The other day I was goofing around on Wikipedia, and for some reason I bumped into the entry for the Ford Pinto, a completely little econo-car from the 70's. Perhaps more significant was that it was one of my very first cars. So I decided to make a list of all the cars that I/Kristie & I have owned. I started looking for pictures, and that's how we got here.
1994 Ford Windstar
I'm not ashamed to admit that I've always been intrigued with the mini-van. It seemed like the perfect combination of practicality and comfort that really appealed to that uber-practical side of me. But the biggest appeal of them were (and still are really) the seating capacity.
We had owned our Landcruiser for about a year when a friend and co-worker approached Kristie and I with a proposal: would we (Kristie really) be interested in watching his two daughters during the day? His wife was ready to return to work and they were looking for daycare. They'd pay of course. Kristie and I were always looking for ways to make ends meet a little easier, so this seemed like a good fit. But we had a problem: the Cruiser was a nice, big vehicle, but a 5 seater at best. We had to have a way to put 4 car seats to transport these 4 little girls and none could be in the front seat. Clearly we had a problem.
It was sad when we sold the Cruiser, because we both weren't really ready to get rid of it, but we knew we had to. My friend Brad had been touting the amazingness of the new Ford minivan, the Windstar, so we decided to take a look. We liked what we saw. It was very comfortable, could seat all the girls easily and was very powerful. It was expected to be fairly reliable and the used market for minivans in '94 wasn't so great. Toyota and Nissan only had their first generation combi-vans and the Toyota Previa was just being introduced and appeared to be out of our price league. I wouldn't consider a Dodge or Chevy product...so the Ford appeared to be the only choice. The only issue was that we were having a hard time affording
it...so we took the plunge and entered into a lease. Really against our better judgement as after the EXP we swore we'd never lease again. But we needed this car, I rationalized. Neither of us, especially Kristie, was particularily thrilled with the prospect of a minivan...but again, we needed this.
it...so we took the plunge and entered into a lease. Really against our better judgement as after the EXP we swore we'd never lease again. But we needed this car, I rationalized. Neither of us, especially Kristie, was particularily thrilled with the prospect of a minivan...but again, we needed this.And it was a pretty nice little van. We drove down to La Junta, CO to visit my grandma, it was very comfortable. We had purchased a TV/VCR combo and the girls could watch movies while we traveled. We also ferried a bunch of us around town during Xmas vacation, and it was nice not having to coordinate two different vehicles.
But the daycare gig never really happened. In typical fashion, we put all of this into motion and then our friends ended up doing something different. So we knew we wanted out of the minivan, but we were kind of stuck in the lease. And Kristie really, really wanted her Land Cruiser back.