Free Republic

In the days since his death at 94, former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca has been rightly lauded as the father of the Mustang, from his days at Ford, and the brand-saving K-car, from his time at Chrysler. But when I think of Iacocca, one word comes to mind: minivan. Iacocca did not invent the minivan, any more than Ray Kroc invented McDonald’s. Rather, both men had the vision to see the massive potential of their respective products and the will and smarts to bring them to market. Sperlich came to Chrysler with Iacocca after Ford fired him, and his minivan...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has responded to The Post’s report of her getting a ride home from an event Sunday in a gas-guzzling, for-hire minivan — saying it belongs to her aunt. “I will have you know my tía was very upset that the ny post insulted her minivan,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Sunday night. “If they saw how many goldfish snacks were in this thing they’d say I was killing the ocean too.” The freshman congresswoman was caught on camera making her getaway from a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Queens on Sunday inside the white Chrysler Town & Country —...

On Wednesday night, many Washington residents were greeted by a loud and unexpected sight: a big fireball that lit up the sky. Witnesses reported hearing a loud, booming sound; others reported shaking as the fireball whizzed through the sky. Officials were both surprised and confused by the sudden appearance, later reaching out to the FAA and other agencies in an effort to figure out what caused it. ... Witnesses say the fireball was spotted as far north as the Vancouver region and as far south as Portland. According to Johnson Space Center’s Dr. Marc Fries, this was one of the...

Authorities say an Indiana dog breeder whose minivan broke down in central Ohio was transporting 62 dogs, some four or five to a crate. Licking County Humane Society Executive Director Lori Carlson says the animals were stacked "bottom to top" in the van when it was discovered in the parking lot of a hotel in Hebron, east of Columbus, on Saturday afternoon.

The chemicals were stored in vats in the basement of an Egyptian restaurant in downtown Brussels. The suicide bomber, a former soccer player who had fallen into drug use and petty crime, had been selected. The target, the American Embassy in Paris, had been scouted. All that remained was the signal from Osama bin Laden's operatives in Afghanistan to strike. The nod was to come from a Frenchman of Algerian origin who was on his way back from training in Afghanistan. But he was arrested in transit, and he talked, spilling to French interrogators details of what could have been ...

It's boxy, bland, and relentlessly practical, but in an age of diminished wealth and high unemployment, maybe that combination doesn't sound so bad. Despite those qualities, or because of them, the minivan is making a comeback. Sales are up, new models are appearing, and the woman who once did the blog "Rage Against the Minivan" has fallen in love with one. "In marketing campaigns featuring heavy-metal theme songs, rapping parents, secret agents in cat masks, pyrotechnics and even Godzilla, minivan makers are trying to recast the much-ridiculed mom-mobile as something that parents can be proud—or at least unashamed—of driving," reports...

Toyota's answer to the bad hype about their vehicles. Great commercial.

The Minivan Celebrates 25 Years Picture the American automotive landscape without the minivan. There was a time that no such vehicle existed here, although it's difficult to imagine. Chrysler invented the front-wheel-drive minivan that debuted in the fall of 1983 as the 1984 Dodge Caravan and the Plymouth Voyager. Here's the story that led to the creation of this entirely new type of vehicle. As much as the minivan continues to be one of the most important vehicles on the road (over 500,000 minivans are sold in the U.S. each year), it's lost a lot of luster to the popular...

Twenty years after the South Carolinian monster known as Lizard Man was last heard of, he has returned, but this time to feast on the front end of a very delicious Dodge Mini-Van. In the silence of the night, Lizard Man managed to chew the hell out of the hood, grill and wheel wells. In addition to the poor van (I wonder if the insurance covers monster attacks?) the Lizard Man also attacked a box where some of the owner's 20 cats slept and now the cats are missing. Lizard Man is a reported seven-foot tall beast with green skin...

