As an enthusiast, it’s tough seeing old cars become scrap metal. It’s especially upsetting when a particular model is almost completely wiped from the face of the earth, even if it’s not a car you’re very fond of. The Ford Explorer was one of the best-selling vehicles in the 1990s and they are a key part of North American automotive history, a symbol of the rise of the sport-utility vehicle. They’re as 1990s as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Jennifer Aniston’s hair-do, Vanilla Ice, the OJ Simpson trial, Monica Lewinsky and Tamagotchis. But they’re becoming extinct, their ranks having been considerably thinned by the Cash for Clunkers scheme and the ravages of age.
Will there be any Explorers at classic car shows years from now? Or will future generations forget the 1990s was the decade of SUVs and instead think everyone drove muscle cars or sport sedans or whatever ends up appearing at said shows?
The Explorer ended up as one of the most popular trade-ins in Cash for Clunkers, being both ubiquitous and a gas-guzzler. Without discussing the merits of said scheme, I have a question for you to answer: will you miss all these Explorers when they’re finally all gone?
Explorer photographed in West Hollywood, CA in October 2016.
I had a 95 for about 14 years, and loved it, I just flat wore it out though at 350,000 miles and was not in a position to make a substantial cash infusion for a transmission overhaul.
I’d love to find another one in as good as shape as mine was (with substantially less miles) mostly for the irony of having Antique or Classic car plates on it on a car that is still seen daily around the US.
I’m not as big of a fan of the first gen models, but will be a bit sad to see them go, I don’t see them as much as the A4LD is not that great of a transmission.
The transmissions tend to die on these as well and with rebuilt costs exceeding their value you would really have to want to keep one going. Not many do I guess.
Still see these fairly regularly here in the Middle West.
The first generation are seen sometimes but are fairly scarce in my section of the midwest nowadays. The second generation is still somewhat common, but no longer ubiquitous like they were 15 years ago.
The early ones are seen rarely in central Indiana, but they are either very nice vehicles that probably spent much of their lives in the garages of elderly owners or are beaten and rusted to death, one repair bill away from the scrap heap.
I think the Explorer is a great example of quality determining cultural longevity. The 57 Ford outsold the 57 Chevy and the 57 Plymouth was a far better driving car. BUT the Chevy was the one that outlasted the other two so everyone now thinks that 57 Chevys ruled the world when they were new.
The 57 Chevy of the Explorer’s segment is the Jeep XJ Cherokee. Those are seen much more frequently and are generally more beloved. The Explorer was hugely successful, but between the head gaskets, the transmissions and the body rust, there was a reason they got the nickname of Exploder.
This is what most of these looked like 7 years ago when I photographed this one. Note the way the rocker panels had been long dissolved by then.
I’d thought the “Exploder” nickname arose from the highly publicized recall in the late 1990s or early 2000s due to ignition switches catching fire. The recall affected other Ford vehicles too, of course, but Explorer/Exploder was the most obvious joke.
With all of the varieties of burning Fords back then, it is a good thing they never used any of the “fire” names that Oldsmobile did. Ignition switches, cruise control switches, and probably some I am forgetting. There used to be a website called flamingfords.com.
No, the Exploder was from the Firestone tire issue, not the ignition. The tires tended to go ballistic at speed, causing mayhem on the highway and far too many deaths when the driver lost control. It soured the relationship between Ford and Firestone that had gone back to a personal friendship between Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. While the ignition may have ignited, the tires exploded.
Wasn’t due also to the exploding Firestone tires as well?
And not everyone remember the Explorer was once available in 2-door as well. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_Explorer_2_Door.JPG
Remember the Mazda Navajo?
For unknown reasons, the Mazda Navajo wasn’t sold in Canada.
I used to work for a For dealership in the ’90’s. We nicknamed most of the cars.
Explorer= Exploder
Aspire= Expire
Taurus= Tortoise. This came after the ’96 Oval Design.
Mystique= Mistake
Super Duty= Super Dirty
The XJ is better supported in the aftermarket. This is a HUGE factor in its popularity today, making them very cheap to modify. Many XJs are on the road, but unmodified examples are at least as rare as 1st-Gen Explorers.
Two reasons for that. The legendary Jeep name and its reliable inline six. Solid axles, front and rear. This last is very important to offroaders.
Your ‘57 Chevy/Ford analogy is spot on.
Don’t forget the Firestone tire debacle, which scared a lot of people off of these Explorers and thus indirectly sent a lot of them to the crusher for what would probably have been repairable damage before.
