. It was none other than the next-gen 2008 Chrysler Town & Country minivan — proof positive that although at FoMoCo the Fairlane killed the Freestar, the boys n' girls over at the German-American hybrid are still hoping there's some bang left for the buck in the segment. The new n' more boxy 2008 Chrysler T n' C (as well as the badge-engineered cousin, the Dodge Caravan) is rumored to include a power stow n' go feature for the rear seats and a dash-mounted shifter for that cockpit-like experience. Soccer moms of the world, unite. More pics after the jump. More »

Spy Photos: 2008 Chrysler Caravan

There's not much new to see in this prototype of the next generation of Chrysler minivans, but these latest shots are slightly clearer than those taken in past months. The vans are being poked and prodded by engineers in the desert heat, these days, in advance of their arrival for the 2008 model year. What we know so far: They'll be boxy and relatively slab-sided; they'll have roll-down windows; they'll get a new front fascia including projector-beam headlamps; they'll be compliant with Europe's pedestrian-protection standards; and we may just see them at the next Detroit show — this January. About that Hemi rumor? Don't you believe it. More »

Hold Onto Your Children — It's The Caravanamino!

Only in Winnipeg would we find such a piece of destructive goodness because only a Canadian would say "Hey, Joe — that Caravan we got outside — it'd be better if it had a flat bed instead of that extra row of seats, eh?" Oh sure, Joe probably agreed...and then the two of them got off the Chesterfield and with blow-torches in hand — made quick work of their economy priced people mover. The result will live on in el-camino history — the Caravanamino! By the way — check out those roll bars — any good thoughts on why? More »

Spy Photos: 2008 Dodge Caravan

We like Jonathan over at How Bourgeois. We like him even more knowing that he used to drive an '86 Dodge Caravan with Bad Religion stickers, and well, that's a vehicle we can get behind in a dork-pride kind of way. And he's further endeared himself to us by snapping shots of a disguised '08 Caravan, which apparently greatly displeased the people carrier's drivers. Score one for the punk rock family man. More »

Spy Photos: More on the 2008 Chrysler Minivans

The Car Connection procured some new spy shots of the next-generation Chrysler minivan, in brain-jamming polka dots and obfuscatory cladding. Still, gone is the egg-like comportment (is that a hood?) for both Chrysler and Dodge versions, in favor of a more chiseled, slab-sided design to match those of the company's later models, like the 300C, Durango and Caliber. According to TCC, VW's new minivan, set to share a platform with these vans, is close to the design-freeze stage. We're still hoping for something like this. More »

Spy Photos: 2008 Chrysler, Dodge Minivans

The Detroit auto show is barely a distant memory (at least for media types) and we've already got a line on one of the banner vehicles for next year's show. As these spy photos indicate, Chrysler's next-generation minivans, to be introduced for the 2008 model year, will be divorced from the oval and reintroduced to the square, with a new comportment that owes more to the current Dodge Magnum wagon than to the Presidential Pod from "Escape from New York." Spies say stow-and-go seating will stay, but the rest of the soccer-mom special will wave goodbye. Engines may include a V8 (Hemi minivan!) and a VW-sourced diesel. (Dig that crazy Photochop.) More »