When I was a kid, back when Ford Explorers and XJ Cherokees choked roadways all over the Puget Sound, I wondered what would happen to these yuppie-boxes in twenty years. The Jeep had some chops, but I had doubts about the Explorer, Ranger origins be damned. They were status symbols. They were vehicles that said…I dunno, something. “No minivan for me!” Or maybe, “I’m outdoorsy, too!” Whatever. But it was an honest thought at the time, one fueled by two movie scenes: Strange Days, where a Chrysler LHS limousine and 1994-ish Dodge Ram are shown to be “classic” vehicles, and Escape from L.A. where an early 1990s Fox Body Mustang and 1990-ish Ford Thunderbird, both battered and beaten, were tearing around the city in a rolling gunfight. All of the movie vehicles were brand-new vehicles at the time, and so were the sport-utes. How would time treat them? And what would people do with them once the value plummeted to just above scrap value?
Here’s your answer. The XJ was on Craigslist, the Explorer was one foot in the grave, sitting at a scrapyard. Both had seen better days. Both are two-door, six-cylinder rides that stock, few would really care about. Now? Both are just about ready for anything, thanks to the work of four guys who are going to thrash the holy hell out of these beasts in the spirit of competition. Here’s the third part of the Hoonigan’s Build & Battle series!