I was a teenager looking forward to my license and not understanding what kind of vehicle I was really going to end up with, in the days when these were the status symbol of affluent families and two-door SUVs still plied the roads. A decent number of my college classmates got them as hand-me-downs (those whose parents wouldn’t spring for a Jeep, a Jetta or a …Saturn–yes, really)
I still see a few early 90’s Explorer’s roaming around town (I live in Eastern Washington State) although most of them appear to be in rough shape, my neighbor used to own a Ford Explorer of the same vintage up until a couple years ago, her’s was an XLT model with leather interior and a 5 speed manual, seeing these SUV’s do take me back to a simpler time period.
As long as Dollar stores or Walmart exists, I’m sure you will see them well into the future.
I will not miss them in the least. I have no real malice toward them, I just find them dismally boring, and reminiscent of a time when I commuted 60 miles each way through the affluent suburbs of Northern New Jersey, surrounded by these things. Once in the office, where I handled a large book of VIP clients for an insurance brokerage that specialized in high-net-worth families, I’d spend my day fielding calls from clients as they turned in one lease for another (It seemed like NOBODY actually purchased a car during the 90’s). The Explorer was very popular with my clientele, as they often had second homes at the beach or in the mountains, of course had kids to shuttle around, dogs, etc. It got to the point where as soon as it was established that the call was for a vehicle change I’d be tempted to ask whether they’d leased an Explorer or a Grand Cherokee, as 85% of the time it was one or the other.
Now when I see a rusted wreck of an Explorer it just makes me a little melancholy to think of how many of them I’d seen when new, sharing their 3 car garages with E-Class sedans or BMW 5-Series. I won’t shed a tear for the last one to go to the crusher though.
I can’t even recall the last time I’ve seen a first generation Explorer, and this is coming from a guy who has lived in Saint Paul, Chicago, and now Tuscon in the past 10 years. They certainly aren’t common, and let’s be honest, they don’t make for good used vehicles. Tiny rear seat and trash economy sees to that… It’s quite the wonder how these appeared to be the second coming of the Minivan with all the obvious flaws.
The third-gen Explorer is the one I tend to see most often in MN as a low-income runaround car, if they don’t use a Chrysler or GM U-body minivan. Third row seating and more rugged than a minivan, but not as ponderous driving around town as a Tahoe or Expedition. And most have the third-gen crack in the liftgate.
Will there be any Explorers at classic car shows years from now? Or will future generations forget the 1990s was the decade of SUVs and instead think everyone drove muscle cars or sport sedans or whatever ends up appearing at said shows? The answer to both is “yes”. There will always be someone who loves a certain make or model, and there are plenty of people who still love these first gen Explorers. However, the 90s collector cars are more likely to be the Challengers, Mustangs, and Camaros for the US brands and the Supra and similar Asian muscle and specialty BMWs (M and Alpina) as the usual suspects at the local cars and coffee. Pickups still seem to be more collectable than SUVs, but we are really not at a point where the 1990s SUVs have the same level of interest, mostly because they are rarely performance oriented. It seems that any performance oriented vehicle is more desirable for collecting, and that goes for trucks and SUVs. I doubt you will see one without a lift, 4×4, and lightbar for off-roading at any show, much like you will probably not see a minivan there either.
Edit, not Challengers… they did not come back until the 2000s. Oops!
These are like A-body GM vehicles.
One day everywhere, the next day “poof!” Where did they all go?
Weird you mention this. I saw two (absolutely trashed) Centuries within 30 seconds driving around Erie, PA today.
The last first-generation Explorer I saw here in Erie was about two weeks ago. The rear was practically dragging on the ground.
That reminds me of a recent issue of Collectible Automobile in the car spotter section where there was a photo of a circa 1986-87 Chevrolet Celebrity still rolling.
Besides the GM A-body, remember also the G-body Cutlass Supreme in both 2 and 4-door versions along with the Monte Carlo/Grand Prix, Chrysler M-bodies Fifth Avenue/Diplomat/Canadian Carevelle/Gran Fury and long before that, the Dart/Valiant/Duster along with Ford Fox-bodies Fairmont/LTD. And being in Quebec, a time where the Renault R5/LeCar was everywhere on Quebec roads.
Yes, they were very popular in Europe along with Chrysler Voyager (mostly 1996-2000 along with few 2001-2007) in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Then, the clock struck at midnight…
There were some who claimed the Explorer’s frame would shred “any tire” no matter what brand, and that the SUV and name should be dropped.
IIRC the Ranger on the same chassis didn’t have the same problem, it probably had something to do with recommended tire pressures.
