Those Furious Fords: 1991 Ford Explorer
Workers at the Blue Oval are currently in the throes of moving house - or moving Glass House, as the case may be. The old headquarters, a 12-storey monolith built in the mid-’50s and the site of an untold amount of Detroit history from the whole Ferrari deal to Iacocca being turfed, will be demolished in the coming year.
Why? Because a new Glass House has been constructed a few miles away, located far more sensibly near design and testing facilities which will promote better collaboration amongst all arms of vehicle planning. They’re even taking the old building’s address when they go. Here’s hoping at least some of mid-century modern tokens are saved from the old HQ.
[Images: Ford]
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Ford has, by its own admission, never been very good at preserving its four-wheeled heritage. A god’s honest quote from the company back in the day about the matter amounted to “Ford sells cars, we don’t collect them.” Fortunately, someone like Jim Farley is now at the helm, a gearhead who decreed two years ago the company needed to go out and recover some of its history, culminating in the assemblage of important concept vehicles and rigs with notable VINs. About 50 are on display in a parking garage not open to the public adjoining the old Glass House, with plans to create a rotating display at the new place in due time.
With this on the brain, the next three galleries will showcase a trio of Fords this author feels had a huge impact on what America puts in its driveways. It’ll be slightly nerdy - the original Mustang and such are important but obvious choices - but digging into the minutiae of automobiles is the type of content with which this site used to be filled, so I’ll do my damndest to fill the space.
Americans had been dipping a tentative toe in the pool of using an SUV as a family car since the ‘80s, with the XJ-era Jeep Cherokee arguably kicking off the notion which was then picked up by machines like the Chevrolet S-10 Blazer, albeit the latter only offering two doors until the early 1990s, mimicking the Bronco II.
Ford blew the doors off it all with its replacement, the 1991 Explorer, appearing in March 1990 and serving as a panacea to people who wanted something with decently rugged looks and four-wheel drive but without a punishing ride or agricultural interior. Dealers at the time reported many buyers were trading in cars, often a sporty model.
There was enough ‘truckishness’ both inside and out of the Explorer to serve this mission. Team did a masterful job of walking the line between keeping a lid on costs (compare the ‘91 Explorer dash with that of a contemporary Ranger) and offering creature comforts familiar in cars like the Taurus.
It helped that Ford served a wide array of trims and door counts right out of the box: XL, XLT, Eddie Bauer, plus a Sport in the 2-door variant. There was even an option for a bench seat in some trims, a detail this author forgot until he examined a brochure from back in the day.
Colors galore (three reds!), two-tone options, a variety of wheels - while there was a solid chance your neighbor also had an Explorer, chances were it was different from yours. In that era of suburban America, this was no small consideration and likely contributed to its massive success. More than 140,000 were sold in the first model year, rising to over 300k two years after its debut. It’s next-gen design, appearing for ‘95, was an even bigger hit, selling roughly 400,000 units for each of its years on sale - 1995 through to 2001 model years, inclusive.
