Here's a Ford Concept SUV You Can Buy For Less Than a New Expedition

"Blake Noble" (blake-noble) 11/15/2014 at 09:00 • Filed to: Concept Cars, This Is All a Joke, I Actually Think This Is Neat

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The 2001 Ford Explorer Sportsman concept was built for fishermen, only displays the speed you're driving in Euro jargon and isn't legal for highway use. But right now, for less than the price of a normal street-legal Ford Expedition that tells you how fast you're going in proper miles per hour, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

When Ford rolled out the Explorer Sportsman concept SUV at the 2001 Detroit Auto Show, it was intended to bring the American SUV back to its roots of being a means of rugged outdoors transport instead of a prominent fixture at suburban shopping mall parking lots. In fact, Ford had one specific outdoorsy person in mind when they were designing the Explorer Sportsman concept: Fly fishers. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

To make the Explorer Sportsman more Sportsman's Warehouse and less Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, Ford fitted it with full skid plates and the front bumper with a integral winch because you'd totally want to bash up a one-off prototype off-road. And for the avid fly fisher, the running boards had hidden storage space for his fishing rods. It even included a removable 30 gallon live fish tank in the back so that the avid fly fisher, probably desperate to get out of the house and away from his nagging wife who recently banned beer from the fridge, could cleverly stow away all of the Miller High Life he was going to drink with his buddies down at the pay lake where the fish "just wudn't bitin' tahday."

Speaking of the interior, the seats are trimmed in woven leather and they look as if they were stolen from some ritzy redneck's Bayliner bass boat, continuing the angling theme. Everything else is trimmed in Australian Bloodwood because why not. And the speedometer only displays kilometers per hour because, as we all know, the Ford Explorer was insanely popular with small car loving Europeans who just have to be different and use the goddamn metric system.

Now, most concept cars usually lack the ability to move under their own power. But not this one. The Ford Explorer Sportsman concept is motivated by a Mazda-sourced four-banger that I have good reason to believe was borrowed from a ratty old Ford Probe. If so, then it's only good for a maximum of 127 horsepower. Hopefully, I shouldn't have to tell you how insanely slow this thing would be to drive.

Well, that is if it were street legal. Because the Explorer Sportsman is a concept vehicle, that means Ford didn't have to meet any federal safety or emissions standards when they were building it. Also, because this is a concept car, it doesn't have a VIN plate, so that means you can't title it. Add it all up and that means your car will probably be confiscated under civil forfeiture laws and used in a Jaws of Life demonstration for baked small town high school students if you were to ever let it set foot on a public roadway.

So, for the low asking price of $36,900 — which is $7,030 less than a new Ford Expedition that you can actually drive to work everyday — you can own a useless turd green SUV that was designed with the middle-aged alcoholic man in a failed marriage and who'd "rather be fishin'" in mind. But hurry. It's also currently !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in an auction that ends tomorrow, Nov. 16 at 5 p.m. and the bidding war has been so hot it's still failed to meet the reserve price.

jkm7680 > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 09:08

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Not that horrible of a price for a little piece of Feeerrrdddd history.

carcrasher88 > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 09:09

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I posted about this back on Thursday, when bidding was at $17,600.

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/wanna-own-your…

But, of course, the 'BEER FISH GOES IN HERE' alone makes this one better. :D

Takuro Spirit > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 09:15

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If I ever make it rich of pimping parts I wanna buy a big ass plot of land and buy old protoypes like this just to bomb around my land in. Would be FUCKIN AWESOME

JR1 > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 09:40

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I would buy the hell out of that. Looks awesome and would make a great off roader.

Group B Enthusiast - Captain of the supercharged barge > Takuro Spirit 11/15/2014 at 10:14

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Many prototypes, or two Rally Fighters!

9brghtn4 > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 10:35

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'Euro jargon' lol, more like 'whole world except US and UK' jargon.

jimz > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 10:41

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not even Tavarish could make a convincing case for this.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 10:43

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If it has the Mazda F Engine, swap it out, and put a KLZE with a turbo in there.