My radio station gave away two XLT 4.0 4-doors 22 years ago. I drove them a lot during the enter to win period. They wallowed like a pig, especially at high speed.
After the giveaway, our station’s promotions department took delivery of…
a 1997 Blazer LS.
Which was more my type. Better handling, especially at high speed. Better acceleration with the 4.3 Vortec “W” engine. I ended up owning two of them eight years later. (And dealing with THEIR quirks like the intake gasket and fragile ball joints.) While one was traded three years after purchase, the other JUST left our fleet, to be scrapped for a friend’s 2000 Blazer. 312,000 miles…no complaints.
I’m an admitted GM fanboi – yet have been QUICK to excoriate the General over its many Deadly Sins.
With all this said…the Elephant in the Room is the “whoopsy-daisy” FoMoCo pulled when they learned, late in the design process and with deadlines looming, that the Explorer was prone to flipping over, much like the Ranger/Bronco upon which it was loosely based.
You may recall…that it was decided to tell customers and dealers to run their tires at 26psi, rather than going back in and actually FIXING the high center of gravity design flaw that caused the flipover issue.
Where Firestone was wrong, came from not designing a tire that was robust enough to withstand people running them soft. BUT WHEN YOU RAN THEM AT RECOMMENDED 30-32 PSI – SUCH AS IN THE CHEVROLET ASTRO VAN WE OWNED AT THE TIME, THERE WAS NO ISSUE WITH THEM.
I truly believe TODAY’S Ford wouldn’t have let that go. Or at least Alan Mulally’s Ford. Now that I think of it, with the new FoMoCo management team, I think all bets are off.
Our station’s chief engineer ran an Explorer Sport for years – the worst for flipover as it had the shortest wheelbase. EVERY time after an oil change, he had to feather foot it going back home until he could regauge the tires from 32 to 26 PSI.
The 1st-gen Ford Explorer was an icon of its time as surely as Hootie & The Blowfish or Garth Brooks. But I still personally think FoMoCo skated, when it should’ve been held accountable for one of the deadliest of all Deadly Sins.
EXACTLY.
Ford made a crap vehicle. It was essentially a pickup modified to be a SUV. As I recall, Ford had Firestone design the tires to their specs and then Ford told owners to underinflate the tires to hide the design flaws – lousy ride and handling.
The Ford spec Firestone tires overheated when underinflated and driven for distance in heat. The tires decomposed.
I read that the same thing happened w/ other manufacturers tires when they were underinflated.
After what Ford did, Firestone refused to supply Ford w/ tires.
A 1989 stability test, which predicted that the Ford Explorer with fully inflated tires could roll over when making sudden turns, was a key factor that prompted Ford Motor Co. to tell owners to inflate their tires significantly below their rated maximum, according to a company document and interviews.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/08/20/ford-test-led-to-low-suv-tire-inflation/22f52c05-5b1b-47aa-bae0-6e2962b60cff/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ec0b74faf957
Weren’t these also the tires that Bridgestone/Firestone was manufacturing with significant flaws?
It seemed to me that the plant where the bulk of these tires were made encountered quality control issues, which only added to the debacle.
A perfect storm of sorts.
Subsequent investigations showed that the first-generation Explorer was no more prone to roll over than other SUVs. Its overall safety record was comparable to other contemporary SUVs, both foreign and domestic.
I see these fairly frequently in the Provo area or just about anywhere I go. Even though these were the #1 traded vehicle in the C4C program, there were so many of these sold. To me, it seems like there’s still some presence of first-gen Explorers out there.
Maybe it seems that way because the cars I like (70s, 80s and 90s Mopars) are all but gone by comparison. It could be worse. R-bodies are just about extinct (probably less than 600 surviving examples exist today), K-cars are endangered species (with the earliest ones just about gone). Haven’t seen an H-body Lancer/LeBaron in years, pre-1996 minivans are now uncommon, the LH is thinning out (the Eagle Vision might be down to its last 1000 survived examples) and what happened to all the Plymouth Neons?
I’m sure these will gain collector status, if they haven’t already. Just about every make/model has at least one die-hard collector out there. FWIW, I have a 1993 Concorde and a 1991 LeBaron convertible as collector cars, two “average” cars both fully restored. Those two cars would otherwise be passed up by the typical car collector.
The first gen Explorer was one of the only SUV that I really liked. Will I miss them – no.
I was happy to see SUVs disappear in the Clunkers for Cash program.
