What about all the free mods? (You said appearance so I will leave out the free (VERY LITTLE) performance mods...)
What about:
- debadging your car ("Contour" "GL", etc)
- knauberizing your doors (the door-ding strips on each door being removed for a clean/sleek look)
- a GOOD wash/wax will aid in the appearance of ANY car.. not JUST a wash... a GOOD ONE..
- hightower headlights if you feel comfortable breaking in to your headlight assy..
CHEAP:
- ALL SORTS of LED mods, both inside and out
- tinted taillights
- sidemarkers
- painted reflectors (in the case of pre-98s it wouldn't matter)
- mesh front grill.. elky comes to mind, but gutter guard will...work
- custom "ford" emblem
- tons of others...
HTH
Ray