Oaklandautodetail/Instagram The minivan was a revolutionary concept in the 1980s when Dodge and Plymouth first introduced the Caravan and Voyager, respectively. There were some earlier minivan-esque vehicles produced before the Chrysler minivans like the Stout Scarab and Volkswagen Transporter, but the Chrysler products were the first front-engine, front-drive minivans to become true sales successes. Competitors didn't know how to dethrone them, so they went for radical designs like the egg-shaped Toyota Previa and General Motors' Dustbuster vans. And while they looked a lot more exciting than Chrysler's offerings, those looks came with compromises — compromises like front doors that were known to smack people in the face. But don't worry, The General had a simple way to fix that potentially dangerous annoyance: a warning sticker. Doesn't that make you feel safer? Knowing there's a sticker to remind you that your car's door is liable to give you the ol' Will Smith "keep my wife's name out of your mouth" treatment? Classic GM. At least the GM Dustbuster vans looked cool GM's first real attempt at a unibody minivan was a radical one that came in three flavors: The Every Man's Chevrolet Lumina APV, the sporty(?) Pontiac Trans Sport, and the leather-lined Oldsmobile Silhouette, all of which shared the same dramatic wedge-shaped styling. These vans had some remarkable glass, from their gigantic sloped windshield to their triangular front-quarter windows, to their Lancia Stratos-esque swooping front door window design. For some reason, though, GM decided to bring the front door design up into the roofline, so the upper portion of the front doors happens to sit at face-level for many folks. That, paired with the swept-back design of the front doors, especially in relation to the location of the door handle, resulted in one slap-happy door. Good thing there's GM part no. 10186057, which is a yellow warning sticker that reveals itself once the door that just assaulted you is open, reminding you that the door might assault you. Honestly, can you imagine being a flustered parent, fresh off an exhausting K-Mart run, where your shrieking spawn refused to behave, securing their wiggly keisters in their '90s teal-and-pink car seats as it begins to pour down rain, so you rush to quickly open your door and hop in, only to get a faceful of Dustbuster door? That would push me over the edge.
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