Tom Hegedosh > Group B Enthusiast - Captain of the supercharged barge 11/15/2014 at 10:45

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not sure I understand your proposition. A rally fighter is neither 1/2 or 2x of that price

InterceptingJensen > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 10:50

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Any word if it is built on a fragile platform? If it's built on an actual truck platform, I'd offroad the shit out of it. I wouldn't mind trailering it

Brickman > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 10:50

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I think the power windows would go up/down by rotating the lever? That would be so bad ass in modern trucks instead of the switches and buttons. Edit: Saw the buttons on the center console. :(

Clutchman83 > carcrasher88 11/15/2014 at 10:53

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All the more appropriate when all the fly fishermen I have ever met practice catch and release 99% of the time (including myself). What else are they gonna put in a live well?

FARP > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 10:57

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well this article is just plain disgusting with so many "oh how convenient that your mom wont be able to fit in that shit after i pound her" overtones. irrelevant article

boxrocket > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 11:06

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Except for the headlamps which look like blocks of frosted glass that don't look like they belong, I like it. In fact, I like most every concept Ford made in the early and mid 2000s. More could have reached production and I'd have been thrilled.

That said, I'm glad they didn't take the gm route of making concept cars into production models without making them more practical/livable (SSR, solstice/sky, Camaro, hhr, etc.) or messing up the design that got buzz going in the first place (aztek and volt, though both are rather ugly, although the production volt has grown on me somewhat - except the fake DLOs).

Blake Noble > InterceptingJensen 11/15/2014 at 11:10

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According to Ford's press release, it's supposed to be based on a 2002 Explorer frame.

jimz > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy 11/15/2014 at 11:12

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that's your solution to everything.

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 11:14

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How this would work in Georgia

Step one: buy 2001 Explorer Concept,

Step 2: buy salvage 2001 Explorer from Copart

Step 3: Attach vin plates from totaled Explorer

Step 4: Have concept inspected by private inspector and get "Rebuilt Title"

Step 5: Register in no Emissions Testing County

Step 6: Drive that mofo

Dubblewhopper > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 11:17

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I would buy it and drive the shit out of it. Local Montana police have more pressing matters than a truck hooning the local mountain roads.

spoke2go1 > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 11/15/2014 at 11:20

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God bless Bartow county lol

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 11:26

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What purpose do these Ikea bed slats fulfill?

DerW220 > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 11/15/2014 at 11:39

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This happens even more often in Florida too.

illerpen > Brickman 11/15/2014 at 11:40

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I would totally be down with volume-knob style controls for power windows.

Scraper222 > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 11:50

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But you need to drive slow so you don't scare the fish. Ford engineers thought of everything!

Scraper222 > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 11:51

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Fire hazard???

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > jimz 11/15/2014 at 12:01

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...like Miata is the answer to all questions.

Blake Noble > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 11/15/2014 at 12:20

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Apparently the rear of the roof rack folds down and out to make loading it easier.

joneiw > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 12:23

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Start working at home with Google! It's by-far the best job I've had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474 this - 4 weeks past. I began this 8-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $77 per hour. I work through this link, go to tech tab for work detail

———————————> www.jobs7000.com

Ted Olsthoorn > DerW220 11/15/2014 at 12:24

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Wait, there are people driving concept cars on public roads in Florida? Do you have pictures?

Maxaxle > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 12:27

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Everything about this interior strikes me as just wrong.

FJ60GatewayDrug > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 12:34

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"This lot should not be left unattended with its electrical systems operating for extended periods of time."

Didn't Ford own part of Jaguar at this point still?

Blake Noble > FARP 11/15/2014 at 12:39

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This article was specially tagged for folks like you.

F1guy hates duck billed F1 cars > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 13:23

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I like it. If I had the money, I'd take it and put it up on display. I think that as a design it's cohesive. Nice work Ford.

