You want weird? I’ve got your weird. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Windstar (a phrase I never imagined I’d write) rocks a BMW/Lincoln turbo diesel. Let’s see if it’s price is the right kind of weird as well.
If you’d like your chest and nuts - and everything else - roadstering on an open freeway then you could do far worse than yesterday’s tidy 1970 Datsun 1600 Roadster. Yule log many a mile in that bad boy, and, with a 70% Nice Price win, you wouldn’t have to feel like you overspent this holiday season to do so either.
Ah, but the holidays are far from over. The warm glow of Hanukah is still in the air and today being Christmas Eve means even more holiday cheer to come. Plus, next week is New Years, which means more drinking, and the blowing of horns while drunk. Good times!
If you are still desperately seeking the perfect gift for that hard to shop for certain someone, that person who seems to already have everything, then may I suggest something that practically no one has, which is this 1999 Ford Windstar with a BMW 2.4-litre diesel six.
Yeah, that’ll drop some jaws if not some panties when discovered under the boughs of your Xmas tree.
Now, Ford’s Windstar was sort of the weird kid in class of the Minivan world. The first ones didn’t have a street-side slider. By ‘98, when that became a competitive disadvantage Ford made the driver’s door longer than the other side which, with a foldable driver’s seat gave awkward access to the traffic for the kiddos in back.
This one, being a second-generation ’99 gives you sliders on both sides, just like a White Castle. It’s based on the Taurus platform and so parts shouldn’t be an issue. And then there’s that diesel mill. That is claimed to have come out of a 1985 Lincoln Continental.
As you may recall, back in the ‘80s Ford bought a bunch of BMW M21 diesels to stick in their Lincolns. That move proved less than a sale success and Ford resold a number of the 114-bhp turbo engines to Vixen for use in their fancy pants motorhomes.
This one found its way here, and now sits crossways under the hood of this Windstar. The ad says that it has been used as a daily driver for the past eight years, and that the engine runs well.
Most likely it’s hooked up to Ford’s four-speed AX4S transmission as that’s what these vans had from the get-go.
The body is in okay shape, apparently exhibiting some rust in the rockers. It’s also missing some chrome trim in front, and features a gouge - or a trailer hitch receiver - in the faded grey plastic of the back bumper. The paint looks like it’s Santa on the 26th-levels of tired, and one of the headlights has gone hazy. Oh, and it’s a Ford Windstar, did I mention that?
The ad says that the inside - particularly the carpet - could use a good cleaning. Aside from that it looks okay in the pictures, with acres of grey plastic surrounding swathes of lighter grey mouse fur. Ford’s interiors in the late ‘90s weren’t totally horrible, and that’s all I’m going to say on that matter.
There’s no mention of milage in the ad, but the keywords added to engender search results are quite funny. I wouldn’t necessarily expect this to show up in my searches for a good Takeuchi tracked loader.
Perhaps not so funny is the price, which is $3,900, or what you might normally expect to pay for four to five normal Windstars. This one isn’t normal, it’s abnormal and that’s what makes it special. Is it however, $3,900 special?
You decide!
Kansas City Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to ShibbyUTman for the hookup!
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