"Any ride with a sliding door - I'm all over it. But if that sliding door is powered, look out! You're about to witness some powerful man-on-van lovin!"
     - KS, one the occasion of the US introduction of the first power cargo door with the 1994 Oldsmobile Silhouette. The Cadillac of mini-vans.

We all know that Konrad's got a connoisseur's eye for great design and workmanship, but many people are still unaware of the roots of his obsession with blending wood and metal in classic forms. Well, you don't have to look any further than the page banner to recognize the truth!

It started in a small canadian province in the early 1980s. "It really hit me the day after my seventh birthday" he recalls "while I was reading an early New X-men comic and daydreaming about what I'd do if I was the Phoenix. And I don't know where it came from, but suddenly I realized what the world needed: the love child of the studebaker family wagon and the ford econoline van. The plush, luxurious awesomeness of a van, but in a sleeker, trimmer, more svelte package. I decided that this was my future: The skinnyvan!"

"I still remember the heartbreak I felt when I saw the first Ford Windstar. Like someone had stolen my very reason for being... There are times I still get a little feeling of melancholy that I ended up making these silly handplanes instead of awesome traveling pimpin rides - but that's life, you know? I was just born a decade too late. Anyway - I figure the bigger crime would be not basking in the sweetness of all those soccermom transports while they're here!"

Bit by bit, we're recovering archival photos of Konrad and his undying love for the minivan over the years. If you've got a killer story of awesomeness about Konrad and his minivan fetish, we want to hear about it! If you have a photo - even better!

Contact us at klmv@daedtoolworks.com and let's get the story out there!

The lost years:

Late 90s - documenting the cross-country trips of hip-hop /line dancing polka trio "Konrad and the Van Pattens."