Hurricane Ian’s Excessive Winds Reveal 1996 Dodge Caravan Advert On Billboard

When Hurricane Ian landed in Florida late final month, the storm pounded the state with 150-mile-per-hour winds. They had been sturdy sufficient to topple timber, rip roofs off of properties, and take one billboard again practically three a long time. The winds peeled off years of adverts to disclose “The New” 1996 Dodge Caravan with a pleasant reminder to “See Your Gold Star Dodge Vendor”  tagged beneath.

The 1996 Dodge Caravan was an vital mannequin for the corporate. It was the beginning of the mannequin’s third technology, with the primary one debuting in 1984 and altering the auto trade endlessly. It now had opponents, and it wanted to face out. This was the primary yr Dodge added the driver-side sliding door, an out there possibility, and its Straightforward Out Curler Seats. The automaker designed the seats with wheels and a monitor system to make eradicating them and shifting them round outdoors the van far more manageable.

The billboard reveals off the van’s non-compulsory driver-side sliding door, revealing a transparent passage by means of the automobile. Dodge up to date the van’s styling, rounding off the second-generation’s sharp-edged exterior design. The automaker additionally revamped the inside and dashboard. The billboard, positioned in Cape Coral, Florida, sits close to the Cape Coral Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership. A take a look at the realm on Google Maps reveals a regulation workplace advert on the billboard again in Could.

Dodge ended Grand Caravan manufacturing in 2020, pushing these clients towards the Chrysler Voyager, the entry-level model of the Chrysler Pacifica minivan. Whereas it’s been over two years since Grand Caravan manufacturing ceased, Dodge has bought 26 Caravans by means of the third quarter of 2022, one among a number of zombie automobiles from the model. Dodge bought 89 Caravans by means of the identical interval in 2021.

Hurricane Ian has decimated a number of communities alongside Florida’s Gulf Coast. The storm surge has additionally led to hundreds of flooded and destroyed autos. In response to Cox Automotive, the storm broken or destroyed as many as 50,000 automobiles. The dying toll from the storm is over 100 individuals to this point, with one county, Lee, accounting for practically 60 of them.