1985 GMC Safari Manufacturer Promo
It’s interesting how minivan makers didn’t copy each other. They used to be quite different. Engine out back with rear drive, front engine front drive, engine amidships with rear drive. Then came GM with the garage able vans, the GMC Safari and Chevy Astro, and these twins had conventional engineering: meaning front engine rear-drive.
The Safari used a front subframe bolted to a unitized main body box. The subframe carried the engine and front suspension, and the subframe “handlebars” bolted through big rubber donuts to the passenger compartment. The idea was to keep engine noise, vibration and suspension harshness from reaching the cabin. Another GM minivan innovation was the single-leaf rear spring. Mono-leaf springs were light, space saving, inexpensive and had no internal friction. The question was, could you cram as much space into a front engined, rear drive van as into one whose engine and driving wheels were at the same end? Find out.
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