I was walking around a local auto show in August 2012, and I came across a near-perfect early Chrysler minivan.
The Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) has what I think is a wonderful rule—if a vehicle is 25 years old, it can be shown and judged. Period. No cut-offs because of importance or beauty or rarity or anything else.
I would argue that the first-generation Chrysler minivans were actually very important—the first of 15 million sold over the last forty years, but that’s not the point here.
What’s interesting is that almost all of these minivans led unglamorous family or corporate lives and got “used up,” and this one looks virtually untouched. It’s a labor of love bringing one of these cars up to show quality: there’s no aftermarket providing restoration parts like there is for Mustangs, Corvettes, or Porsches of the same age. Methinks there’s a lot of chasing around junkyards and perhaps a donor vehicle or two.
Eighties Cars 