In the past little segments on this series, we went over, Chrysler, GM and AMC. But what was Ford doing in the 1980s in response to Chrysler and GM reinventing themselves? They Introduced the TAURUS.



Now, we all know the Taurus was the best seller for Ford for over 20 years, but I cannot get over the wagon...it looks hideous.



For those don't remember the 80s either due to not being born yet or high on crack, Lee Iacocca in the 70s worked for Ford and approached Henry Ford II about an idea for a "garageable wagon" he called then called the Maxivan. Henry II thought he was nuts and thought that there was still a future in station wagons along with the fact that Lee wanted to build a new front wheel drive platform for this vehicle but Henry II wanted to be based upon another platform. See the Irony now with the Aerostar? No? Well, its based upon the Ranger...which brings me to the next segment...



Ford wasn't always playing catch-up; In 1982, they introduced the Ranger which didn't end production until actually December 2010 because of its the popularity. The Ranger is one of the few Fords I like surprisingly; it doesn't feel like the usual Ford to me.

1: I rode in the trunk seat of a first gen taurus wagon, I enjoyed my trip very much and would do it again.

2: I went to Upstate New York in a Sea green aerostar, on the way back we returned in my friends dads beige aerostar, again an exceptionally pleasant drive

3: When I think of ford rangers I think of blue collar workers getting a DUI

I remember my ex girlfriends Dad having an aerostar and a caravan.
He liked the aerostar more because it could fit a sheet of drywall in it laying flat.

Remember when they were available in 5 speed? wicked

the aerostar space shuttle ad was pulled after only a few weeks because of public perception after the challenger explosion.

the aerostar always had a soft spot in my heart, learned to drive in an 89 aerostar, lost my virginity in an aerostar as well.

the taurus was a tough fucking car. The 3.0L would take a miserable flogging. It was always the damn transmissions that were the weak link. My friend Appleseed,as I have mentioned before, should be hired by an automaker to due 'extreme service testing'... in other words, that fucking kid is the Binford 9000 car smasher. If a car can outlast him, buy it because you'll never kill it.

A Ford Taurus and Chevy Lumina made it the farthest...


BEST FORD AD EVER comes to us from the jolly old United Kingdom circa 2003-2004 for the Ford SportKa...


or





but wouldn't you really rather have a Corvette?


or a Holden Monaro?

Posted by Samurai BEST FORD AD EVER comes to us from the jolly old United Kingdom circa 2003-2004 for the Ford SportKa...

Bird swatting? Sure! Cat beheading? Why not? Levitating Corvette? Sounds possible! A Holden passing a Porsche? Trust them bogan Skips to be really stupid!

Posted by Kuroneko Bird swatting? Sure! Cat beheading? Why not? Levitating Corvette? Sounds possible! A Holden passing a Porsche? Trust them bogan Skips to be really stupid!

it wasn't the content, i just thought the Monaro ad 'looked' amazing. (if you watched it, they passed a Ferrari first )

I haven't seen an Aerostar with the bottom 1/3 of the body intact since about 1994.

Posted by bandi I haven't seen an Aerostar with the bottom 1/3 of the body intact since about 1994.

i was quite shocked i went to the monster truck show this weekend, there was a very clean 91-93 aerostar about to be crushed, the body was surprisingly clean. i remember when my father had his 89 re painted the body man said the aerostars best year for no corosion was 1988, for some reason they did somthing right

Apparently, according to my Uncle who used to work for Ford, the chassis engineers had no experience dealing with unibody construction. So they looked at several unibody vehicles and they went from no experience to not comfortable with unibody. They wanted to build it body on frame still.

It wasn't until they looked at the Jeep Cherokee and noticed that AMC had the frame rails going into the unibody itself which they liked. So they used that method to come up with the unibody frame for the Aerostar.

As for the metal used, my Uncle said that Ford in the 80s used the same metal source that AMC used, which was a outfit called Bing Steel based in Detroit.

Posted by Agent Skelly As for the metal used, my Uncle said that Ford in the 80s used the same metal source that AMC used, which was a outfit called Bing Steel based in Detroit.

That's surprising because (aside from Cherokee floors), I've never really seen a rusty AMC. I've seen Eagles pulled out of wet grass (where they've lived for 10 years) and still be solid... where 80s Fords, well... there aren't any LEFT!

Posted by bandi That's surprising because (aside from Cherokee floors), I've never really seen a rusty AMC. I've seen Eagles pulled out of wet grass (where they've lived for 10 years) and still be solid... where 80s Fords, well... there aren't any LEFT!

i have to second you on that, amc cars had thier quirks but rust wasnt one of tehm

It might be because they ordered different specs for steel? I've seen bad steel here come from quality steel plants like Schnitzer Steel and even US Steel.

every AMC i had seen here had rust in odd spots. Instead of the rockers, or bottom of the doors/fenders... it was the hood, roof and TOPS of the fenders?

Posted by Samurai every AMC i had seen here had rust in odd spots. Instead of the rockers, or bottom of the doors/fenders... it was the hood, roof and TOPS of the fenders?

my buddys javelin has a recurring spot on the decklid