(care engine roaring)
(metal scraping)
- Do you have a passion for the ultimate family mobile?
Something that can handle a trip to Home Depot
for plywood, Costco for groceries in bulk,
a road trip across America with grandma
to see Mount Rushmore,
and trips to hockey practice with the entire team?
Well, mama and papa do I have a car for you.
A car that's not a car.
It's a van.
This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on the Chevrolet Astro Van.
(lighting striking)
(upbeat electric music).
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Now, back to the show.
Before we start talking about vans,
we should first mention the Station Wagon.
The once upon a time stereotypical American family vehicle.
The Station Wagon dangerously carried
Many-a-restless kid across the American roads
seat belts optional.
But, in the late 1970s the sale of big
gas guzzling Station Wagons was on the decline.
The do it all wagons future was looking grim,
partly due to the gas prices,
but more partly due because of the new category of cars.
So, in 1984 the Chrysler van program birthed,
the Plymouth Voyager mini-van.
The first of it's kind, the Voyager was
hugely popular for it's ability to tote all the kids around,
get better gas mileage then a Station Wagon,
and, yes, be able to fit in a garage safely away
from those mean suburban streets,
It was a great all around package for the modern family,
and GM quickly realized that hey needed their own version
of the the mini-van.
- Should we make our own miniature van?
- Uh Yeah!
We already have one in the works.
Don't you know about it?
- Uh, 'course I do.
What's it called?
- The Astro - Astro!
Yep, I said it first.
I knew it, totally knew it.
There's a reason I'm the boss.
Keeping with the space theme that Plymouth
started with the Voyager,
in 1985 Chevy released their all new
not so mini mini-van the Chevy Astro,
A van so sick, it cam time-warp,
and drive on the rings of Saturn.
The boxy middle van and it's twin GMC brother
the Safari were only 1.5 inches shorter,
and 2 and a half narrower than Chevy's
smallest full-size van.
And, while it was seven inches shorter,
and claimed to be able to fit in a garage,
Chevy quickly acknowledged their bulked up box on wheels,
and used the middle van status in their advertising.
- [Man] The new Chevy Astro.
Built to do more than a mini-van can.
- Not a mini-van, not a full-size van,
but a middle van.
The real world giant box mobile
had multiple seating configurations,
allowing you to carry you,
and seven of your so-called friends.
Let's be honest,
they just wanted to sit In those
comfy, cozy, fluffy, cloth bench seats.
Or, you could take out all the seats,
and use it as a cargo van.
Unlike it's mini-van competition,
the Astro was built on a truck chassis,
with a bolt-on sub frame.
The front suspension shared many
of the same components directly from
the Caprice Station Wagon,
while the rear had composite leaf springs like the S-10.
Engine options on the first year Astro,
were either the 98 Mini Shetland Pony
Horsepower 2.3 liter four cylinder,
or the optional 165 midi-horsepower 4.3 liter V6.
(engine roaring)
And the placement of said engines?
How bout' right under the front dash cup holders.
You could swap out your battery,
and check the oil in the mini-hood up front.
But, any serious work would have to be done
inside the van.
A big bump in between the two front seats got
covered with a hatch,
and gave way to an access panel,
that once removed exposed the engine on the Astro.
Mechanics loved it.
The coolest part,
is that you could get it with a manual.
That's right, the base transmission
that the Astro came with,
was a four speed manual which is sick.
And, you could get it with an
optional five speed until 1989.
After that they went full auto.
But, I'm grateful that it was manual at all.
(chiming music)
By the end of the eighties, the demand for
mini-vans as family vehicles had largley
superseded full size Station Wagons in the US.
Rest in peace Station Wagon.
It wouldn't be until 1989 that Chevy
would release a more comparable front wheel drive van
to take on the Chrysler mini-van.
The Lumina APV.
But, that didn't stop GM from also selling
the Astro and the Safari.
People loved it for it's ability
to not only haul kids around,
but also haul stuff around.
The Astro could pull five thousand pounds.
