The Ford Explorer debuted as one of the very first road-focused SUVs on the planet, after that type of vehicle had largely been reserved for off-roading purposes prior to that. The rest, as they say, is history, as the Explorer has become a tremendous success and one of the more popular SUVs on sale today. At the same time, we’re seeing older examples pop up at collector car auctions with increasing frequency, and this very low-mile 1997 Ford Explorer Sport is now set to join that fray.
This 1997 Ford Explorer Sport is crossing the block at Mecum’s Harrisburg, Pennsylvania auction, where it figures to conjure up interest for a few good reasons. For starters, it has only 2,955 original miles showing on the odometer, which is incredibly low for an SUV that’s nearly 30 years old at this point. It has also lived its entire life with just one owner thus far, and that person clearly took great care of it, because it looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor.
The red exterior paint and corresponding bodywork certainly shows no signs of wear or damage, which is also the case of its gray lower cladding and chrome wheels. Overall, this is a stellar example of a two-door SUV, which is something that doesn’t really exist anymore.
Peek inside, and one will find more of the same – near-perfect cloth upholstery, clean plastic panels, and amenities including power windows, locks, and driver’s side seat. Power comes from the naturally-aspirated Ford 4.0L V6, mated to an automatic transmission, and the engine bay is quite clean, too.
As previously mentioned, this Ford Explorer Sport is just one of many that we’ve seen hit the auction block in recent months, a good sign for potential appreciation moving forward. That list also includes another Explorer Sport from the 1995 model year, which surfaced for sale a while back with just 23k miles.
Interest-free financing and more on the coupe and convertible pony car.
Helping conduct what's known as a 'vacation check.'
A nicely finished machine, in general.
Pointing to growing sales of the automaker's EVs, in general.
Production is slated to end this month.
Only 12 percent of those sales came from the U.S.
