Help Blair Save a Family Heirloom Car

Hello, I'm Blair, and I'm looking to keep 27 years of family history on the road. The car you see pictured is a 1995 Ford Explorer, the same Explorer that my parents bought used shortly after I was born. I was so young I was still in a hand carrier, and they set me up on the hood while they were looking at it in the dealership parking lot. This was all the way back in 1998, and the car has been in the family since and even survived being rear ended by an 18 wheeler and the subsequent bout with the insurance company. Unfortunately in recent days, the transmission has started slipping between 1st and 2nd gear. It's been through more than I could ever hope to tell in this text box but I'll see if I can hit the highlights.

My folks lived in Baltimore for about 3 years with the car, and it made several journeys down the east coast to visit my extended family in Georgia.

It saw mine and both of my siblings first day of kindergarten all the way to each of our graduations from high school.

The computer went bad in it in the early 2000s and a hail mary $40 computer from Ebay saved the car. That same computer is still in the car today.

The odometer stopped rolling in either 2011 or 2012 at 293k miles, and it's been on the road since then with no major break from service.

Regular weekend trips from Columbia to Augusta and back, sometimes twice in a weekend for special occasions.

Its been through 26 Christmases.

Helped me move away from and back to home 4 times now.

I don't even know how many fishing trips starting from when I was old enough to cast a rod properly.

Went to Atlanta and back in the same day just to see a concert.

And of course all the little moments in life that happened in between.

It's been an absolute gem of a car, with so much of my family's love and history embedded into it. My dad and I estimate the car has between 450 and 500 thousand miles on it by now. The service tech at the shop gave me a conservative estimate of around $3500 but I expect this number to climb once the diagnostics are completed. I'm already grateful to anybody who takes the time to read this, and forever appreciative of anyone who donates.