In middle school, I once had a conversation with a kid on the bus about what we wanted for a first car…or, rather, what he wanted as a first car, since my first Camaro had come and gone and I was up to two G-body Cutlasses. His response floored me: he wanted his dad’s three-year-old Ford Taurus. The only things I knew about the Ford Taurus at the time: it was the cop car in Robocop, it was a sensible choice for a family sedan, and I would have rather taken ownership of the plague than one of these front-drive admissions of middle age. He didn’t agree with me, and I didn’t agree with him…right up until we pulled up to his bus stop and sitting there, idling in the western Washington mist, was the most confusing thing I’d ever seen up to that point: an evil looking Taurus in deep green, idling with it’s markers and foglights on, looking rather stealthy for a family sled.
The Taurus SHO was a surprise when it debuted for 1989. It packed just about the same power as the contemporary Mustang GT and would keep up until aerodynamics started to favor the Taurus’s slipperier shape. It’d stomp most anything in class, and you’d need either a Mustang GT, Camaro, Firebird, a hot DSM product, or something pricing at least twice as much to touch it. It was a family sedan done right, was a sleeper to most, and is a cult classic nowadays, especially if you can locate one of the five-speed versions. Is the SHO BangShift worthy, thought? I may get flak for this, but I think so. Ford gave the Taurus some guts and the otherwise boring-ass family sedan suddenly could rock. It’s far from the first car you’d think of when you pick out your next project, sure, but the insurance company won’t hassle you and the kid in the stock-but-loud SN-95 Mustang will wonder just what the hell happened when a near-extinct sedan from years gone by hands him his ass withe the front wheels blazing.
Language warning: Mr. Regular gets pretty excited…and R-rated…over the SHO.
I bought an 89 SHO used in 91 and still have really good memories of shocking 5.0 Mustang, IROC Camaro, and GTA Trans Am owners on a regular basis. Along with good fuel economy when you took it easy on the happy pedal.
But the other side of the coin held the failed alternator, blower motor, fuel pump, and worn out undersized clutch that Ford offered to extend warranty on the time for but not mileage. Not to mention lights that wouldn’t shut off in cold weather until the interior was toasty warm inside.
I tell people all the time how it was my best and worst used car purchase ever, and I only could justify keeping it a couple of years.
Yep, I also had an 89. Hands down the coolest looking motor ever built. Loved that car. Good news was it had a Yamaha engine, Mazda transmission. Bad news is the rest of the car was a Ford Taurus, with shitty noisy struts, bad heater cores and yes, crappy clutches. With most cars today having over 200hp. as the norm. it is hard to imagine 220hp. N.A. was king of the hill in ’89.
Forgot all about the upper strut bearings in the rear struts, I’ve still got some family holiday video with those clunking in the background. A whole lot of failed parts at only 70-120k kilometers of driving.
Bought a new ’95 SHO. It was a 5-speed and a blast to drive. BUT… It had a flaw in the tranny that allowed hot trans fluid to follow the speedometer cable into the cabin where it leaked out on the driver’s feet. This happened 5 times in 16k miles. 4 different dealers attempted to remedy the problem. All this under warranty.
Out of frustration we filed a lemon law claim (this was in New York) against Ford. They sent a factory rep to the hearing who acknowledged that there was a design issue and that a TSB had been issued for a fix, but somehow 4 dealerships has failed to realize that. We won our suit and got reimbursed all but $1500 of the full MSRP.
Customer service at its finest.
There is a Henry J with SHO power that is BS approved at Speedweek every year! It’s badass!!!