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Explorer??? Hot Rod??? Hardly. All of a sudden its 1990, and I am a junior at MSU facing another 2 years of school without much of an income. At this point, I had 4 vehicles, so it was obvious that something had to go, and soon, or else I would have to drop out of school. My plan was to sell everything I had, and start with a clean sheet of paper. Alot can be said for financial independence, so starting in January 1990, my toys began to disappear: first the 1951 pick-up, then the T-Bird (sigh...), then the Saleen. Luckily, I had enough money out of all the deals to pay off my bills, but I still would need a ride.
I guess alot changed in 1990. I saw a new decade, with the inevitablility of finishing school and getting a real job in the real world. I decided to do the mature thing and find a practical, versatile vehicle. Ford had just introduced the Ford Explorer, and I was intrigued by this big machine (remember, the term "SUV" had yet to be coined). Looking over the ones at Gray-Daniels Ford in Brandon, MS, I decided that the cheapest way to do the deal would be to order one from the ground up, get the options I wanted, and keep it minimal. So, what I ended up with was a silver XLT, gray leather interior, and aluminum wheels. That was it. All for a grand total of $17,000. Try to do that today...
Of course, I did do a little to it. I tinted the windows, got a CD player (which forced me to start buying CD's when all I had were cassettes), and painted the bottom half (below the molding) black, along with the bumpers and trim. Pretty cool.
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| The Explorer served me well, with nary a complaint, for 3 years and a total of 93,000 miles. I was considering selling it in 1993 for another one, when fate intervened. I had a new job in Louisville, MS, and was playing guitar in the band on weekends, and driving to practice twice a week (2 hour round trip); essentially burning the candle at both ends, when it caught up with me. One Wednesday evening at about 2AM, on the way home from band practice in Philadelphia, MS, sleep-deprivation caught up with me about 3 miles from my house. I managed to doze off, cross the centerline of Bond Rd. in Louisville, smack the biggest, baddest mailbox (6-in. steel pipe base cemented in the ground) on the side of the road, and proceed to swerve to the other side of the road. Yes, it really does happen in slow motion. The mailbox smashed the windshield, covering me with glass dust and keeping me from seeing anything outside. I can remember thinking "Please don't hit a tree...Please don't hit a tree..." as the truck crossed the road and began to barrel-roll down the side of the embankment. Naturally, I smacked head-on into the only tree within miles, bringing the vehicle to an abrupt halt, and popping out every window in the truck. Had it not been for the seat belt, I would not be writing this now. The impact shoved the passenger side wheel into the footwell, so it's a good thing I was alone. I stumbled out of the truck, dazed and confused, lost my keys, and started walking. Luckily, a man who lived a few miles down the road heard the crash, and found me wandering down the road. He dropped me off at my house, and when I realized I didn't have my keys, I busted out a window, crawled into bed, and thanked my lucky stars.
Believe it or not, my insurance company gave me $14,000. I would have been lucky to have sold it for half that. So, I went out and bought a 1993 Limited Explorer, hoping to get another 93,000 miles of loyal service.
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