Cars can act like bookmarks in out lives. Some stand out more than others, but I’ll always remember being bowled over by the first-generation Ford Expedition. What are the cars that captured your imagination as a kid?
For me, the Ford Expedition totally blew my mind when I was a kid. Forget supercars and concepts; it was this rather pedestrian Ford SUV that I would get excited about when carspotting. Sure, I was familiar with the second-gen Explorer and the last of the Broncos, but those didn’t knock my socks off the way the first Expedition did.
Our family car was a 1997 F-150 XLT SuperCab, into which us kids would happily pile in through the one rear door. That truck had an interesting layout, with just the one jumper door to access the rear bench. I can see now that it was inconvenient but I loved that little door when I was a kid.
I thought it was very clever and loved its latch, which was built into the side seam. I would open and close the doors in sequence — first the main passenger door, then the rear jumper door — with all the seriousness of an astronaut entering the space shuttle.
So when I noticed the first-generation Expedition it seemed like the evolution of our family car to me. It was perfection; it was everything our pickup was and more. It was the cooler, bigger version of our truck, and I wanted so badly to ride in its rear cargo compartment. I would daydream of bringing my Gameboy and sleeping bag on long road trips in the Expedition.
I know SUVs like the Expedition eventually led us to the current state of the sedan, to our modern landscape of crossovers but back then, the first Expedition represented something else to me. It was full of possibilities and wonder. So what about you? What new car blew your mind when you were a kid?
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