Ok I don’t actually know the history of the minivan, though I will say there is a minivan exhibit at the Smithsonian that is just shocking because I knew people who owned that exact minivan.

I grew up with minivans and have been driving a minivan for the last 5 years. I love them. I know minivans aren’t cool, but I have three kids, seriously any “coolness” I once had ended years ago. Now I just want tons of storage and more cupholders than I can use.

My experience with minivans started with this bad boy.

Sadly, I don’t have a photo of the actual van, but this one is pretty close. Oh the 1980’s VW Vanagon. This sweet ride had a manual transmission and barely enough power to get up the hill to my parents’ house. It did have pretty sweet bench seats that could fold down into a giant bed, and a humongous trunk (because the engine was in the back). I’m 99% sure it did not have AC, and it may or may not have had vents for heat in the back. It was SO loud, we could hear my mom approaching at school pickup. It did not have tons of cupholders like an awesome minivan should, but it held 4 kids and that was the point.

At some point my parents acquired this beauty. I remember the day they bought it, we were stoked! When we first got it I think it had AC, but that ended pretty quickly.  It had two sweet bench seats that could make an awesome bed while traveling (and since it was the early 2000s we considered seatbelt somewhat optional). It could make it up the hill, and wait for it, the windows could (slightly) open. I think some of the seat belts had an issue (but that was a minor irritation). Oh and it had the great habit of just dying, like at school pickup, leaving us stranded. It was awesome. But it became even more awesome once the side was completely dented… yep it was great.

This minivan was actually great. This is a great minivan. It is reliable, it has AC and vents in the back. The windows go down, the doors all close, really I cannot say enough good things about this car. Don’t worry it will get it’s own post. This is the car that AsthmaMan came home from the hospital in, the car that we drove to Utah, the car that helped transport us to Austin, it has been our home away from home. It is the BYU mobile, it has lived at baseball, school pickup, and the grocery store. It has transported Ikea furniture, Home Depot purchases, and lots and lots of kids. This car was the impetus for one of my closest friendships, and the reason I started thinking maybe minivans could be a little bit awesome.

This minivan is basically a spaceship, who knew a car could have so many buttons, more on that later.