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By Alex Roarty, Sentinel Reporter, May 10, 2008

Last updated: Saturday, May 10, 2008 10:20 PM EDT

Plainfield couple Terry and Lynette Sipe’s 1992 Aerostar was the main attraction at Friday’s Carlisle Performance & Style Show.

Mounting an aging minivan on nearly four-foot high tires is a good way to catch people’s attention, even amid rows of supercharged coupes.

Terry Sipe has transformed the vehicle once used to drive his family to the Jersey Shore into an airplane-fuel-using, pickup-truck-smashing, monster truck facsimile.

Call it a soccer mom’s revenge.

“It’s the only one in the world,” Terry Sipe said as he and his wife stood next to the van, parked near the show’s front, on a dreary day at the fairgrounds.

“A mini-monster truck is what it is.”

It certainly seemed to be the only one most people at the show had seen. Groups of car-show participants surrounded to the van, many shaking their heads saying they have never seen anything like it.

The 44-inch high, 18.5-inch wide black tires are attached to the van by a conglomeration of custom-cut metal. Terry Sipe built nearly all of it himself.

Monster truck minivan parts aren’t available at most auto shops, after all.

But sitting atop its monster-truck bottom is a nearly unchanged early 1990s minivan, even with its original white paint job and striped sides. The license plate reads “Y RU SO HI.”

The effect is like putting a mobile home on top of a skyscraper.

Knew from start

The Sipes bought the van new in 1992, and Terry Sipe knew immediately it was destined for more than 16-inch tires.

“When we first bought it, he was saying, ‘I’m going to raise it,” Lynette Sipe said. “I told him, “You’re not touching it until it’s paid for.”

And Terry Sipe did wait, until 2003, when he replaced the van’s bottom with one from a pickup truck. Late last year, he decided to upgrade to a monster truck.

Why? He wanted to win car show competitions, and to do that he needed to stand out.

“With a pick-up truck, we couldn’t win year after year after year,” Terry Sipe said. “It’s not always who has the money — it’s what’s different.”

He said he has invested about $70,000 into the 7,000-pound vehicle since, and has worked about 1,500 hours to create his masterpiece.

The efforts have paid off — the vehicle has gained national recognition and their home is filled with awards and trophies, Terry Sipe said.

‘Smooth’ ride

Though mostly for show, the vehicle does drive smoothly, according to Lynette Sipe, who has never driven it but rides in it all the time.

But they don’t often go joy-riding — the truck only gets 3.5 miles to the gallon and uses airplane fuel from the Carlisle Airport.

Still, when the Sipes do drive, as they will to and from the car show this weekend, they said the response from fellow drivers is always positive.

“People are just always taking pictures of it on the highways,” Terry Sipe said. “Their great big cameras are just hanging out.

“It’s a show-stopper, no doubt,” he said. “It makes you feel good.”

And as any true monster truck, it can use its massive tires to crush other cars like a train smashing an ant hill.

The Sipes lined up two pickup trucks next a small dirt ramp to test their vehicle.

Terry Sipe said he hadn’t done anything like it before.

“Of course, we didn’t go at them at 40 mph,” he said. “We did just a little. I guess we did a little car crunch.”