How is it possible to get a one-owner Ford Explorer XLT 4×4 with a 5-speed manual and fewer than 100,000 miles for just $2,650? Anyone lamenting vintage vehicle prices in 2025, or not even vintage, all vehicle prices lately, this one is for you. The seller has this bright blue (Brilliant Blue?) 1992 Ford Explorer XLT 4×4 5-speed posted here on craigslist in Camas, Washington, and they’re asking a mere $2,650. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Barney for the tip!
Brilliant Blue and Bimini Blue are fairly similar, at least on color charts. I was going to say how nice it would be to have a photo of the original window sticker, since this is a one-owner Explorer. Or at least a photo of the data tag. But, sadly, out of eight exterior photos, the seller doesn’t even give us a passing glimpse of the passenger side at all! Not one square inch of the right side is shown in all eight exterior photos. That’s rare and doesn’t inspire confidence for online buyers. Anyone interested can always get in touch with the seller, and maybe they’d send photos of the passenger side.
The driver’s side, front, and rear all look great to me, with just a touch of surface rust and maybe a ding or two here and there. I’ll take no engine photo over not seeing one whole side of a vehicle. (you already know there’s no engine photo in this listing) This Explorer is wearing what Ford referred to as “luxury cast aluminum wheels,” and at least two of them look nice.
Ford called these great-looking and optional sport bucket seats “Crystal Blue,” and they look perfect. The whole interior looks perfect to me. I noticed a couple of dings on the exterior and a hint of rust on the bottom of the hood right above the left headlight, but I don’t see a flaw inside. The most flawless part is that the 5-speed Mazda-sourced M5OD-R1 transmission wrangled by the long shifter on the center hump next to the transfer case lever.
Ford made the first-generation Explorer beginning in 1990 for the 1991 model year until 1994, and as you can tell from seeing a back seat photo here, this seller hasn’t bothered to pop the hood to show us the Ford Cologne 4.0-liter OHV V6, which had 145 horsepower and 220 lb-ft of torque. Power is sent through the 5-speed transmission and an optional 2-speed manual transfer case to all four wheels as needed. It’s said to be well-maintained and has a new clutch, new brakes, new tires, and I’m already way past the seller’s crazy low asking price. How is this Explorer still for sale?
Be gone today you’d think👋
I’ve thought that these early Explorers,& full size American vans
will be collectible,& go way up in value for very nice examples.
I always thought these early Explorers, with the blocky styling, nailed the emerging compact SUV market. Others must have agreed, they sold very well, including the slightly-rounder-looking versions which appeared later. This one looks good and is very cheap. The Eddie Bauer versions were particularly sharp. Like angliagt notes, I wonder if they might pick up a bit of collectability in the future.
Good job Scotty.
Looks like a bargain to me. Would certainly like to see some right-side photos…I’m guessing the omission wasn’t deliberate.
Mileage isn’t terribly high for a 32 year-old vehicle, and it should have a lot more miles ahead of it. Cars do rust in Washington State, so that would have to be checked out, too.
I’ve driven several, and for me this would be a better deal than its over-sized modern successors. These days, $2650 is chickenfeed if it lives up to the seller’s claims.
🎯 Ray. Find another 4wd w 2 sticks, and 3 pedals cheaper.
You mean before or after you drop thousands of dollars to make the cheaper one limp down the road?
This is something else. A 4WD Explorer with a stick? Someones going to grab this one in a heartbeat. You never see these, and in such nice a condition too. Bery nice one Scotty.
I always thought this would have made the best midsize Ranger to compete with the Jeep Comanche and Dodge Dakota.
These were very closely related to the Ranger. They used the same dashboard.
Seems like a scam to me. You can’t buy anything in this condition for $2650.
Wow. I thought these all got gobbled up by the cash for clunkers program.
Most of them did. I haven’t seen an early Explorer, on the road, or for sale in ages.
I bought off the dealers lot a white 1st year 91′ Ford Explorer, auto with the rare 50 dollar option front bench seat.Drove it from NJ to AZ in 1992.
the listing is deleted – surprise! If it was closer to me and had seen this sooner I would have bought it. I had a Ranger that year and my best friend had a Mazda Navaho in that color – both manual trans. We put alot of trouble free miles on those two.
It’s already gone at 1217 Eastern.
Sorry if I’ve told this story before. When second kid came along, wife said the ’89 Mustang GT had to go, so I sat down and ordered my ’94 Explorer. White with gray seats (better than these, almost Recaro like), two wheel drive, five speed, deleted luggage rack, and sunroof XLT. Added bigger stabilizer bars and wider aftermarket wheels, and it wasn’t bad. Until 95,000 miles and that dam+ Mazda transmission lost second gear. Put in a rebuilt that lasted another 100,000 miles, when a roll pin worked its way out and locked the trans in third gear. Rocker panels were about gone by that time. so parted it out. Saved that 4.0 to drop in my ’76 Capri II #someday#.
I was a service manger at a Ford store when these came out. The first one we had, the sun roof blew out on its first test drive. Then on it’s second test drive, it came back on the hook with the engine overheating. (A valve spring punched through the head and the oil and coolant got really friendly. This is all within 2 days. They immediately got nick named Exploders. After fixing the first one a couple of more times, the balance of the Explorers we saw started to get better. By the end of the first year, it seemed that they were getting reliable. Tire wear issues continued because of the twin “I” beam like front suspension. But the rest of the issues just went away. The second version ’93 thru 2000 were much better. With the only issues being transmission failures. I currently have a ’98 5.0 V8 2wd. that I really like. 4 wheel disc brakes, 4 wheel ABS, Power rack and pinion steering, torsion bar adjustable front suspension, and the V8 cars come with a 5 link rear suspension.
It was called Brilliant Blue. I ordered one new in 93′ with every option box checked. Mine was Brilliant Clue with Dove Gray leather interior and the deerfoot print rims. Loved that truck.
It is to good to be true! It’s gone! Listing has been deleted!