Proud owner of 1st gen Explorer with 61k miles

[festiboi]

Hey everyone!
About eight months ago, I posted on here while looking for a clean first gen Explorer to convert to a Jurassic Park tour vehicle. You guys were awesome at giving a warm welcome!

Well, after months of scouring online and driving to the cold recesses of California, I can finally say that I am the owner of a Ford Explorer! I've always loved these cars since I was a kid for their style and utility and tried to coax my parents to get one for our family car back then (instead they got a darn Pontiac Grand Prix, grrr). Plus Jurassic Park is my favourite film ever. Needless, to say, I'm very stoked.

The condition of my Explorer is also exciting. It's a 1992 Eddie Bauer 4X2 with only 61k miles. The Carfax, and general wear and tear, prove it. The original window sticker, owners manual, warranty information, and all service records since 1992 came with it. I was fortunate too in that in the past few months, they replaced the entire air conditioning system, three power window motors, the battery, and it has brand new tires. I still can't believe how clean it is! I can't leave it sitting outside in the elements, and actually moved my brand new Honda Fit out of the garage to make room for it

Looking forward to the conversion on this, and many fun memories!

Ryan

 

[BrooklynBay]

It looks like brand new! Don't touch it, modify it or drive it. It might be a collector's item. It looks like the previous owner hardly used it. Did you buy it from the original owner?

 

[festiboi]

It looks like brand new! Don't touch it, modify it or drive it. It might be a collector's item. It looks like the previous owner hardly used it. Did you buy it from the original owner?

It even smells brand new! Sniiffff!!!!

I bought it from the second owner, but he only had it four months. The original owner had it the 23 years and kept receipts for everything. The seller that I bought it from obtained the Explorer through a co-worker's Dad and it was to replace a worn-out Dodge Dakota with 250k miles. After a few months of ownership, he realized that he wants a pickup truck again

It is in pristine shape and there's part of me that feels guilty if I do the modifications. However, the mods would be a wrap (that can come off, and protects the paint) and grille-and-taillight guards. Otherwise, the only irreversible thing could be painting the rims yellow. But if there's suggestions on avoiding that, I'm all ears

The good news is that this a secondary car and a toy. It's not going to be hauling kids, or doing commuting. It will be garaged and be taken out only for the weekends primarily

 

[Gilbert G. Jr.]

So Clean!

 

[colintrax]

It even smells brand new! Sniiffff!!!!

I bought it from the second owner, but he only had it four months. The original owner had it the 23 years and kept receipts for everything. The seller that I bought it from obtained the Explorer through a co-worker's Dad and it was to replace a worn-out Dodge Dakota with 250k miles. After a few months of ownership, he realized that he wants a pickup truck again

It is in pristine shape and there's part of me that feels guilty if I do the modifications. However, the mods would be a wrap (that can come off, and protects the paint) and grille-and-taillight guards. Otherwise, the only irreversible thing could be painting the rims yellow. But if there's suggestions on avoiding that, I'm all ears

The good news is that this a secondary car and a toy. It's not going to be hauling kids, or doing commuting. It will be garaged and be taken out only for the weekends primarily

Use plastidip on the rims. It'll come off as well.

Very nice looking truck. Looks like it has some good factory options as well

 

[Rick]

That's a great find! Congrats on a VERY clean 1st gen.

 

[festiboi]

Use plastidip on the rims. It'll come off as well.

Very nice looking truck. Looks like it has some good factory options as well

That's a good suggestion with the plastidip. Thanks! From what I've heard, it's pretty durable

Do any of you, being Explorer experts, have advice on things to look for that are commonly wrong on these Explorers? To my relief, the power window motors are new. The other thing I hear about are the transmissions failing. Is that quite common, or just overblown hype in all of your opinions?

 

[festiboi]

That's a great find! Congrats on a VERY clean 1st gen.

Thank you so much. It was an amazing find. I had to "kiss a lot of frogs" to find this one

 

[BrooklynBay]

The older A4LD transmission was upgraded on the later models with better hard parts so you hear about failures on the older models. Check the blend door actuator to see if it's working correctly. Since you don't have a 4WD, there are less parts to fail plus you'll get better gas mileage.

 

[festiboi]

An update on my Explorer. Much of the Jurassic Park alterations have been done and the car looks completely different now. For those of you who were concerned about the condition of the car being altered or ruined, don't worry. It was one of my concerns too, and everything is reversible. The wrap is removable and even protects the paint, the wheels and moldings are platidipped, and can also easily be removed. The only casualty were the side pin stripes, since they would've shown through the wrap. Plus I'm very careful about driving the car too much, and it's only done 300 miles in the 2 1/2 months I've had it.

