Dodge This

Roundly aerodynamic with flaring nostrils and racy silver rally stripe, this customized 2003 Dodge Caravan looks like an Easter egg on steroids. Built by American Products Company to showcase the company's products, this Caravan transforms a minivan into a megavan and pops the preconceptions of docility and dormancy that have radically reduced the minivan's coolness factor over the last couple of decades.

The vehicle's factory ostrich-egg stance has been sexed up and slammed thanks to an airbag suspension dampened by Bilstein shocks. Tucked underneath is a set of 19-inch Ro_Ja wheels wrapped in Yokohama racing rubber. Take note of the wide lip on those rear wheels. The minivan was configured by the factory for front-wheel drive, but APC converted it to rear-wheel drive; hence the offset on the rear tires. APC left those wheels on there when they converted the minivan back to front-wheel drive, keeping the meaty, aggressive RWD look. One-off upper and lower grilles aren't the only things ventilating the engine compartment. Check out the louvers on the upper left and right side of the factory hood, near the hood's center, that lend a classic hot-rod look. Of course, that big ram air scoop certainly helps to soup up the Caravan's aesthetic.

But that scoop isn't just for looky-lews. It's the mouth that feeds air into a Vortec supercharger that really wakes up that factory 3.8L V-6. Precision Tuning headers pass gas to the 3-inch Precision Tuning exhaust, which opens flush through a port in the body in front of the left rear wheel. Everything else you see on the exterior is stock, except for the one-off taillights and Viper Red PPG paint split by silver Viper stripes, thanks to a Corona paintmaster named Prox. Musclecar black dominates the interior, particularly on the suede dash and carpet. The black headliner is woven by a carbon fiber pattern.

The high-tech ballistic look wraps the APC Super Race seats with silver carbon fiber and black suede. MIC gauges and billet switches pop from the fabricated center console. As for audio and video -- yeah, this Caravan's got that, thanks to Sony. A 7-inch monitor and a head unit sandwich the HVAC controls on the dash, and another 7-incher is mounted on the rear of the center console facing aft. Two 15-inch subs and two amplifiers reside behind the front seats, while component speakers and a DVD player crackle with entertainment. A Stinger battery under the hood dishes out the electrons for the A/V system.

If you see this Caravan rolling around SoCal sometime, don't knock on its windows at a stoplight in hopes of grabbing an APC product catalog. That's because APC sold the megavan to some lucky soul for an undisclosed sum. APC joked in Austin Powers fashion that the vehicle sold for "one million dollars," which, of course, is way, way off the actual price. But we can imagine the new owner breaking out into a Dr. Evil cackle as he savors his prize.