Anyone have the year-to-year sales numbers??

I'm curious because I still see so many of them on the road...I love 'em, wish Ford would bring 'em back

 

I don't have annual subtotals, but the total number of Aerostars produced was 2,029,577. Here is a link to a fascinating article about the St. Louis, Missouri plant that built the Aerostar. Interesting reading.
http://www.bluesarthouse.com/ford/plant.htm

 

I worked for two weeks in the St. Louis plant back in 1979. They were making the Mercury Marquis on the Panther platforms, now called Grand Marquis. It occurred to me that that may be the platform that the Aerostar may be based on. The big change is the rack and pinion steering and the 3 link rear.

 

Thanks for the link and the stat, 2,000,000+ Aerostars is very impressive! They had a winning formula, maybe they should've stuck with it instead of following the industry (car based, FWD, less room)

As an aside I'd like to praise my van, This van CAN'T be stopped, not amount of cold or wind chill can stop it. NOTHING. It's never not started ever.

I laugh at people who get to work half an hour to an hour late in their newer cars especially the receptionist with the '02 Rav4 who made fun of my van just because of its age (even tho I repainted it 2 summers ago, it's pristine on the outside, never been hit, and inside it's immaculate ( it's had seat covers since it was bought, and I and my dad have cleaned it on the inside every 4 months since we bought it used in '90 with 9,000 miles on it, we armor all it, dash cover for sun, no cracks at all, it's near showroom) and it runs like top, since we've always keep strict maintenance with it. and have taken care of her.

So she sheepishly asked me if I was late and I laughed in her face at her Toyota and said of course NOT, not so for her, the RAV4 didn't start so she took a taxi, hahah, serves her right!!

BTW I live in Canada, Montreal to be exact for 3 days last week and 4 days this week it's been -35F during the days, and during the night for the past 2 days it reached -40F and -43F respectively, no joke, the CAA (like the U.S. AAA) has had record number of calls for boost and mechanical failures but my Aero just starts right up everytime even though it sits in the street (no garage).

 

hows the traction up there in the land of snow and ice? here in ohio i usually put a couple of sand logs (like pickups use) in the back under the rear seat. i have been fortunate so far. i have good tread on my tires (firestone firehawk). i see ytour is also 2wd. get around ok? . rick

91 aerostar xl, ext aka "the green bean"
4.0 litre 192 thou. miles and going......................

 

I don't have any sand bags in the back of my truck or anything else... I rarely even have passengers! Never once has she gotten into something she couldn't get out of. Never had any worse a start than any other vehicle on an uphill Never a complaint or moan. EXCEPT When stopping on ice... the rear wheels are fine but the front like to lock up... but then again I've only ever driven one vehicle with 4 wheel antilocks and HATED it. I'd rather pump the brakes thanks. I've heard many complain of bad traction and spinnning rear wheels in the winter... the only comment I have is STOP DRIVING LIKE A MANIAC. lol I'm 19. that's it 19 and I've never had an accident, been in a near accident, lost control or slid through a stop sign or red light. I don't drive like a ***** either. I'm just smart. I know the limits of my trucks and my own. I don't sit there like so many automatic drivers spinning my tires in the snow whining that my car sucks... MY 'star is great because I know how to drive it. Sand Bags in the wintertime? Who needs em? not me! I live in kingston, ontario in canada right on the lake. Ice and snow love us almost as much as they love montreal. You either learn to be a good driver or put it in D and press the gas and spin your tires until she goes frontwardsly. It helps to have a manual of course but the auto does have a "2" option... maybe automatic driver's should learn to us they're 2 and low gears.

 

The traction is fine since we replace our winter tires every 3-4 winters depending on wear. This past December we just bought some Toyos, and they're real good, haven't been stuck anywhere or near stuck and we've had alot of snow already. Snow that's covered the van ENTIRELY so you can't see it and no problems, tires make a huge diference IMO. Braking is fine as I keep a safe distance and speed b/w me and other cars.

When you park on the street here, the city takes the street snow and pushes it onto parked cars, building like a wall on its side and not even that stops me, stick it in 2, feather the gas and it goes through, I think the ground clearance of the Aero helps alot too.

Obviously on the snow/ice filled days if I gas it too much they'll spin but so will anything else(FWD included), it's like FoxyPaws said, use common sense. I don't use sand bags, just the long rear bench seat placed at the back of the van seems to be heavy enough over the rear wheels. We removed the middle short bench, so it's like a limo now, hehe.

 

Hey NCAero88, Do you wanna sell? I have an'89 which has been a great van until recently. Seems I'm fixing everything on it.

 

Sorry chucknc she's not for sale.

 

DANG!

 

Foxy- Be safe! A good car helps, but remeber Chuck Yeagers admission: A good pilot in a crappy plane can easily waste a bad pilot in a great plane! Good advice about SLOWING DOWN-

(Incidently it is going to be 28 degrees C/ 80 F in Orlando today....

-My 97 Aerostars best point point for me is its ability to start on the first turn of the key, depite the fact that I leave it in the Airport's employee parking lot for sometimes 3 weeks at a time.

Hmmm.....I always thought that the Aerostar chassis was a development of the '80's Ford Ranger mini-truck chassis. It's not based on a full size car, since all of Ford's big stuff was body-on-frame.

?

Normy!
'97 Aerostar 3.0
'85 928S2 5 Speed

PS: I have a webite devoted to the FordAerostar. The name is the same, just add ".net".....

 

28C eh Normy, Booooooooo!!!

BTW nice website you got going there, we need more sites like yours dedicated to the Aerostar, I didn't know about the Renault Espace, very interesting, looked up some pics and I see the resemblance......good stuff, keep it up!