Lee Iacocca was rightly eulogized as the father of the Ford Mustang and the Chrysler K-car. But his lasting legacy and true cultural impact came thanks to the humble minivan.
As America moved out of cities and into the suburbs, parents piled kids and groceries into station wagons, which were cash cows for the Big Three. Station wagons were great. They still are. And there should be moreBut one cannot deny it is easier to step up while getting into a car rather than down, and easier to step down when getting out. Wagons can’t do this. Minivans can. It is another element of their utterly brutalist utility.The Plymouth Voyager debuted in 1984 and it took.
Within a few years of its introduction, the minivan had become so ubiquitous it entered the popular culture. It spawned a demographic cohort – the Soccer Mom – and became shorthand for giving up your cool urban lifestyle for the soul-deadening cul-de-sac. Of course that was wrong – by the turn of the century, American suburbs had become more diverse and integrated than many American cities, which were gentrifying and polarizing.
Despite, or maybe because of, this perception, minivans enjoyed a few moments of reverse-cool, such as in the 1995 film “Get Shorty,” when John Travolta’s character
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