The Ford Aerostar Was Better Than You Think

"Margin Of Error" (marginoferror) 01/08/2015 at 11:35 • Filed to: ESSAY

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Body on frame, manual transmission, 4x4, rear wheel drive and Eddie Bauer are all buzzwords that will inevitably makes any car enthusiast pull a stiffy.

Guess what car had all that ?

The Ford Aerostar.

Although this may sound a bit surprising, the Ford Aerostar was a much more competent vehicle than most uninformed people would think, here's why.

Chrysler spent many years developing a sketchy high-roofed wagon with a sliding door and decided to call it a "Minivan". However, Chrysler decided to use the K car, an FWD little piece of crap car, as a base. For some obscure reasons, people liked it.

In just a few months, Ford turned around and made a Minivan based on a real van, with a proper body on frame chassis and proper real wheel drive. The end result was an aerodynamic, highly dependable and fun to drive workhorse.

Power was provided by a wide range of engines, depending on your eagerness and/or your budget, but the most noticeable was the mighty 4.0 Cologne V6 that was so good it even powered the Mustang until 2010.

Which such and strong chassis and a powerful engine, the Aerostar had no problem pulling twice its weight.

Another goodie for enthusiasts was the Mazda-sourced 5 speed TK5 manual transmission.

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From 1990, an 4x4 model was offered for off-roading enthusiasts. It had great success.

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In conclusion, Ford succeeded in making the best "minivan". It was the most versatile, powerful and well thought vehicle of its class.

If you have some Aerostar stories to share with me, feel free to do it in the comments below.

TheHondaBro > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 11:38

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And then there was the Toyota Previa, the most Jalop minivan... in the wooooorrld.

Jcarr > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 11:41

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When I was in college I worked in the school's mail center. They had an early 90s, long-wheelbase Aerostar that we used to deliver mail around campus. That thing got overloaded and beat to hell, but it kept ticking every day.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 11:42

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Father had one growing up. It was manual without A/C, I still miss that car.

505Turbeaux > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 11:44

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I lost my wood at Eddie Bauer

RazoE > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 11:45

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That's not how you tow a RWD car!!?!?!?!fj;adl;aqoih

RazoE > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 11:45

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Mom had an Aerostar. I remember the radio controls for the rear passengers. My brother and I used to drive her crazy messing with it.

Margin Of Error > Jcarr 01/08/2015 at 11:52

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Good thing it wasn't a Dodge Caravan !

Margin Of Error > RazoE 01/08/2015 at 11:53

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These cars had a lot of features

itschrome > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 11:53

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We had one of these and it was a total junk bucket! it was a '94 bought used with around 50k in 98. it had the 4.0 and RWD, not sure what tranny but it was an auto. The only thing that POS had going for it was that it had two captains chairs in the middle instead of a bench. but the transmission leaked, had to replace seals 2 times before having a rebuild before 100k. the engine was shit, blew head gaskets and needed tons of work in the few years we owned it. Also it was a joke in the snow! even with good tires and weight in the back the damn thins was useless unless you where on really flat ground, which where i grew up is not common. Just a terrible, terrible piece of shit! Oh and thats not even mentioning how poorly the interior was done. knobs broke, everything was way to flimsy for a hauler in rear. damn sliding rear windows, for as nice as they were to have liked to get stuck. the paint on them flaked off and they rusted in no time flat. but then again the whole damn thing rusted like a bitch. should have came with a warning, avoid moisture and water at all costs!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > RazoE 01/08/2015 at 11:53

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Yes it can be, if it's a manual. Manual = totally fine.

Margin Of Error > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 01/08/2015 at 11:53

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An Aerostar in its purest form, what happened to it ?

Margin Of Error > 505Turbeaux 01/08/2015 at 11:55

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Let me help you

505Turbeaux > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 11:56

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better than Eddie!

Margin Of Error > itschrome 01/08/2015 at 11:58

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Sorry to hear that. Perhaps it has been abused by the previous owner, or ownerS.

Many of these cars were used as work vehicles.

 > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 11:59

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You forgot to mention the fastest rusting minivan ever made.

