Ford still builds one heck of a car. I just sold my '96 Explorer with 367,780 miles on it for $1800.00. It ran like a top, and still does. Guy that bought it took it to California and back two weeks ago and averaed 23 mpg. I'm kind of sad I sold it, but wanted a new one.
That's unlike my '75 Grenada, which began to shake, rattle, and roll at about 50 thousand miles. In short order, let's see... no way in hell I can remember everything it did to me... the motor suddenly started sounding like a 50 cal MG -- I'm guessing it must have thrown a rod or something equally "trivial" :) (I ended up dropping in a "new" motor from an "old" junker -- bought a junked Maverick for about $150, paid a garage another $150 to drop in the engine and tranny ("keep the change"), and oh, yeah, I swapped batteries too.
Then, it dropped a tie rod on me while driving down the local "Miracle Mile". Yowie! You ain't had advanture until your two front wheels decide to point outwards in opposite directions at 40 MPH in traffic!
...unless, that is, you've been driving down a country road at about 60 MPH, and had the power steering control valve drop off the Pitman Arm, and your steering wheel turns into a pinwheel that you can spin with one finger -- while your two young kids are sitting in the passenger seat.
Yes, there is nothing to match the raw adventure of flying down a country road at a mile a minute, with no steering whatsoever, knowing that if you're foolish enough to hit the brakes, you might spin out, what with NO steering control whatsoever, watching your car slowly drift to the left, into the oncoming lane, thanking God that there is no oncoming traffic -- until you see that four foot thick oak tree standing next to the road... just before your attention is taken by the split rail fence you run down, one post at a time, again, thanking God that none of the horizontal stringers come flying through the windshield.
Yes, the adventure is incomperable! Your heart bearly slows down even when the car slows to a halt (the split rail fence and your front bumper acting as an ersatz "tailhook and wire", slowing you enough so that you stop a few feet short of that Oak Tree from Hell).
In fact, your heart is doing such a barn dance that as you stagger up to the farm house, to ask for help, and the owner says, "I just put up that fence!", all you can do is blither something about "steering... kids... police... help..."
I'll stop there. That's enough Ford-venture for one day. For me, at least.
Have You Driven A Ford, Lately?
Sadly, I have. I married into one. It's falling apart -- one might say "prematurely", if it was a Toyota, but it's not a Toyota, so, I simply say, "It's falling apart sooner than my wife expected."