A vechile that I’m really happy not to see much of is the Expedition. When the Expedition came out I thought what a horrible beater mobile that it would make. Even though the Expedition/Navigator was equipped with a Cow Catcher it could cause serious damage if it had bad brakes. This and other huge SUVs are not vechiles for poor folks to buy used.
Unfortunately, the First Gen Expedition appears to be the official vehicle of certain low-income areas throughout Florida. I see more clapped-out, sun-scalded Expeditions with bent up bumpers and mangled running boards than I could shake a stick at. Early 00’s Impalas run a close second. I have very little doubt that in 5 years the earlier Chrysler 300’s and Dodge Chargers will supercede the Impalas and give the Expeditions a run for their money, but at least those are halfway decent cars to begin with, and with stout drivetrain components they’ll at least be worth maintaining. Most of the Expeditions I see haven’t seen a soapy sponge since 2005 or so, and from the creaks and groans emanating from them they’re still rolling on all of their original running gear, just waiting for something to sieze up or be shorn off from lack of any kind of attention. I give pretty much any Expedition I still see on the road a fairly wide berth.
My Dad bought a ‘92 Eddie Bauer, red like the brochure photo above, around 2003 for I think $800? It ran but once the transmission warmed up it wouldn’t come out of 4th gear. You’d come to a stop and it would stall out like a manual car. A used valve body from the junkyard fixed that. Another trip to the junkyard scored a nice leather seat to replace the torn drivers and my mom had a pretty nice vehicle to drive. It sucked gas and I always thought it was underpowered but it was reliable. Around ‘08 my mom tired of driving a truck and told my dad she wanted a small manual trans car again after driving my Jetta. It was then given to my middle brother as he was in high school at the time. He drove it for another 6 years or so, wrecked it, kept driving it until it was leaking every fluid possible and the trans was slipping badly. This was at almost 300k.
Overall it was a good vehicle. Though I never liked driving it.
Without judgement, I can verify that junkyards were overflowing with these things right after C4C.
A dangerous, ugly, stupid dinosaur. Good riddance!
Explorer sport tracks, maybe, otherwise I feel 4-door Explorers will be about as common as sedan versions of 60s cars. They’ll probably be fun sights for spectators in the future like old 4 doors, and notable at that since they were, for better or worse, a key pioneer of the great CUV epoch we are currently living, but not what most would bother with putting money into. The thing with the Explorer, and all 4-door SUVs with few exceptions(the various iterations of Wagoneers, the XJ Cherokee and Range Rovers) is it’s always been a rugged facade for what is in fact an unremarkable family people mover. The myth of the SUV lifestyle is rooted in the little old compact Jeep, and even though it’s hard to see that in a gigantic Bronco, it’s still in the classic formula if you squint real hard. Tracking on the extra doors, extending the length and softening the sharp edges baby safety however kinda makes it hard to suspend disbelief that these are trail exploring adventure machines anymore.
In contrast every 60s coupe became a “muscle car” because the coupes…. look just like “muscle cars”. Like post-MB Jeep/pre-XJ Jeep SUVs they do a credible job at being in the spirit of it, only instead of removable tops and steel floors, it’s the V8 burble through glasspacks and aftermarket racing wheels, if not outright clones of the real deals. I think what people desire in a great many things is a certain purity, and the purest form of both concepts is ultimately 2-doors.
So no, I won’t miss them. Ultimately what is there to miss? The smaller SUV concept is alive and well, all that’s different between these Explorers and a brand new RAV 4 is technology.
I do miss the first generation Explorers… the second-onward for some reason I just never warmed up to. I think by that point there was more competition far superior in terms of refinement.
On that note, it’s odd how while the Explorer has disappeared, similar aged Grand Cherokees are far more commonly seen on the road today.
The name “Exploder”, at least in Canada, arrived very early in it’s life and referred for the 1991 model’s 4X4 automatic locking hubs, which would destroy themselves, automatically. I was in the parts department of a Ford dealer and dealing with the issue was a daily occurrence. Oddly, we didn’t find them unsafe when driven reasonably, the handling was fine. The A4LD transmissions were not robust, but were common, finding their way into Rangers and Aerostars of the time. It wasn’t Ford’s or Firestone’s greatest idea to call for tires at 26 PSI, and thousands of owners received free tires, whether they needed them or not. The 91 – 94 Explorers made the dealers a ton of money, and I can’t argue they were any better or worse than their competition, but they certainly were very popular in our part of the world.
I will not miss any Explorer. Why? I don’t buy Ford vehicles, except for the 1996 Ranger I used to have. The only reason I bought the Ranger was that I was still mad at GM until I bought my old 2004 Impala!
