The History of This Mom’s Minivans
I just bought my third Chrysler minivan. Yes, number THREE. No, I didn’t own them all at once. Just one at a time. But, I’m a three-peat customer — Practically a poster-mom for Chrysler minivans at the very least.
As a teenager, my very first car was a VW bug, but it was always my destiny to drive a minivan.
My destiny really began in approximately 1975 with our family’s full size Chevy conversion van – “The Merry Miler“. It had a huge bubble top for camping, almost like a tiny RV. It was loaded with memories of my family driving around the country on vacations, and using it for various farm activities. It was our main family vehicle for many many years. These were the days when “mini”vans were still a far off dream.
At some point between my childhood and my maturity, Chrysler invented the minivan. And, when I had kids of my own, and I began driving them and their friends around, I realized the practicality of a minivan. It would fit in the garage (unlike the full sized van in which I’d learned to drive), and it would carry lots of kids, and lots of groceries…
My first minivan: 1989 Dodge Caravan. I got this beauty quite used in 1996 when it was already several years old. It had one sliding door on the passenger’s side only, to let kids in and out on the curb side. No rear air. After a few years, it barely had any air conditioning at all. Still, I was so proud. I drove it for almost 5 years, until it was 12 years old.
It was boxy, but it was good! It seemed to serve my needs at the time. In fact, we held on to it for over 10 years.
In 2000, I stepped up to this maroon Mommy-Machine. This was style! I remember thinking how wonderful this was because it had a sliding door on both sides of the car! And rear air conditioning! And leather seats!
So now it’s 2007 and once again, I have another Chrysler minivan. This time I traded in the old van on a used 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan “Special Edition”. It’s loaded with goodies. It even has a sun roof. That just seems so wrong, but I am enjoying it anyway while I taxi my kids around town, listen to my ipod, and toy with the navigational system.
The leather was so easy to keep clean, which is a definite plus when the vehicle’s main function is as a family car. On camping trips, I attached a big snail top luggage carrier on the roof. I drove this van for almost 7 years. It’s hauled lots of Girl Scouts, taken us to out of town sporting events, cross country vacations, and it carried us and our pets safely out of New Orleans when we evacuated from Hurricane Katrina.
Recently, my old Chrysler T&C hit 100,000 miles and was nearly 10 years old. It was time for another update.
2006 Dodge Grand Caravan “Special Edition”
The “Stow and Go” seating is the best thing about it. Those seats pop right down into the floor in seconds. I can now haul our entire Girl Scout troop’s cookies in one trip!
And the huge roominess in the trunk area is also minivan owner’s dream come true. Now my groceries no longer roll all over the floor of the van — a much needed improvement from my last two minivans. Now if only Chrysler would invent something that would carry the groceries into the house and put them away.
This latest minivan has a name. We call her “Silvia” (because she’s silver). It’s also aptly called “The Mother Ship”, because of it’s mom-car usefulness, and because the sliding doors and the rear hatch will all open and close automatically, not unlike an alien spacecraft.
So now that I am practically a Poster Mom for Chrysler, it seems fitting that the powers-that-be at Chrysler should send me a cool coffee mug, a t-shirt or a hat or something! So how about it, Chrysler? Please send the creator of MomsMinivan.com a cool pair of sunglasses from your gift shop so this minivan mom can look cool while she drives your cars!
With my updated vehicle, I also considered updating my website logo to reflect my more modern minivan, but nostalgia just won’t let me let go of my old boxy retro image. Some things never change.
Anyway, I expect to be driving my Special Edition Caravan for many years. Meanwhile, I can’t help wonder what my next vehicle will be. I’m on a roll now that I’ve owned three Chrysler minivans. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…
—Laurel (Road Trip Mom)
I’ll update this article if Chrysler responds! (posted 6/30/2007)
