Star Trek: The Motion Picture--Plymouth Voyager
On the rare and unfortunate occasion that one thinks of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, one usually tends to think of the slow, ponderous pace of the film, the drawn out periods showing nothing but blue clouds, the soundtrack periodically intruding with the mechanical whine of a power drill. Of course, all of this was meant to frame the riveting conflict between V'Ger the Nomadic Space Probe and the intrepid disco-tastic spandex-clad crew of the USS Enterprise.
But what was V'Ger? Of course, we had to sit through hour after interminable hour of slow-motion special effects and stilted dialog, revealing at the end of the movie that it was some hokey 20th century space probe called "Voyager 6," followed by a highly uncomfortable make-out scene involving a bald woman and a guy who would eventually play a reverend on TV--precisely the sort of predictable plot development you would expect out of a movie like this. But happily there's one quote that sums the whole thing up:
V'Ger is that which seeks the creator.
In all seriousness, though, what could be more ponderous and produce more blue smoke than Star Trek: The Motion Picture? Well, in the spirit of the original movie, let's take an extended, unnecessary, and highly unwelcome diversion, shall we?
Now that you have a picture in your mind, let's talk about minivans. When it came time to introduce the first American minivan (as opposed to the first French minivan, or the first Japanese minivan, or the first German minivan, or the first American minivan... now wait a damned minute...), Chrysler was rather strapped financially. However, it had an ace in the hole, a new car platform that it could use to make just about anything - and when I say anything, I mean anything. It also had knowledge of everything that Rootes was working on before Chrysler sold the company to Peugeot, including a strange, boxy, roughly van-shaped thing that was undergoing development.
Why is any object we don't understand always called "a thing"?
As luck would have it, Iacocca understood what that thing was quite thoroughly, even if he didn't have a particularly strong appreciation for Chrysler Europe. He understood that the van must evolve. Its utility had reached the limits of this universe and it must evolve. Iacocca wanted it to merge with a station wagon, if such a thing were possible, combining the head room and utility of a van with the economy and driving ease of a station wagon. The goal was to leverage Chrysler's strong presence in the van market (it had nearly 50% of the market at the time) to edge into the station market, where it was heavily underrepresented.
The result was a smashing success.
To understand why the minivan was so revolutionary, it's helpful to compare the Plymouth Voyager minivan to, oddly enough, the previous generation Plymouth Voyager. Like most vans, the B-series Voyager van was a large, rear-wheel drive, truck-based vehicle. This meant high ground clearance, which made entry and exit awkward for smaller children, and a longitudinally mounted engine that wandered into the passenger cabin. It also meant a definite truck-like driving feel at a time when "truck-like" really meant something. On the other hand, it had cargo space that station wagons could only dream of, as well as a walkable passenger compartment, which was quite handy for small, injury prone heads.
The new K-car derived minivans fixed many of these issues. Instead of rear wheel drive, the Voyager and its ilk received front wheel drive. To keep the engine up front and away from the passenger compartment, the 2.2 liter four cylinder was mounted transversely; not only did this reduce engine noise in the passenger compartment, it also freed up considerable room between the driver and the front passenger. Ground clearance was lowered, making it easy to get in and out of and also making the vehicle an easy fit in the car-oriented garages of the time. Impressively, the Voyager was significantly shorter than most full-sized station wagons of the time, yet offered more storage space. Furthermore, since it was possible to walk around inside a Voyager like a van, the storage space was far more accessible than any station wagon.
The public loved it. In less than a year after its introduction, more than 200,000 Voyagers and Caravans were sold; meanwhile Car and Driver included the Voyager in its "10 Best" list in 1985. Sales and profits from the Voyager and the Caravan would allow Chrysler to pay back its government loan years ahead of schedule.
None of this meant the first Voyagers were without fault. For better or worse, the Voyager was, in fact, based on the K-car, which meant that it also received the K-car engine. It would take three years before Chrysler offered a Mitsubishi-sourced V-6; until then, minivan buyers could choose between the same sub-100-horsepower, 2.2-liter four cylinder used in every other K-car or a slightly larger and (don't ask me how) far less reliable Mitsubishi four cylinder. The transmission options of the time certainly didn't help--most customers foolishly opted for the three-speed Torqueflite over the five speed manual, which made a bad performance situation so much worse.
In short, the Voyager was slow, ponderous, and prone to expelling blue clouds of oil at inopportune times. Even so, it was far more powerful than a Vanagon, far more practical than a van, and, at least for a little while, that was all that mattered.
As with any other Chrysler-related article, many thanks go to Allpar for much of the source material. The V'Ger badge up top is an altered version of jessica@flickr's Voyager; the Voyager lurking behind the bushes, meanwhile, came from Flickr's jenskramer78. The Star Trek: The Motion Picture clip came from mouseclick2's YouTube channel.
--David Colborne
Steaming Pile on July 09, 2009 at 01:01 PM
Well, any vehicle meant to be driven by soccer moms must have an automatic transmission, and that's pretty much the end of the discussion as far as my better half is concerned.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on July 09, 2009 at 01:47 PM
I remember when "Star Trek: Voyager" premiered, Entertainment Weekly (or someone like them) quipped that once we finally got a woman captain, they named the ship after a minivan!
The Voyager/Caravan were not enthusiast vehicles by any means. They were, however, very practical, and as good as they needed to be--and the last truly innovative thing Chrysler ever did. Even today, the minivans seem to be the only competent thing left in the Chrysler--oops, I mean Fiat--product portfolio.