DETROIT (AP) - Volkswagen AG said Thursday it will work with DaimlerChrysler AG on a Volkswagen minivan for the North American market that will start production in 2008 and may be built in Canada. VW chairman Wolfgang Bernhard told German-language reporters at the Los Angeles Auto Show that Chrysler will build the minivans either at a plant in Windsor, Ont., or at a plant near St. Louis, Mo. The minivan will be based on the next-generation Dodge and Chrysler minivan platform, but VW will design the interior and exterior. "We're developing a design that will be uniquely Volkswagen's because we...

ASSOCIATED PRESS EDMOND, Okla. -- An Edmond woman has died after being run over by her minivan, which was loaded with her three young children as they prepared to go to church.Police say Jodi Russell was alert and conscious when she was taken by helicopter to the OU Medical Center Thursday afternoon with broken bones and internal injuries. But police spokeswoman Glynda Chu says Russell died about 11:00 p.m. last night. Chu says Russell was backing down a steep driveway when a bee or wasp flew into the van. Russell told police she put the van in park and got...

Government knows best, consumers are stupid. Are we consumers too stupid to take intelligent action? Are we too ignorant to make wise decisions? Are we so helpless that we need the government to make decisions for us? Can the government make decisions that are more efficient than the free market? Is the government smarter than car manufacturers? Will the loss of even more freedom of choice make us feel more secure? With gas prices approaching $3.00 a gallon, a hue and cry has been raised for the government to do something. In the wake of a new federal “energy policy”...

Fri Jul 22, 8:17 PM ET ALBANY, N.Y. - Albany firefighters were tearing apart a minivan as part of a training exercise when someone noticed the personal items inside. That's when they realized they had trashed the wrong vehicle. This week, Albany officials approved the city's share of the $12,000 bill for the 2002 Dodge Caravan that was mistakenly ripped open during a drill at a junk yard a year ago. Officials say the firefighters routinely practice accident scene rescue techniques by tearing open donated junked cars. In June 2004, they were supposed to practice on an older vehicle located...

Report: Military buying Chrysler minivans, Pacificas to ferry troops in non-combat zones.NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The U.S. military has ordered 24,000 Chrysler minivans and Pacifica crossover SUVs for use as light-duty vehicles in Iraq and other places, according to a report in a Canadian newspaper.DaimlerChrysler, Chrysler's parent company, builds the Pacificas in Windsor, Ontario and makes minivans there, as well as at other locations.The order is for 19,000 minivans and 5,000 Chrysler Pacificas, according to the story. The Pacifica is not designed for off-road use and resembles a large, tall station wagon.The military has complained about the use of fuel-thirsty...

MEMPHIS, TN - A Tennessee jury has awarded punitive damages of more than $48 million to the family of two Tennessee women killed in a 2002 crash near Corning, Arkansas. The woman was driving a Dodge Caravan, and her family sued the DaimlerChrysler Corporation, which made the vehicle. The judgement came in the second phase of a trial in which the family of Vickie Mohr and her mother, Maurine Heathscott, claimed the vehicle was unreasonably dangerous. The 38-year-old Mohr, of Cedar Grove, Tennessee, and 76-year-old Heathscott, of Lexington, Tennessee, were killed in a three-vehicle accident on July 5, 2002. The...

Racing at the track is a truly unforgettable experience! To pull up to the track entrance with a Van Load of kids (6 of us all together!) and ask for a run card to race, talk about stupid looks! Then to pull into tech inspection with all the Mustangs and Camaros and watch all the kids pile out. The tech inspector will normally not give it a close look until he notices the helmet in the seat and the slicks in the back. When I say I run 12 Second 1/4 miles, they do a double take. "You got a...

First off, I'm by no means making light of the situation in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. But, If it turns out that the sniper utilized a minivan I want stringent minivan controls implemented and complete bans on certain assault models. In the assault minivan control bill I want: * All assault minivan gas tanks must be limited to 10 gallons thus limiting the operating area of a sniper. Any amount more is limited to police duty. * Mandatory governor must be installed on all minivan accelerators limited top speed to 35 miles an hour. Higher speeds are considered excessive and...