Hey guys,
I had posted in the new member thread when I bought my 1992 Ford Explorer back in July, 2015. The truck itself was incredible; only 61k miles at the time and no body damage, interior wear, and for the most part, it was mechanically sound.
Not only have I loved the first gen Explorer since I was a kid, and tried to coax my parents to buy one as a our family car (it didn't work, since my Mum hated the rough ride), but my favorite movie of all time has been Jurassic Park. What little kid doesn't love dinosaurs? Seeing them come to life on the big screen was awesome back in the day.
It only made sense to buy this clean Explorer, but convert it to a JP Tour Vehicle. As a disclaimer, all modifications done to the truck are 100% reversible being a mixture of a wrap, plastidip, and add-ons. Plus the truck is garaged, unlike my new car, and lives a well-pampered, non-abusive life.
This was the day after it was bought; a clean and amazing brown Eddie Bauer edition
Firstly, I thought the tires were newer and they did look to be that way with plenty of tread life. Turns out they were 15 years old with 30k miles on them and just weren't worth the risk given the Explorer's reputation for blowouts. New Goodyears were placed on
Here's the numbers showing the age of the old ones:
New ones being put on:
That feels better!
Since the new ones were put on and no upcoming tire swaps were planned, I plastidipped the wheels to match the movie car's. It looked a little silly before the car's wrap
Also managed to find the taillight guards on Craigslist about nine months earlier, and saved them just in case I ever did find an Explorer. I've heard they are tough to come by and it was an opportunity not worth passing
Next was the wrap, which was professionally done by a local wrap/advertising shop. They were pretty excited to do the project. It was a change from the usual mundane tasks of wrapping vans with ads
Going into the shop
Already a dino sighting! (My husband was cool enough to secretly buy it and unveil it that morning)
Two weeks later in mid-August, the car debuted. The vinyl that is used cannot adhere to plastic or rubber, so the side moldings and plastic trim on the bumpers were left untouched. They even asked me if I wanted to remove the side moldings, which came with a reassuring "heck no!" During the wrap, the "Explorer" badge was removed and replaced by an "XLT" badge, which matched the movie
Leaving the wrap shop:
Out for a drive the first day after completion
In the month following, I plastidipped the side moldings, which turned out better than expected with the color match. I also ordered foglights that were of that 90's vintage. Figuring out how to hook the foglights to the roof rack took some scouring. I didn't want to drill any holes into the cross bar (everything must be reversible, notice a theme?), so after much searching on Ebay, found some brackets from Australia that will work and loop around the bar. Surprisingly, Pep Boys or Home Depot do not offer any grips for foglights that will fit roof racks. So here is the car as of September. The order from Australia was botched, and only one pair was sent. The movie car had three lights across (and a glass dome, but let's not go there).
The truck even made it into the Hollywood Christmas Parade and played a part in the movie car collection; along side a Jurassic Park Wrangler
Finally, the third foglight brace came from a different, more reliable supplier and the Explorer spent Christmas with us in the Sierra Nevada.
We still need a front bar, that is being custom made, and otherwise, it's almost done.
Owning this car has been a pleasure and so much fun. I love my Explorer!
I had posted in the new member thread when I bought my 1992 Ford Explorer back in July, 2015. The truck itself was incredible; only 61k miles at the time and no body damage, interior wear, and for the most part, it was mechanically sound.
Not only have I loved the first gen Explorer since I was a kid, and tried to coax my parents to buy one as a our family car (it didn't work, since my Mum hated the rough ride), but my favorite movie of all time has been Jurassic Park. What little kid doesn't love dinosaurs? Seeing them come to life on the big screen was awesome back in the day.
It only made sense to buy this clean Explorer, but convert it to a JP Tour Vehicle. As a disclaimer, all modifications done to the truck are 100% reversible being a mixture of a wrap, plastidip, and add-ons. Plus the truck is garaged, unlike my new car, and lives a well-pampered, non-abusive life.
This was the day after it was bought; a clean and amazing brown Eddie Bauer edition
Firstly, I thought the tires were newer and they did look to be that way with plenty of tread life. Turns out they were 15 years old with 30k miles on them and just weren't worth the risk given the Explorer's reputation for blowouts. New Goodyears were placed on
Here's the numbers showing the age of the old ones:
New ones being put on:
That feels better!
Since the new ones were put on and no upcoming tire swaps were planned, I plastidipped the wheels to match the movie car's. It looked a little silly before the car's wrap
Also managed to find the taillight guards on Craigslist about nine months earlier, and saved them just in case I ever did find an Explorer. I've heard they are tough to come by and it was an opportunity not worth passing
Next was the wrap, which was professionally done by a local wrap/advertising shop. They were pretty excited to do the project. It was a change from the usual mundane tasks of wrapping vans with ads
Going into the shop
Already a dino sighting! (My husband was cool enough to secretly buy it and unveil it that morning)
Two weeks later in mid-August, the car debuted. The vinyl that is used cannot adhere to plastic or rubber, so the side moldings and plastic trim on the bumpers were left untouched. They even asked me if I wanted to remove the side moldings, which came with a reassuring "heck no!" During the wrap, the "Explorer" badge was removed and replaced by an "XLT" badge, which matched the movie
Leaving the wrap shop:
Out for a drive the first day after completion
In the month following, I plastidipped the side moldings, which turned out better than expected with the color match. I also ordered foglights that were of that 90's vintage. Figuring out how to hook the foglights to the roof rack took some scouring. I didn't want to drill any holes into the cross bar (everything must be reversible, notice a theme?), so after much searching on Ebay, found some brackets from Australia that will work and loop around the bar. Surprisingly, Pep Boys or Home Depot do not offer any grips for foglights that will fit roof racks. So here is the car as of September. The order from Australia was botched, and only one pair was sent. The movie car had three lights across (and a glass dome, but let's not go there).
The truck even made it into the Hollywood Christmas Parade and played a part in the movie car collection; along side a Jurassic Park Wrangler
Finally, the third foglight brace came from a different, more reliable supplier and the Explorer spent Christmas with us in the Sierra Nevada.
We still need a front bar, that is being custom made, and otherwise, it's almost done.
Owning this car has been a pleasure and so much fun. I love my Explorer!