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 13:24

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I assume this is a stock photo? How did the concept engine bay get 100K in dirt?

jkk > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 13:27

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Strange, Fords Explorer is not populair in Europe, and the concept of a fishing vehicle is even more strange to Europeans. May I suggest it is a car for the USA with the right set of metric units, thus Ford trying to educate the ignorant?

DerW220 > Ted Olsthoorn 11/15/2014 at 13:34

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They do it with vehicles in general.

Blake Noble > Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius 11/15/2014 at 13:50

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That's an actual photo from the seller. As for how all that dirt got in the engine bay, I'm guessing its likely due to transport and storage conditions. I'm thinking it might have changed hands once or twice before this.

Kenneth V. Vereen > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 14:00

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Start working at home with Google! It's by-far the best job I've had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474 this - 4 weeks past. I began this 8-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $77 per hour. I work through this link, go to tech tab for work detail

———————————> http://www.jobs700.com

Group B Enthusiast - Captain of the supercharged barge > Tom Hegedosh 11/15/2014 at 14:08

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He said 'old prototypes', implying many... 2 Rally Fighters = Many prototypes.

SP23 > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 14:09

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MEH. Let me know when this thing goes up for auction.

DMCVegas > Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius 11/15/2014 at 14:14

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In all fairness, you'd be surprised. I had a relatively clean engine on my car that I pulled through the Texas panhandle back in 2005 in the middle of some nasty wildfires and dust storms further north on Oklahoma that were blowing south. The lower end of the engine is clean still as you can see around the water pump pulley, but that nasty dust was all above. Parking the car in storage for a prolonged time hasn't helped either.

sadfasdf > Maxaxle 11/15/2014 at 14:18

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Everything about my fist strikes your face as wrong!

rollingdoughnut > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 11/15/2014 at 14:24

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I need to take up fly fishing, but the rest of the described target demographic is spot on. Except I'm in Gwinnett County, where they test emissions. I'll probably be moving soon though. Ha! Perfect time to move to Hall county. No emission testing. Sold.

ranwhenparked > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly 11/15/2014 at 14:26

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Related question - does this mean that the side racks will randomly collapse at inconvenient times for no reason whatsoever?

ranwhenparked > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 14:28

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I guess if you own a large ranch or hunting estate, you might actually be able to put this to its intended purpose as an off-road hunting/fishing vehicle. Still, it seems like there would be more practical vehicles for that, like a Polaris Ranger or something. At least the interior is quite attractive.

Goshen, formerly Darkcode > SP23 11/15/2014 at 14:32

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Or into production.

Blake Noble > SP23 11/15/2014 at 14:34

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Better yet, let me know when Ford decides to build it for, like, you know, real.

Carwood > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 14:43

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Wow I remember when this came out. If I were 10 years older and had a fair amount of property this would be perfect. Damn.

usingthegasyourhybridissaving > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 14:54

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what the sweet fuck is going on with these "tires"?

Wojtek > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 14:56

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There, I fixed it.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Trent Hacker > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 15:04

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I look at it as an investment. Collectible cars, especially one off concepts are bringing big money. If I had the dough, I'd buy it and store for the next 20-30 years and then cash in.

usingthegasyourhybridissaving > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 15:05

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you'd think they would at least clean the bay up before asking 37 large for this turd

Trent Hacker > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 15:06

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Is it Lego?

Axel-Ripper > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 15:08

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TIL: Ford still makes the Expedition.

mad.anthony > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 15:13

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Looking at the seller's other items, I think I'd rather have the world's only wide-bodied, v-8 powered Volvo Bertone coupe. It's street legal!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Other-Make…

gabdere > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 15:25

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''And the speedometer only displays kilometers per hour because, as we all know, the Ford Explorer was insanely popular with small car loving Europeans who just have to be different and use the goddamn metric system.''

