Don't panic, it's not the same old thread back again. Although very few of
you will have got the chance to see it, last night's Without Walls (they're
doing a series of shows on car design at the moment) was all about MPV's
(minvans) and showed some great footage of split busses, including a fleet
of signwritten barndoor panels, some clips from old european ads and one of
a group of orange robed monks getting out of a sliding door RHD bus. It was
described by the narrator as 'a mobile bedroom for free-loving Crosby,
Stills and Nash fans'. There were also some pretentious designers harping on
about the flowing lines and rows of windows being suggestive of submarine or
airship design. Fiat got credited with the first minivan, BTW, although some
bloke from Chrysler claimed they'd had a brainwave and created the
'Supervan', complete with little S insignia on the sides. It looked
suspiciously like a tarted-up Bedford CF with windows in it but the way he
enthused about it you'd think he'd invented the wheel. They also showed an
old ad for a Dodge Voyager. I couldn't stop laughing. And they still managed
to sell 5 million of those things????? That fake wood on the sides...Blurgh!!

Andy E.

A.C.Erskine@lut.ac.uk