It's no coincidence that birth rates took a dive as conversion vans fell out of style.
this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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They were the one thing holding society together.
They are back in style with all the #vanlife youtubers.
We had a conversion van when I was a kid and from our perspective having the TV and VCR in the car was the best feature for long road trips (I think for my parents the comfortable seats with built-in massage function was the best feature). I feel like the conversion van started disappearing about the time that LCD screens and DVD players became a common option in minivans. Out of curiosity I looked a few years ago to see if the company that outfitted our van still existed, and they did but now appear to mostly be upfitting pickup trucks.
Conversion vans were phased out because they were dangerous--high probability of rolling in a crash due to being top-heavy. My family had one for a while when I was a kid and I loved it, too. We would have a blast rolling around on the bed in the back.
When I was a kid we had one with the captains chair in the middle row and a table and it was fucking awesome for road trips. We could play cards or something else that didn't get messed up from road bumps on the interstate. Worked well for eating lunch on the road if it was raining outside too.
I'm sure the reason they went away is failing crash test ratings, but those spinning seats were so damn fun.
My family had one when I was a kid too, and we all loved it. My initial thought here is: is there a way to bring these back safer? Some sort of mechanism or even computer control that requires the seats to be locked in a safe orientation before the van can move, and prevents them from swiveling unless it is parked? Backwards-facing seats might even be safer than front-facing ones for all I know.
But I'm also remind of how big it was. The US already has a problem with too many huge private vehicles on the road. As much as I liked this as a kid, I think today we would see too many single adults driving these things to and from work most of the time. We need to take more cars off the road to make room for these: public transportation, walk ability, cycling infrastructure, smaller cars, etc.
I have a 2003 VW Eurovan Camper with swivel seats and it has exactly that feature. The engine won't start unless the swivel seats are locked in the forward-facing position.
Also available in certain 08+ dodge/Chrysler minivans.
I'm not sure, but I think vans don't need to pass significant rear passenger safety since they're built on a truck platform.
Though it would be trivial to add a lockout and indicators for those seats, no tech required, just a simple switch at the seat.
Train rides be like...
It looks cool, but, like, where do peoples' legs go?
Crack a beer, toke a spliff and see where the day takes you. It's like you don't even know how to 80's...
Thatβs how to 70s. Thereβd be a mirror on that table if we were 80sing.
and there'd be a mirror on the table
Ftfy
All over the place in a major collision.
people get creative with their bodies
I think the Volkswagen ID Buzz has this I just wish it wasn't so freaking expensive
Same. I watched a few reviews of it, and it also seems significantly smaller than I expected too.
The North American version is longer than the standard version in Europe.
That's what she said?
We had one in the 80s with a bed in the back. My parents would take us camping in it.
I installed swivel seats in my campervan. It only has two seats but they do spin around backwards so they can be used for seating in the living area when parked.
My van has swivel front seats and a folding dinette. Unfortunately the 2nd row seats are a fixed bench with two seats.
I'm planning on converting the dinette to a "home" office space with a sliding desk.
Same. This is what the the new VW electric bus should have been.
Buy some swivels, baby! I put a swivel seat in my 1970 Monte Carlo. They were an option in the Cutlass. You could swing your legs out and just stand up. Super fun and pointless.