ah yes, vans often have plenty of room for radio gear.
I was sort of thinking more of SUV's and cars etc.
Nothing wrong with a 95 windstar.
In fact, if you go to
www.explorerforum.com
you can learn all you ever wanted to know about the windstar line and how to 
repare practically every single part of the vehicle...also, there's great 
trouble shooting tips and do it yourself articles for lots of stuff from 
engines, to suspention to whatever...can make an old car last longer and you 
can save a huge pile of doe by doing stuff yourself that you previously 
might not have wanted to try.
I know your mechanically inclined...as am I.
I just replaced all four shocks myself on my 2001 explorer sport without 
much difficulty after reading a well written article from explorerforum.com. 
I saved something in the neighborhood of $500 plus by doing it myself.

Leaf springs, new shackles, and a manifold intake gasket  are next on the 
list as the vehicle has 111K miles on it now and these things are famous for 
needing this kind of stuff done at about this point in their automotive 
careers.
One thing I've learned over the past few years is that parts are always, or 
almost always, the cheap part of repares, it's the labour costs that kill 
you.
A 30 dollar part might take a shop 4 hours, at $100 an hour to install.
It might take me 6 or 7 hours, and allot of cursing and swearing and 
bemoaning, but I'll get it done for $30 plus the cost of a 6 pack.
And, I'll know exactly what was done and how it was done...no 
mystery...unless it's something that is really involved and that I am not 
comfortable doing myself, or that I don't have the right tools for....IE 
timing repares, any deep engine stuff like cylinders, cylinder heads, head 
gaskets etc.

73
Colin, V A6BKX
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, May 30, 2011 8:49 PM
Subject: Re: Mobile


>I don't know what our next car will be but what we have now is a 1995 ford
> windstar, yes the only one left running more than likely, and it has a 
> nice
> shelving unit buildt in to the dash under the radio and ashtray and what 
> not
> so I have my 2 meter and 900 MHz radios mounted in there now, low enough
> they can't be seen from outside the car. I could easily get my 706 in 
> there
> but this car is dead it just doesn't know it so the next car I'll stick 
> that
> in with the separation kit more than likely. very few cars will allow you 
> to
> mount any other way anymore. I'd love to see the car you could mount a
> ts-2000 in, boy could I have fun with all that room.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "colin McDonald" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, May 30, 2011 10:37 PM
> Subject: Re: Mobile
>
>
>> what kind of car is it?
>> most vehicles made in the past 10 to 15 years don't have much room, or at
>> least, easy access, under the dash to mount anything.
>> Usually they have some kind of molded console which prevents any
>> tradditional type mounting under the dash.  Dash top, visor, or roof
>> console
>> mounting of control heads has become the only availible option for most
>> vehicles.
>> And, there is usually a passenger side dash airbag that prevents a
>> passenger
>> operator like most of us, from mounting anything on the dash in front of
>> the
>> passenger seat.
>> However, depending on the make and model of the vehicle, there are after
>> market center consoles made specifically for radio gear to be mounted
>> anywhere from 1 unit, to around 6 or 7 radios depending on your
>> requirements.
>> Of course, it's an extra couple hundred bucks for these that is usually
>> ear
>> marked for maintenance and other necesities lol.
>> I've got my scanner, and kenwood TH F6A clipped to the passenger sun 
>> visor
>> with their belt clips, and that seems to work well at this point.  A
>> speaker
>> mike for the HT, and a good speaker velcroed to the dash close to where
>> the
>> wind shield meets the dash makes it more or less a decent mobile radio,
>> except for the limited 5W output.
>> And a dual band amp could fix that quickly enough.
>> As for HF, well, a control head like on the IC7000, or IC706 could be
>> placed
>> in several excellent locations around the front cabin area.
>> A customized antenna mount off the back bumper, or half way up the body
>> off
>> the rear brake light mount area is also availible in my vehicle.
>>
>> 73
>> Colin, V A6BKX
>> ----- Original Message -----