Countries officially not using the metric system : Liberia, Myanmar and the USA. I guess Europeans are not that different then.

TheDocktor > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 15:32

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I was fortunate enough to see this car in person a few months back. A family friend worked for the guy who owned it at the time, as well as a bunch of other early 2000's concepts. Pretty neat to get up close and person with a concept.

iamjomos > Axel-Ripper 11/15/2014 at 15:41

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Do you live on a secluded island or something?

suburban86 > Axel-Ripper 11/15/2014 at 15:55

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and it's still a heck of a vehicle

suburban86 > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy 11/15/2014 at 16:00

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wouldn't 4.0L be better? ya know, torque down low?

Blake Noble > ranwhenparked 11/15/2014 at 16:10

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Considering its a concept car with the build quality of a tin shed, probably.

RaggedMile > TheDocktor 11/15/2014 at 16:19

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Limited steering ability?

RaggedMile > Maxaxle 11/15/2014 at 16:19

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Yea, not very rugged looking is it.

punkgoose17 > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 16:30

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If it is a Ford Probe engine can you get it a Ford Probe Salvage title and replacement VIN?

tapzz > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 16:37

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the Ford Explorer was insanely popular with small car loving Europeans every human being on the entire planet who isn't a US citizen, and who just have to be different and use the goddamn metric system.

360ad > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 16:44

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What is a beer fish? A fish shaped like a bottle of beer? A fish that tastes like beer? A fish that can only be found in beer? I don't know if I want fish poop in my beer.

Ravingto > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 16:54

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I instantly thought of this thing.

fasttoyo2500 > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 17:02

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That's actually a 88-93 Mazda B2600 2.6L engine. The firewall looks to be from the same Mazda B2600 as well, so I assume this whole concept was built on that truck. Should be easy to get it registered.

ononeathome > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 17:14

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How is this concept even available? I thought all manufacturers either crushed them or put them on display.

Blake Noble > ononeathome 11/15/2014 at 17:18

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I'd say it's probably a result of Ford's near death experience during the Recession.

BobWellington > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 17:47

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I saw this (on the internet) back in 2010 when the new Explorer was about to be revealed. It was going up for auction with RM Auctions. I don't recall what it went for, though.

Nevermind...here it is. http://www.rmauctions.com/lots/lot.cfm?l…

It went for $49k, but it's listed as having the 4.6.

special_k_side > gabdere 11/15/2014 at 18:05

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But you do recall, it is a Ford.....those countries are probably the only ones that actually think that they are built tough. :)

special_k_side > TheDocktor 11/15/2014 at 18:06

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Please note, it is in a garage, no tires were blown during this photography session. :)

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 11/15/2014 at 18:18

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Have you seen the price of 01 Exploders? If you have the coin to drop $36k on this thing, you can buy a road legal Exploder for like $1500 from which to steal the VIN and not have to worry about the "tainted" title for insurance purposes...

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 18:21

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let's forget about the truck for a moment...I NEED that flat green paint job on my next car...

Blake Noble > usingthegasyourhybridissaving 11/15/2014 at 18:28

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If they cleaned the engine bay up, they'd have to decrease the price. Don't you know how patina works?

Blake Noble > illerpen 11/15/2014 at 18:31

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Rotary dials for power window switches would actually be pretty awesome. You could perfectly control how far up or down you'd want the window.

The reason why you'd never see it happen though is because power window switches are designed they way they are for child safety purposes. You know, I might just write a few hundred words about this sometime soon.

Blake Noble > BobWellington 11/15/2014 at 18:35

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$49,000? Wow. Isn't depreciation great? ;P

I thought I saw a link about it going up for sale while researching this article. Thanks for confirming I wasn't losing my mind.

JohnTaurus-3L-AX4N > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 18:47

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Umm, Europe isnt the only place where your speedometer reads in KPH. You forgot about our friends up north. Perhaps the concept was intended for a Canadian fly fisherman.