Also, Aerostar is not body on frame. It's unibody. The so called frame is welded to the body similar to Caravans.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > 505Turbeaux 01/08/2015 at 12:04

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Here's an almost-perfect copy of a Ranger-Package '74 Bronco I saw recently (this pic is a '73, but same color, same vinyl, etc.). This was at the Ford truck stash I mentioned.

itschrome > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 12:04

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No not really, we bought it from a family we knew and they had 2 kids (just like us) and didn't tow with it or anything. mostly just went to church and shopping, the kids where home schooled. Came with extensive dealer paperwork from all the maintenance and shit it ever got. Basically they sold it when the warranty was up. But nothing major ever needed to done. They had trucks for work and shit. Also it was a PA car and had no rust when we got it. as soon as it met NY saltastic winter road treatment it all went to shit rust wise.

Course they could still have scammed us hard. haha who knows. All i know is they were junk. and compared to the amount of other vehicles I still see from the 90's on the road, the fact that I haven't seen one of these In a looong time dispite being on sale till 97 goes to say something about them being shit.

Viking03 > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 12:06

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My family's Aerostar was the reason I swore off Ford for 20 years. I still wouldn't have come around to Ford if my wife hadn't wanted an F150 so badly. While Ford today is fantastic, (I currently own 2 Ford products) ours was the worst piece of crap I could ever have imagined. My memories of holidays and vacations are filled with roadside picnics while waiting for the damn tow trucks. While ours was the auto, it went through 3 transmissions. Changing the spark plugs required the removal of the intake manifold. The radio was always being changed because you had multiple people with access to radio controls. Who thought that was a good idea? The rear hatch broke my nose when I getting something out of the back because the shocks would fail at random times. It's not like it had been poorly treated and abandoned in the woods for a decade, ours was only 3 years old with low mileage and supposedly in good shape. I hated that thing and it left a permanent mark on my childhood.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > 505Turbeaux 01/08/2015 at 12:06

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Better pic.

505Turbeaux > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/08/2015 at 12:06

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oh hell yes. I had a 68/289 bronc I loved. Flat black, wagon wheels, rebuilt motor but the gas tank was rotten. Drove it home across the state on a marine fuel tank in the passenger seat. Always wanted one unmolested like that though

505Turbeaux > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/08/2015 at 12:06

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good lord

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > 505Turbeaux 01/08/2015 at 12:08

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The hubcaps on this one were the original style like the one in the first pic, and no added tookey running boards. It was *nice*.

Mattbob > 505Turbeaux 01/08/2015 at 12:08

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same here. Eddie Bauer editions always remind me of rusty 90's explorers.

505Turbeaux > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/08/2015 at 12:09

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the way it should be. Too many rich assholes making them into toys, not enough people enjoying them as they should be

505Turbeaux > Mattbob 01/08/2015 at 12:10

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haha or rusty broncos

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > 505Turbeaux 01/08/2015 at 12:12

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Sadly, I don't think it was being enjoyed/driven regularly so much as salted away, but it was definitely being salted in original config. Guy takes originality quite seriously.

thebigbossyboss > itschrome 01/08/2015 at 12:13

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I was thinking about how long it had been since I saw an aerostar this summer. Then I saw one. Then two then three....I was surprised.

Margin Of Error >  01/08/2015 at 12:13

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I may have to verify this, not that I don't trust you.

505Turbeaux > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/08/2015 at 12:14

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Good for him, he might end up with one of the last original ones going... I have so many people that are like, what are you going to do with the invicta wagon, rims, lowering, get that god awful pink metallic paint changed. Why in the hell would I do that? I am going to drive the piss out of it as it should be, after I put it back to even a little more original condition

itschrome > thebigbossyboss 01/08/2015 at 12:15

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no kidding. maybe they just didn't survive the northern climates?

 > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 12:20

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Go ahead. It's a C-section that's welded to the body. Front suspension cradle that holds engine and tranny bolts to the body.

nafsucof > FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 01/08/2015 at 12:24

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when I was in high school we had a manual cargo version no ac, basically no nothing but pure AWESOME. But I rear-ended somebody and it didn't stop very well.

thebigbossyboss > itschrome 01/08/2015 at 12:25

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Could be but these were spotted in Ontario hahaha. Maybe they are low miles. Or maybe yours was a lemon, always possible.

itschrome > thebigbossyboss 01/08/2015 at 12:30

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again, could be! but also being the home region of the windstar maybe they just had an abundance up there to start with. when ever I'm up in Ontario I see sooo many ford vans and trucks. well just fords in general. It's like you have to buy one there or something, support local industry!

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 12:31

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Chevy and GMC would like a word with you.

Unibody with subframe.

Short and long wheelbase versions.

RWD, with optional AWD.

4.3L V6 with 200 horsepower and 260 lbs-ft of torque with CPI "W" engine. 165 hp and 235 lbs-ft of torque with the TBI "Z" engine.

Rated to tow 5000lbs with AWD, 5800 with RWD, with a 1700lb payload capacity.

And on top of all that, these things are still crawling around all over the place. Basically all Aerostars have died or rusted away by now. My '94 is still rust free everywhere except the roof, and it's just surface, and just recently needed anything more than basic maintenance.

Oh yeah, and earlier years were offered with a 5-speed manual.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 12:34

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Guess what car had all that ?

If vans are allowed to be cars, then you should also throw in the 8th and 9th Generation F-150.

Because that had:

Body on frame

Manual transmission

4x4

Rear wheel drive

Eddie Bauer

Also, it had Inline 6 Cylinder Engine.

Also I rolled my parents Aerostar into the street when I was 2, because screw brake-shift interlocks.

FJ80WaitinForaLSV8 > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 12:36

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Transmission blew with 150,000 miles on it. Dad gave it away to the local NPR station for a tax write-off. He bought a land cruiser to replace it.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > 505Turbeaux 01/08/2015 at 12:39

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Fortunately on some of the branded cars, there isn't much to be done to remove it (My F-150 requires replacing one trim piece inside and two stickers)

505Turbeaux > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 01/08/2015 at 12:41

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ha I remember the f150 EB edition. sweet.

RobG-ADV > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 12:44

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A friend's family bought one (new) in high school (1986?). It was two-tone blue. It was ugly. But it was an okay vehicle. He discovered that the digital speedo wouldn't read above 85 mph. It'd just start blinking instead. But it had a 100 mph top speed limiter, so he learned to drive it right up against that limiter, the speedo blinking 85 all the way.

He worked his butt off trying to keep the thing clean, despite the rest of his family's best efforts to trash it. After about six months, he gave up, and like everything else they owned, it went to crap.

Oh and his dad bought a 4-sp manual stripper Ford Escort just before it (I remember it was a 1985 model).

Twism > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 12:53

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Mad photoshop skillz, yo.

E92M3 > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 12:55

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My friends dad drove one 250k miles neglecting the hell out of it. He owned a wallpaper business and had what I would estimate to be 1500lbs of the stuff in it at all times. Picture the entire cargo area stuffed to the roof from the front seats all the way back. He did oil changes every 2 years. He eventually traded it for an F-150.

Margin Of Error > Logansteno: Bought a VW? 01/08/2015 at 12:58

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Aerostar had a LWB version as well

thebigbossyboss > itschrome 01/08/2015 at 12:58

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Oh yeah. If there's one thing Canada has a lot of...it's ford trucks.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht >  01/08/2015 at 13:00

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For trivia points, did you know that the Land Rover Series II-III (aka the pre-Defender models) are not traditional body-on-frame? Sure, they have body parts that bolt to the frame, but the main structure is not a separate unit, not anything like what we normally think of. BOF almost without fail uses at least some kind of bushing, too - and the only things that are bushed on one are the radiator support (rubber washers), and some rub strips under beams on the back bed. Everything else is bolted to the frame rigidly.

What they've done, in effect, is to make something between a rail unibody held together with bolts and a true BOF. It's kind of like having the chassis in your face.

Margin Of Error > Twism 01/08/2015 at 13:02

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It's legit

lots of people were lifting them

Margin Of Error > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/08/2015 at 13:10

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So it still qualifies as a BOF

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > 505Turbeaux 01/08/2015 at 13:15

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It made the utilitarian F-Series usable by people.