Here is a progress report on the car:

Firstly, I thought the tires were new and they did look to be that way. Turns out they were 15 years old and just weren't worth the risk. 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 cars. It looked a little silly before the car's wrap

Also managed to find the taillight guards on Craigslist about nine months ago, and saved them just in case I ever did find an Explorer. I've heard they are tough to come by and 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, the car debuted. The vinyl that is used cannot adhere to plastic, so the side moldings and plastic trim on the bumpers was 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 since, I plastidipped the side moldings, which turned out better than expected with the color match. I also ordered foglights that were of that vintage. from the 90's Hooking 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 this week

I love the Explorer. Aside from the obvious eye-catching look, it's just a nice, comfy car to drive. I am getting some "clunk" sounds from the front brakes looked at today, and the A/C just suddenly quit this past weekend, but it's been a great car. I still need the front grill guard, which is a challenge, but all good things come to those who wait

 

[1Aauto]

Great job on the Explorer!

Tony

 

[festiboi]

Great job on the Explorer!

Tony

Thanks Tony!!!!

 

[Stic-o]

My buddy Nate's has a front grill guard off a Toyota truck, but I swear it looks just like a Explorer one. I'll have to see if he still has it and we may be able to make it work. You'll want to meet him as well, as he also has a wrapped JP Explorer, but it's a 2nd gen. He is the founder of Star Cars which is a movie car club here in LA. Great bunch of people. There is also the OC JP jeep guys. One of them has the motor home from lost world that they are restoring.

Looking good though :JP:

 

[chefduane]

That is cool as SHXX!! I want it!! I grew up in OC (Fullerton) MANY eons ago and know how sweet that's going to be driving around the LA area! And at 61K miles! Wow. Here in Dallas we have a few "General Lee" '69 Chargers around. Never seen a Jurassic Park Explorer tho. Good job, guys!!

 

[festiboi]

My buddy Nate's has a front grill guard off a Toyota truck, but I swear it looks just like a Explorer one. I'll have to see if he still has it and we may be able to make it work. You'll want to meet him as well, as he also has a wrapped JP Explorer, but it's a 2nd gen. He is the founder of Star Cars which is a movie car club here in LA. Great bunch of people. There is also the OC JP jeep guys. One of them has the motor home from lost world that they are restoring.

Looking good though :JP:

Thanks for the comments and support. I'm totally open see if Nate's Toyota grill guard could work. It is a challenge to find one from an actual Explorer, so I'm open to creative ideas. I think I have seen his Gen2 Explorer in pictures from the OC JP Jeep webpage. It looks good. I may meet him this weekend possibly, as there's an OC meet on Saturday. Seems like a good group of people with a fun hobby

 

[festiboi]

That is cool as SHXX!! I want it!! I grew up in OC (Fullerton) MANY eons ago and know how sweet that's going to be driving around the LA area! And at 61K miles! Wow. Here in Dallas we have a few "General Lee" '69 Chargers around. Never seen a Jurassic Park Explorer tho. Good job, guys!!

Lol, thanks! It's surprising how many movie cars there out there; there's the Griswold's wagon, the Scooby Doo Mystery Van, the Ghostbusters wagon, etc. The General Lee would be cool to see, and is befitting for DFW.

The Explorer does turn heads here in LA, and does make people smile and give a thumbs up. Being an OC native, you can probably agree that we all need a little joy on the freeways in Southern California

 

[chefduane]

Lol, thanks! It's surprising how many movie cars there out there; there's the Griswold's wagon, the Scooby Doo Mystery Van, the Ghostbusters wagon, etc. The General Lee would be cool to see, and is befitting for DFW.

The Explorer does turn heads here in LA, and does make people smile and give a thumbs up. Being an OC native, you can probably agree that we all need a little joy on the freeways in Southern California

Yeah, years ago there used to be a museum in Buena Park (near Knott's) called Cars of the Stars & Planes of Fame. Had all kinds of movie cars and airplanes in it. Yours would fit right in.

re; General Lee - there is one I recently saw that even had the "Dixie" horn rigged up. And of course, there were some good 'ol boys driving it!!

re; Freeways - We drive pretty friendly here in Texas 'cause you never know who's packin' heat and might be offended at your, uh, hand signals!