J-Rod > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 19:23

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It looks like the Pope's weekend hunting truck.

Jakkal > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 19:38

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I say nice price. Sure you could buy 90% of anything on the used market, and combos of most. But almost all of those things have a million clones rolling around.

This things actualy a one off from the manufacturer. The one & only.

Stash it in your underground whare house for a hundred years and have your great grand son sell it to a different eccentric millionaire

mrsparkle01 > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 20:36

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you mean the ford pathfinder

Braniff747SP > gabdere 11/15/2014 at 20:51

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Fairly sure that's the point.

Dave K. Bibbins > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 21:30

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Start working at home with Google! It's by-far the best job I've had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474 this - 4 weeks past. I began this 8-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $77 per hour. I work through this link, go to tech tab for work detail

———————————> http://www.jobs700.com

M0L0TOV > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 22:15

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Are you my father, Explorer?

ranwhenparked > gabdere 11/15/2014 at 22:16

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The UK still uses a mixture. They had to switch because of the EU, but haven't totally committed.

NinetyQ > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 22:46

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I saw a "real" one in person! This photo is from the 2002 Oshkosh Airventure.

mike302 > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy 11/15/2014 at 22:55

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Put a Ford 4.0 V6 in it.bulletproof

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > suburban86 11/15/2014 at 22:58

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Yeah, I was looking more for a direct fit, a Mazda 4 Cylinder of that era can be swapped in directly for a KL. But in the case of the 4.0, mounting points are a bit different.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > mike302 11/15/2014 at 22:59

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I see where you're coming from, but I was looking more for a direct fit with minimal modification., Assuming if the prototype had a Mazda 4 cylinder from a Probe.

j250ex > Blake Noble 11/15/2014 at 23:15

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I always thought Ford destroyed their concept cars?

Maxaxle > sadfasdf 11/15/2014 at 23:23

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*cowers*

tobythesandwich > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 11/15/2014 at 23:27

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VIN Swapping? Legal in Georgia? Last i checked that was a federal crime. There are ways to get it legally approved (like when people buy ratty first gen Camaros and get the complete "car" from Year One and all). But swapping VINs in every single state I've lived, worked, and been in it's been a huge crime resulting in a crushed car and a lovely new girlfriend called "Bob"

SP23 > Goshen, formerly Darkcode 11/16/2014 at 01:56

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Even better.

SP23 > Blake Noble 11/16/2014 at 01:56

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Amen, brother.

Captain_Spadaro > Blake Noble 11/16/2014 at 04:21

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Kinda looks like a styling concept.

I drive touaregs > Blake Noble 11/16/2014 at 05:33

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So, this is the "original" POS Expedition? Kill it!

Brede > Blake Noble 11/16/2014 at 07:34

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I have a list of cars I'd own if money was no object. It contains only about 20 cars, but it would be super-awesome to own some concept cars as well, and they often sell for less than you'd expect. A while ago I saw the Ford Powerstroke concept on ebay, and the price on that wasn't that high either.

SkarTisu > Axel-Ripper 11/16/2014 at 11:45

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ELI5: Why does Ford still make the Expedition?

E Shotropa > Blake Noble 11/16/2014 at 11:56

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"Add it all up and that means your car will probably be confiscated under civil forfeiture laws and used in a Jaws of Life demonstration for baked small town high school students if you were to ever let it set foot on a public roadway.

So, for the low asking price of $36,900 — which is $7,030 less than a new Ford Expedition that you can actually drive to work everyday — you can own a useless turd green SUV that was designed with the middle-aged alcoholic man in a failed marriage and who'd "rather be fishin'" in mind. But hurry. It's also currently up for bid on eBay in an auction that ends tomorrow, Nov. 16 at 5 p.m. and the bidding war has been so hot it's still failed to meet the reserve price."

well done, sir.

Rand0nS > Blake Noble 11/16/2014 at 14:07

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Another wasted this instead that article. Must be getting hard to find good material to write about.