However, I do hold the fact that there are no clamshell doors to the back of the Super Cab against Ford. Those were introduced in 1997.

Mine is a 1995.

the realist > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 13:17

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I hate to be the contrarian here... but we had 2 of these things, a 1987 XL w/ the 3.0 Vulcan v6 and auto and a 1990 Eddie Bauer LWB AWD (only offered with the 4.0 Cologne engine and auto). They were completely and utterly unreliable. My parents purchased both vehicles new and my father is religious about maintenance... possibly over-maintaining in some cases.

The 1987 had constant cooling system issues... it used to religiously blow heater hoses towing a 1700 lb boat at 55 mph in cool weather and relatively flat terrain. It was so bad that we started carrying spares and extra coolant. This was on a vehicle under 4 years old and with less than 50k miles. Then the transmission started going out...

Which led us to buying the 1990 EB. It towed better, but the a/c had constant issues and the front differential started making strange noises at approximately 22k. We had it fixed and rid ourself of these POS forever.

The dealer was very good to us, thankfully... worked through the cooling system in the '87 and the a/c issues and diff in the '90. But I could not in good conscience recommend these things to anyone I liked.

We never should have gotten rid of our Volvo wagon.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 13:20

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I'd say so, but it resembles the BOF setups of the 20s more than anything modern.

Margin Of Error > the realist 01/08/2015 at 13:26

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Thanks for sharing your story

Twism > Margin Of Error 01/08/2015 at 13:28

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I know it's possible (and it's probably frickin awesome to drive in the mud), but that picture you used was a 'shop.

'Dem pixelz and reflection are all wrong, bro.

Margin Of Error > Twism 01/08/2015 at 13:32

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I got the image from Google, that was a huge mistake.

Back to Bing.

O[][][][][][][]O ™ > Margin Of Error 01/09/2015 at 08:42

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Ford...always bring a spare.

gla2yyz > Margin Of Error 01/14/2015 at 14:45

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I can't recall the last time I saw one running around. Even the Windstars seem to be dying off. And Freestars now come to think of it. The only vans from that era I still regularly are Astros/Safaris. Although one guy a few blocks away has a first gen Caravan with a manual.

Kevin Barrett > 505Turbeaux 01/14/2015 at 15:04

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Love that curved windshield!

Earl Snake Hips Tucker > Margin Of Error 01/14/2015 at 15:06

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My first car was a 1988 Ford Aerostar. It was Chalk Brown, leaked all the power steering fluid, and had so much rust that you needed a tetanus shot every time you got in it.

OneHeadLight > Margin Of Error 01/14/2015 at 16:48

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No, it wasn't.

evilfacelessturtle (Hooning a Ford is Domestic Abuse) > Margin Of Error 01/14/2015 at 16:54

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Hmm, that rear door does not look like it will clear the tire...

Corolla All The Things > Margin Of Error 01/14/2015 at 18:53

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If I recall this used the wonderful A4LD automatic behind it. Famous for it's ability to fail even when put in a 2.3L powered Fox-body Mustang, let alone the Ranger/Aerostar. Even well over a decade ago it was rare to even see one up north due to rust, and down south due to it's poor reliability.

Infact, the last one I saw down here was one owned by the local Boeing plant before they got rid of it last year. I will say it was insanely clean however, a true unicorn. Haven't seen another one driving since.

blckbeerd > Margin Of Error 01/14/2015 at 21:50

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YES. This is the Oppo article I've been waiting for! I don't have good photo, but I have a tattoo of a 94 Aerostar in Forest Green on the back of my right calf... yes, seriously. In high school, the first car that any of my friends had was my buddy's Aerostar that his parents handed down to him. Going up in a boring ass small town, it became our go-to mobile hang out spot. We took out the middle seat and we could cram at least 12 people in there, drive to the beach, get in trouble, drunk, laid, etc. All that good stuff because of that otherwise shitty van. Of course, it was abused and old to begin with, and started to lose cylinders, among other problems. When we finally had to retire it, it had over 250k miles and a lot of memories. That van became the symbol of our group and a few of us have gotten the same tattoo of it in memory of its service.