If it weren’t for the aftermarket wheels and tires, this refrigerator white 2001 Ford Taurus would simply be another former Enterprise Rent-A-Car escapee. There was nothing of interest about the 2000-2007 Taurus…they weren’t as well-received as the original, they weren’t as controversial as the 1996 redesign, and since the SHO variant was dead after 1999. The powertrain wasn’t anything to get excited about, either: if you were doing good, you could get a 200hp V6. Whoo-hoo.
Now, there is one bright side: the Taurus’s sibling, the Lincoln Continental sedan, got a transverse-mounted 4.6L Modular V8 and AX4N transaxle. That means that there is a V8 swap for a Taurus that isn’t the 3.4L Yamaha unit used in the 1996-99 Taurus SHO. That also means that all of the internal hot-rodding you can do to a 4.6 can be jammed into the front end of a Taurus. Keep it quiet…real quiet… and nobody would be the wiser, would they? Forum member Tedly found this gem on the Taurus Car Club of America forums and it was too good to not share.
That’s a very clean install, it almost looks like it belongs.
I think steelies and a clean deck without the wing would qualify this for sleeper status.
I wonder – is the resemblance to a UK Ford Mondeo a coincidence or are they based on the same floorpan? If so a V8 Mondeo would be awesome!
Especially on black steelies, faded rust spattered stock paint and a few strategic dents…
Good catch!
The Taurus and Mondeo were all part of Ford’s global car platform.
As was the Gen-II Land Rover Freeloader.
That would be a SHO, V8 came standard. That is not a motor swap!
No, that one is NOT a SHO. That InTech V8 is the 4.6L mod motor from a Continental, not the Yamaha P.O.S. from the SHO.
Did you actually read this post? Come on, man.
You should read the article. Next time, before you call someone out, be sure you know what you are talking about. That is not even close to the Yamaha V8 in the Third Gen SHO’s.
I’m not sure how my arguably mistaken comment applies?
Dude is a moron. On top of not knowing how to read, he can’t figure out how the comment section works. Typical know it all that doesn’t actually know anything.
The Contour/Mystique were on the same platform (CDW27). The Taurus/Sable were different (D186). The wheel bases were virtually identical, but the Taurus is more than a foot longer and a tiny bit wider. You might actually be able to do this to a European Mondeo, but it wouldn’t be as easy I suspect. Here’s someone that looks to be serious about it, though: http://passionford.com/forum/restorations-rebuilds-and-projects/437278-new-project-mondeo-st220-going-v8-rwd-sleeper.html
Looking at Wikipedia (which I should have done in the first place, my bad) it looks like you’re right. I knew one of our contour cars of the era was a Mondeo, but was off by a model.
Thanks for the correction.
Been researching ways to hop up my Sable so it’s all fresh in my mind, otherwise I probably never would have known. Again, that was a good catch on your part, it would probably work!
A V8 or otherwise hot rodded Sable would be pretty cool!
My best friends car! MF’r is sexy.
I had 2 Taurus’s at one point. Now since a V8 swap is possible. Now I gotta found a 2000 to 2007 Taurus in good Condition.
Too bad that generation of Taurus was such a junk heap.
My mom had a 2000 she bought brand new and drove until it had over 100k and it was one of the worst cars I’ve ever been in. Horrible build quality, uncomfortable, slow, awful tranny, everything went wrong with that car and most of it before 100k.
I drove her 1997 Taurus that my father took over when she bought the 2000 and despite being not all that different (same motor, same tranny), it was miles ahead of that 2000 in every single way.
Tauruses (and then an 02 Grand Prix) did a darn good job of allowing my 2002 Dodge Intrepid to convert my mom into a Mopar fan, though, and her 2004 Chrysler 300M has been a great car that she loves. So I guess that is a good thing.