I’m a Chevy guy, after all…
Oh these will be remembered. They are immortalized in this somewhat obscure movie.
Probably not, but then again, I was born in 96 and I have very little, if any memories, of seeing these on the road. Maybe it was CFC wiping them all out, maybe it was the fact that it was ultimately a passing fad that got relegated to also ran status, or maybe it was the fact that it wasn’t that reliable. Maybe all three. There’s very little, if any, appeal in a first gen Explorer today then there was when it came out in 91 other than being one of the cultural zeitgeist’s for the SUV movement, which I guess has its own appeal, but not much.
This car’s handling is at least partly responsible for the early ’00s tuner scene. For millennials who had learned to drive on their parents’ firstgen Explorer, a pre-’01 Honda Civic’s handling must’ve been a revelation.
I remember most of the ones that went to Cash 4 Clunkers looked like the one JPC posted, sagging-butted and rusty. Almost a decade on the ones that survived the cull, mostly post-facelift, look like that now.
The last one left will probably, like the one at the top of the article, be in Southern California. Unless it’s in Eugene.
Good looking car, drove like crap. I remember them being slow and very tippy. Very unsettling vehicle to drive.
“Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Jennifer Aniston’s hair-do, Vanilla Ice, the OJ Simpson trial, Monica Lewinsky and Tamagotchis”
The 90s were not exactly the coolest period ! 😉
20-odd years ago never is, it usually takes a bit longer than that for the nostalgia cycle to come around.
Ford cut off the parts supply for first gen Explorers here many years ago, I havent seen one in a long time, some later models are still on the road but if youve got one its for the life of the vehicle, they dont sell at almost any price $10.00 per gallon gas doesnt make em popular.
We have three. One from new and two broken ones in the last month cheap plus the parts to fix them from one in a junkyard.
Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) recently released the result of passenger-side crash test. 2018 Ford Explorer did very poorly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csDWSgnA1rU#t=01m27s
No wonder…
IIHS has revised that particular crash test since the introduction of the current-generation Explorer. A new Explorer will be coming in about one year.
Also note that the Jeep Grand Cherokee earned a “poor” rating for this same test.
I still have my 1992 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer and it only has 67k original miles. I still have all records and even the original window sticker. I bought it from an elderly man in 2015 to preserve and keep around for this reason. Currently, I’m averaging approx. 1,500 miles a year in it and am meticulous about its maintenance, so I plan to keep it for those future car shows
“The Explorer ended up as one of the most popular trade-ins in Cash for Clunkers, being both ubiquitous and a gas-guzzler.”
And being grossly under-powered with its boat anchor 4 litre V6.
Reamember driving my sister in laws exploder. The 4.0 was extremely underpowered and it handled poorly and was very crude. The rockers were Rusty and the paint was badm it must have been 10 or 12 years old. No ac and one working window. It was very worn out. It had alot of miles. I’m pretty sure Rick kept up the maintenance and never overheated the ohv 4.0. my nephew got hit in the rear and he got over 3000$ which surprised me. I remember when I built engines these almost always had cracked heads from running hot. Though compared to 4.0 ohc dual timing chain abominations the seemed sort of ok. I was glad the scrapped alot of them. I hate most SUVs especially small ones. It’s annoying to be behind tall vehicles. I think that instead of taxing cars by weight they should tax by height. These started the SUV craze which was as bad as the taurus that started the ugly blob car craze. Hopefully both will run their course.
Cash for clunkers “scheme”? What do you mean by that? You don’t know what you mean by that except that you like old gas guzzling cars.
What are you talking about?
“a large-scale systematic plan or arrangement for attaining some particular object or putting a particular idea into effect”
The definition of a scheme.
I also have. This is my Eddie Bauer
I’ve had lots of early experience with them. I’ll miss them. Particularly the 1st and maybe 2nd gen. As a Ranger fan, I’ve always kept in mind that they’re trucks first. That’s what they drive like. They’re modifiable. They’re sized pretty tidy compared to the blimps everyone has now. Less computerized BS and no screens. Saw way too many of these (and other vehicles) in decent to mint condition get destroyed in the Cash For Nice Cars pogrom.
I still see early Explorers, just not as many, proportionate to their production numbers. Lots of them are dented, haggard, missing windows… etc. Its taken longer, but there are some nicely built ones showing up the past few years. They can’t compete with that elephant in the room, the XJ Cherokee. Our mail carriers out here use early Explorers and XJ’s for their routes.