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Buddy recently scored an incredible find. A super clean genuine ITR. Came by today to dropoff a NSX R steering wheel for me to reupholster. This thing is minty, never stolen. haha
He declined all and decided to drive the hell out of it until it dies gets stolen!
let's be real. It's not "if" it's "when". Just because it hasn't happened *yet* doesn't mean it won't. All Integras go through that as a matter of their life cycle.
let's be real. It's not "if" it's "when". Just because it hasn't happened *yet* doesn't mean it won't. All Integras go through that as a matter of their life cycle.
hahaha that is so true yes. He said he will never drive it out to anywhere that the car has to be parked outside hahahahaha
Originally Posted by Rick_TL-S
Give it another couple years, drive it moderately on weekends, he might change his tune for a decent flip.
In Minneapolis, Minnesota sits a minivan so rare, I have no choice but to refer to it as The Holy Grail. Yes, it looks like a normal Ford Aerostar, but trust me: It is more akin to a chalice filled with the elixir of life. I recently had a chance to see the glorious machine up close, and now I am a changed man. Here’s why.
After my articles about Chrysler and GM minivans, you may be wondering if Ford had a minivan Grail of its own. The answer is yes, and for the first time in my life, I actually saw it with my own eyes.
It belongs to a man named CJ, a Union Pacific employee living in the Minneapolis area. “If you happen to have time to visit, or break down, near Minneapolis, MN let me know,” he emailed me last month upon hearing about my trip out west in my Land Cruiser.
At the end of the email, he listed his cars:
In Year descending order:
2015 VW Golf TDI Manual
2001 Ford F250 7.3 Diesel
1997 Hyundai Tiburon Manual
1996 Ford Aerostar
1995 Pontiac Grand Prix (In need of some work)
1994 Chrysler Town and Country (In need of a lot of work, wish you were here to help lol)
1992 Ford Aerostar MANUAL
1992 Infiniti M30 Convertible
1992 Infiniti M30 Convertible (supposed to be a parts car...)
Upon reading the seventh line, my eyes grew to the size of hot air balloons, I spit coffee all over my monitor (I don’t actually drink coffee, so I had to go out and buy some solely for this task), and grabbed a paper bag to breathe into as I gathered myself. This man had a manual Ford Aerostar? I thought those were just urban myths communicated in secret codes at car shows around America. Rumor has it that if you decode the official flier for the 1992 Meadow Brook Concours d’Elegance, you will find the message: “MTX AEROSTAR EXISTS.”
Despite this, I’ve never been convinced that such a magnificent machine exists. Aside from some Craigslist listings that may or may not have been photoshopped, and aside from official Ford brochures and the EPA’s website (neither of which can be trusted, let’s be honest) evidence has eluded me. Until now.
On my return trip through Minnesota, I sent CJ an email asking if he wanted to meet. He showed up in his 1992 Ford Aerostar powered by a 3.0-liter V6 engine bolted to a magnificent five-speed manual transmission. Behold the grail, the real, actually-existing, true, intact Ford minivan grail:
That bulletproof 3.0-liter Vulcan V6 only made about 135 horsepower and 160 lb-ft of torque. And moving probably somewhere around 3,500 pounds of van, I bet that feels rather slow, even with the manual transmission robbing less power than the automatic. You’ll hear CJ struggle to answer when I asked him if the van was quick. “It’s not a ball of fire. It’s an early ’90s minivan,” he admits before reassuring me that, despite its lack of speed, the van is fun to drive thanks to the stick.
That manual is the five-speed Mazda-designed M5OD found in lots of 1990s Ford products like the Ranger and Explorer. It’s a light-duty manual known for its so-so reliability based on what I’ve read on online forums. If properly maintained it will last, and even if it doesn’t, rebuilding it is a lot simpler and cheaper than fixing a four-speed automatic.
That’s one of the benefits of the five-speed Aerostar: This thing has potential to continue driving until the end of time. The fact that the stick makes it more fun, and the fact that this is the long wheelbase version and can basically act as a covered pickup truck just makes this machine even more grail-y. Add fantastic two-tone paint, the Aerostar’s futuristic styling, and the rear-wheel drive layout, and what you’ve got is a reliable, fun-to-drive, practical, handsome little drift-van. Asking for more in this life would just be greedy. This van is all you need. This van is all any of us needs.
Alright dude, I love the resurgence of manuals as much as the next enthusiast, but referring to some random, forgettable, & in some eyes, "shitbox" vehicle as a "Holy Grail" because it had a rare manual option fitted is off the wall silliness. I get that Jalopnik has a hard on for manuals, but this is too much, imo.
Nobody is going to wet their panties (besides this dude apparently) over a Saturn Vue, Chrysler Voyager or Ford Aerostar because it has a manual. It's as if manuals are all the same & therefore, all manuals are good. If I have learned anything talking to European friends over the past 10 years elsewhere, it's that they're not. In fact, there's some manual gearboxes that are absolute dog piles.
David Tracy, the author of that article is a little bit... uh... "eccentric". Even the most Jalopniky BrownRWDManualDieselWagon dorks in the comments are like, "dude, you've got a problem" when he posts a new article.
I think of it like: he's the type of person they keep on payroll so that people that are on the typical fringe can have someone to point to and say, "hey, get a load of this chucklehead."
"A manual Aerostar is just shit that makes you work more."
- Abraham R. Lincoln.
Alright dude, I love the resurgence of manuals as much as the next enthusiast, but referring to some random, forgettable, & in some eyes, "shitbox" vehicle as a "Holy Grail" because it had a rare manual option fitted is off the wall silliness. I get that Jalopnik has a hard on for manuals, but this is too much, imo.
Nobody is going to wet their panties (besides this dude apparently) over a Saturn Vue, Chrysler Voyager or Ford Aerostar because it has a manual. It's as if manuals are all the same & therefore, all manuals are good. If I have learned anything talking to European friends over the past 10 years elsewhere, it's that they're not. In fact, there's some manual gearboxes that are absolute dog piles.
MOST manuals suck. The only ones that are good are on performance cars because they are designed for a specific crowd of people who want a good manual and are willing to pay for it. Most manuals are made for cost reduction purposes, not for driving enjoyment. Manual trans in the Hyundai i30 I had in Iceland was a total POS. Ditto for the manual is Jeeps and trucks.
Do you always have parts sent to you for work or how do you do remote installs for people not local to you?
Thank you!
60% of my customers are from out of state. They usually ship me whatever interiors that they want reupholstered. Locals can either give me their stuff or just leave the car here. I usually don't do much install. Mostly just reupholster and customers do the install.
You should've sent a notice to the owner that the wheel will need to be installed a very specific way to avoid damaging the material, & you will come install the wheel personally. It may or may not also need a personal test to make sure it works correctly.
60% of my customers are from out of state. They usually ship me whatever interiors that they want reupholstered. Locals can either give me their stuff or just leave the car here. I usually don't do much install. Mostly just reupholster and customers do the install.
I'd love for you to reupholster the trim piece on my new car but I feel that it would be pretty cost prohibitive to ship it to/from you for such a huge piece.
03-20-2021, 02:02 PM
The collector car market is insane these days.
