In 1936 it was the car of the future, the 1st minivan, ‘car with a bar’

It looks a little like an aluminum banana on wheels. The 1936 Stout Scarab was one of those “ahead of its time” jobs that wind up in museums instead of people’s garages.

Made by hand by a Detroit company founded by William Bushnell Stout, only nine were sold. It was expensive for its day — $5,000 –that translates to $80,000 in today’s money plus America was still struggling through the Depression in the 1930s.

It was a car that’s been called the first minivan. The rear-engine vehicle (powered by a Ford V8 engine) had what amounted to a couch in the backseat that could convert to a bed–or a bar.

But the car’s creator was a genius who designed airplanes, buses, railcars, mobile homes and flying cars along with the Scarab.

Born in Quincy, Ill. in 1880, Stout died in Phoenix, Ariz. in 1956.

For more on Stout’s many accomplishments, click here.