Editor’s Note: As we continue our periodic Minivan Memories series, let’s hear from Nick Cappa, a member of the FCA US communications team, who shares a story about taking a Chrysler minivan on Spring Break.
Growing up in San Diego had many benefits, including its proximity to Lake Havasu in Arizona. Every year, my friends and I would trek out there for Spring Break to take part in the chaos.
Once we saved a couple of bucks from our menial jobs, it was blown quickly on jet skis, fuel and camping gear.
In 1991, none of us owned a vehicle capable of towing all our toys to the yearly destination. Luckily, a very generous mother of a friend, unaware of our plans, loaned us her 1988 Chrysler Town & Country.
The minivan, complete with wood decal siding, was our savior for Spring Break.
We overloaded the van with a jet ski, four people, all our gear and attached a trailer to the bumper with a jet boat and two more jet skis.
It was a punishing five-hour haul. Temps crossing the desert at the California-Arizona border were more than 100 degrees, but the chariot got us there and back without issue.
To this day, I see the minivan as much more than a family rig and I laugh when people talk about any stigma related to it.
As young adults, we were cool as could be.
Do you have a Minivan Memory? Whether it’s a cross-country road trip or a moment that mattered on your daily drive, you can submit your own “minivan memory” right here.
