The Minivan Was Invented in 1935 - And It Cost More Than a House

Imagine walking through a Detroit car show in the late 1980s when a strange, Art Deco vehicle rolls in. It looks like a stretched Volkswagen Beetle, with a huge rear door and a completely flat floor. " They’re looking at the 1935 Stout Scarab, a forgotten pioneer that beat Chrysler’s iconic Caravan by nearly 50 years.

William B. Stout was an aviation engineer who helped Henry Ford build the Ford Trimotor airplane and later founded a company that became United Airlines. In the early 1930s, he decided cars were obsolete and set out to build something better. " The result was the Scarab, a rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicle with a flat floor, sliding seats, and a fold-out table.

Backers included Dow Chemical, Wrigley, and Firestone. The car rode on coil springs and independent front suspension inspired by airplane landing gear, giving a smooth ride.

Stout asked $5,000 for the Scarab, over $116,000 today, during the Great Depression. A Chrysler Imperial Airflow cost just $1,345. Stout built only one prototype and nine production cars, selling most to his investors. Philip Wrigley kept his Scarab until 1964. Stout himself logged 250,000 miles in his.

When Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca green-lit the Dodge Caravan in 1984, he used the same flat-floor, front-wheel-drive formula that made the Scarab revolutionary. The difference? Timing and price. Stout was ahead of his market; Iacocca knew the moment was right.