The ultimate LS1 sleeper . . . .
Just messing dude, I mean nothing personal by that, just struck me as funny.
Maybe ten years ago some French manufacturer wanted to showcase their van so they had a fiberglass (carbon-fiber?) body made up and mounted it on the previous year's Formula One car. It looked about right and was clocked at 190 mph down the straight on a race track.
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
olly
http://www.carshopinc.com/index.php/cPath/28_31
i'm up for another project
olly

.BTW; the irony is that the afforementioned Astro Vans may be the only American company's vehicle that would sell very well in Japan
! There is (was) a whole cult over there for the things, and they "riced" them up appropriately. Those cwazy kids!
to be brutally honest if this is your first engine swap this would be way over your head and you would just end up with a severly hacked mini van that you have to junk and bad memories to stop you from trying something interesting again.
my suggestion find the smallest lightest car with the biggest engine bay possible, so that once you finish it will actually be fun, not feel like a van with 300hp....
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It's true though, my family's cars have all been Toyotas until '98, when my dad bought himself a Benz ML320 the instant they came out... a beat-up old 80s Corolla and same-era Cressida wagon, the Previa, and then a '92 Lexus LS400... so I guess you could say they're on the Toyota train. My dad nearly wet his pants when I told him I wanted an AMERICAN car. 
For what it's worth, I love domestics and imports equally, but I must say that most Japanese non-sports cars are really, really hatable... non-Japanese economy cars at least usually have some character, even if they aren't the best performers, while most Japanese economy cars strike me as soulless driving appliances. Mazda seems to be the exception, but I've only driven recent Mazdas, from a 2000 P5 up, so maybe their older ones were equally soulless... their current models are fun as all hell.
I seem to have gone off on a tangent.
Sort of back on topic, I think the Previa was an economy-buy for my parents... we weren't dirt poor back then, but we hadn't quite "made it" in the US yet, so a cheap minivan made sense. My dad's current tastes are inexplicable... he pretty much likes showy luxury cars with some *****, but hates AMG, hates Porsche sports cars, knows nothing about BMWs, etc etc etc. He isn't what I'd call a driving enthusiast... doesn't like to feel the road. What he wants now is either a Porsche Cayenne or a Viper... go figure.Um. I think sometimes I write essays by mistake. English major and all that... I could talk about this all day, but I think I'll stop hijacking the thread now.

if you HAVE TO have a van.
I personally chose a '67 camaro because I think they're one of the most badass, sexiest cars ever made.
Astro=


well to each his own i guess. that would be pretty funny to see at the track kicking some ***.