No other mini-van was pullin' that kind of weight.
It could also carry 1700 pounds in the cargo area.
That's a lot of fat little boys.
- All right kids, let's go to hockey practice.
- Can we all stop at McDonald's?
- Yeah, I want some nuggets.
- Yeah, I wanna get a Big Mac.
- Yeah, we can get the McDonald's.
- Yay, chunky butts on three.
One, two, three,
- [All] Chunky butts!
- Chunky butts.
- Side note, Chevy marketed Astro van to fat people.
- [Man] Tired of watching your weight?
If you had a GMC Safari, you wouldn't have to.
- With a strong commercial game like that,
how could you not want an Astro if you're a chunky butt?
Towards the final stretch of the first gen Astro,
GM really started to turn up the technology.
In 1990, the Astro came with all wheel drive,
as well as four wheel anti-lock brakes.
Their competitors over at Ford,
with the Aerostar.
Again, another space theme van.
What is the deal?
They didn't have ABS, all right?
And, that's pretty important when you're
carrying your fat little family around.
And you got a space car,
you don't want regular doors,
you want dutch doors.
Two rear doors with flip up windows on top of 'em.
And Dutch people love 'em.
Also because parents were complaining about their
fat little kids making a mess,
Scotch Guard Fabric Protection also
became a standard feature with Astro vans with cloth seats.
The second gen Astro came out in 1995,
and Chevy was deep in the,
let's sell this thing as a tough dude
all family vehicle game.
Load the back up with dirt bikes, sure!
Total horse trailer? Yeah!
The Astro was tough like a rock!
♪ Oh, like a rock. ♪
- But not much really changed from the first gen
to the second gen Astros.
They got updated headlights to match the
rectangular ones on the Silverado.
There was also only one engine option.
The 4.3 liter Vortec V6.
And, there was only one body option.
The shorter version was ditched,
They did improve that engine hatch in the
center of the two front seats to increase front leg room,
and help cut down on interior noise.
You know, since the motor was inside the car?
They improved dash installation too.
You know, 'cause the motor's inside the car.
(engine roaring)
(tires screeching)
The second gen also got passenger airbags
which by the way, speaking of safety,
the Astro was not safe.
It eventually improved from a one gold star
rating in 1991, to three gold star rating,
for the driver only in 2000.
If you were a kid in the eighties or nineties,
and your friends had an Astro,
they were the bell of the ball.
But, if they had a conversion van Astro,
they were the king of the ball.
Companies like Glaval, Mark III, and Star Craft,
took the bone stock Astro,
and turned them into lush rich kids basements
on wheels.
The summer road trip van made visiting
your grandparents not all that bad because
you could watch freakin' movies and play Super Nintendo
all while sitting in the most comfortable
captains chairs on the planet.
Yeah, that's right.
It's a chair for a freakin' captain.
He's the leader of the ship.
If your eyes got too tired from playing
video games or watching Mrs. Doubtfire on VHS,
because of course it has a VHS player,
You could just crawl on over to the back bench seat,
fold it down and take a big old nap.
Safe? No.
Comfortable?
You betcha' chunky little butt it is.
- [All] Chunky butts
- Chunky butts
- My friend Vince's dad had an Astro van,
and we played Earthworm Gym for hours.
And we were in the driveway.
The Astro helped put conversion vans
on the map for the masses.
In 1994 there was roughly 200,000 shipments
of van conversions to dealers.
People all over the world loved their conversion Astros.
Even this guy, AKA Russian James.
(speaking in Russian)
(retro video game sounds)
The Astro space van would eventually
end in 2005 as well as Chevy mini-vans.
The venture to consolidate for a single mini-van,
the Uplander.
But, that didn't last long.
Four years later, Chevy left the mini-van market completely,
and while the majority of Astro's have found
their way into the hands of construction workers,
van life hipsters, or sadly even junk yards,
it still remains as the not so mini mini-van
that warmed our fuzzy little nostalgic chunky butts.
(upbeat electronic music)