I always thought the 'mini-van' was more of a 'maxi-car'... in that most of
them had little in the way of towing or cargo capacity and were basically a
car with a little extra room and the trunk inside.
The Vanagon doesn't have much in the way of native towing ability either but
that's correctable, to an extent.
I have two full-size Chevy vans and they're more like enclosed pickups. I
can tow and haul a load, but they're not much on comfort, and in fact the
Vanagon has more usable space in many ways than the big vans do.
So I kind of look at it as car, 'maxi-car' (Aerostars and such) , mini-van
(Vanagon or Astro), van/truck.

On another note, my Mom used to be a socker-mom until my brother and I got
too big for her.

Cya,
Robert

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Rodgers" <inua@CHARTER.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, July 30, 2006 2:53 PM
Subject: Re: Dr. Z - (vague volkswagen content)

> When I first saw Chrysler "mini-van" product I predicted it would change
> the vehicle market place. It did. It filled a niche that needed filling,
> and where there was no product to meet the demand. It became hugely
> successful for it's type, primarily because for the time being there was
> no competition. Iacocca did a good thing back then. However, today,
> Iacocco's van has regressed to a socker-mom station wagon type. In my
> view the only mini van out there now that resembles a "Van" and
> maintains that utility in that size vehicle is the Chevy/GMC mini-van -
> the Astro, and the like, and they don;t have the utility of the Vanagon.
> Nothing has really adequately replaced the Vanagon in my book.
>
> Regrards,
>
> John Rodgers
> 88 GL Driver
>
> Loren Busch wrote:
>> RE: Invention of the 'mini van'
>> The concept, first presented to the American market in the Dodge Caravan,
>> was conceived and designed at Ford by Lee Iacocca and his team.  Ford
>> refused to produce it.  When Iacocca went to Chrysler, he built it and
>> the
>> rest is history.  Some have said that it was one of the reasons
>> Iacocca left
>> Ford.
>>
>>