1997 2wd Big flare sport with an SOHC??

[Twisted1]

Ok I'm pretty well versed in all the packages and options available on our explorers (owned close to 100 if not more) but this is a first for me.

I found a CL add for a rust free 2wd 99 Explorer sport which is extremely rare to find here in NH. 2wd are not common and rust free makes this a unicorn in the salt belt. The picture looked like your typical 98/99 big flare SOHC sport but to my knowledge and research I can't find anything saying Ford ever built a 2wd Sport with the SOHC in it. To confuse things even more, when I ran the VIN# and production date it comes up as 6/97.

I drove the 2 1/2 hours north 2 days ago in the snow to investigate this 100% rust free 2wd SOHC fairy tale and to my surprise it was EXACTLY as described! I have NEVER seen such a clean truck, there is literally not a single spec of rust anywhere. I paid a whopping $250 for it...yes you read that right! I scooped it up to build a clean lowered street truck/ daily driver.

So back on track here, my question is has anyone else ever seen this package on a 97 2wd sport before? And if so does anyone have any production numbers on this truck? Thanks, I'll add some pics I took when I picked it up

 

[swshawaii]

http://www.cars.com/ford/explorer/1997/specifications/?acode=USA70FOS101B0

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Holy Grail rust free Explorer. Awesome find man, that's a great platform to build a street cruiser out of. That thing must have been a grocery getter for the summer only, even then it should have some rust on the body. Has it been repainted or fixed anywhere?

 

[Twisted1]

No body repairs or respray ever. I have paperwork from the original owner in Sacramento California which explains some of the body. Even still it had to have been garaged its entire life. It came to NH about 16 months ago and was driven 15,000 miles before being sold because of the transmission issues. Its got 265,000 miles on it and has paperwork proving the engine was replaced has 30k on it. I'm a body man and an explorer/ranger enthusiast so I hunt down BS leads all the time on clean trucks

 

[MidnightRebel07]

That explains it, it spent most of it's life out west. I'm from Oregon, Washington originally and there rarely any rust on vehicles out there, if there is it's because the sun faded and started to get surface rust or "sunburn rust".

 

[delexploder]

My friend has one just like that 2wd sohc but white and my cousin has a 2wd 5spd sport that's black with big flairs with ohv