John B on July 09, 2009 at 02:26 PM
Chrysler Voyage...standard captains chairs.
Starship Voyager....standard captains chair.
Both were/are piloted by women into deep hostile territory.
The starship went to hostile parts of the galaxy.
The minivan goes to Wal Mart parking lots.
While at their destinations...both encounter weird inhabitants.
Coincidence....?
I think not.
That Car Guy on July 09, 2009 at 04:16 PM
Ah, if minivans had only stayed mini. If small pickups had stayed small. Just think what a better world it would be today.
Btw, ST-TMP's Captain Willard Decker (Stephen Collins)'s "Star Trek" father (Commodore Matt Decker, played by William Windom) flew a starship, the U.S.S. Constellation, into that planet-eating thing in one of the original series' better episodes. The relationship between the two characters remains buried for some reason.
Billy on July 10, 2009 at 03:51 PM
Everyone raved about the Chrysler mini-vans and having some small kids back in the 90's I bought a '94 Voyager in '95 used and it had over 30,000 miles on it so whoever had it before me put some serious time in it. I think '94 was the last year for the old body style and in '95 they went to the newer egg-style. It only had a Mitsubishi 3.0 liter v-6 in it and it was waaaayyyy underpowered for that big heavy frame/body. The front-wheel drive didn't help it either. We kept it until 2003 and it had only about 70,000 miles on it but was already belching oil smoke and the paint just peeled off the roof in huge chunks. I took good care of it while I owned it, regular oil changes and no heavy hauling/towing, etc. It was a piece of crap and I was happy to donate it to the Purple Heart donation program and I have since sworn off Chrysler products forever. Interesting tie-in with ST.
Steaming Pile on July 13, 2009 at 07:36 AM
@TCG - I like the Mazda 5. It's about the smallest minivan I have ever seen. I think it's based on the Mazda 3.
Slick on July 14, 2009 at 06:37 AM
its weird given that i'm an australian and have access to fun things like commodores (infact i own one) and falcons. but i have a "thing" for early chrysler minivans, my friend's mum used to have a new-ish chrysler voyager (while the husband had an s15 200sx then a 350z, but i digress) and that ruled fairly hard. i also learnt to drive in a minivan (of sorts, a converted vw transporter from 1996 with the 2.5 5 banger petrol that made an awesome noise when the exhaust fell off). i guess what i'm trying to say is that an early turbo minivan with slightly faded wood paneling and a five speed would make me spectacularly happy (it may or may not be one of the reasons why i am considering a career in america, ok it is one of the major ones).
Slick on July 14, 2009 at 06:42 AM
oh and to cookie the dog's owner: they are very much enthusiast vehicles if you think out of the box. what with the cheapish speed if you go turbo(reliable, fairly fuel efficient 10s for 10k? sign me up).
infact i would say that to a teenager, its pretty much perfect. (no im not THAT crazy)
-fuel efficient (compared to a foxbody/thirdgen)
-quick (once you up that boost to hilarious levels)
-anonymous (i get hassled all the time in my commodore which rolls big alloys and a loud stereo, but cops never pulled me over in the minivan even when i blew past a cop at 110 in a 80 zone)
- perhaps the best reason, they can fit a bed in the back (you know to sleep off the booze after party time, or for other reasons)
- and finally mum would be ok with it, i mean, its just a minivan at least its not a mustang!
Tommy's Dad on July 15, 2009 at 09:12 AM
Steaming Pile is right, the Mazda 5 is based on the Mazda 3- same engine, a lot of the same mechanical bits. Doesn't one of the contributors here own a Mazda 5? They really are terrific little minivans, with an emphasis on the little part of that. I worked very briefly as a Mazda/Subaru car salesman, and at the time our training was that the 5 wasn't really a minivan (they had the MPV for that niche), but rather it was what in Europe was called a "space wagon," the idea being that it was like a european wagon (hatchback) just with a lot more space for stuff. Seemed like a reasonable enough, if contrived, term for 'em. And, the name dovetails handily back to the original post. Space wagons in Spaaaaaace!
Cookie the Dog's Owner on July 16, 2009 at 08:55 AM
My first Car Lust contribution was a posting on my wife's Mazda 5: http://www.carlustblog.com/2008/03/our-cars--mazda.html
I saw something a while back to the effect that car & Driver was swapping a MazdaSpeed 3 drivetrain and suspension into a Mazda 5 to make the world's baddest minivan: the MazdaSpeed 5!
Tommy's Dad on July 21, 2009 at 08:38 AM
Indeed, they did! Found the article on their website:
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/09q2/return_of_the_boss_wagon_mazdaspeed_5-project_car
Sounds like the physical work of moving the drivetrain stuff into the 5 wasn't too hard, it was just everything else that was challenging and a half. Brilliant idea though!
Sillypickle on July 29, 2009 at 01:09 PM
My family owned a 1993 Dodge Caravan, sister to the Voyager, and it was a piece of crap. It went through 5 (!) transmissions in less than 100,000 miles, because the frame was not stiff enough so it torqued the transmission, which was not designed to be a stressed member. The repeated transmission failures also never failed to happen during a long family vacation, leading to my dad's complete hatred of Chrysler products. We would have done much better with one from the previous generation, as I understand they had far fewer issues.