For
my morning posts this week, I'll be running with a theme commemorating
Sleeper Sedans--those unassuming four-door conveyances that mix equal
parts subtlety with muscle.
In honor of the original Ford
Taurus--the last truly revolutionary high-quality American
sedan--today's Sleeper Sedan is the first-generation Ford Taurus SHO.
When
it debuted in 1989, the SHO was a bit of an anomaly. Established wisdom
for American family sedans, even the rare hot-rod versions, was to wrap
a torquey V-6 or V-8 in flashy bodywork, mate it with a
lowest-common-denominator automatic transmission, and make a big splash
in the marketplace.
Not so with the Taurus. The Taurus
debuted in 1986 as the most European of family sedans, with
revolutionary aerodynamic bodywork and taut, capable suspension--vastly
closer in philosophy and execution to an Audi 5000CS than a Ford
Fairmont.
Likewise, instead of taking the typical easy way out by dropping a Mustang V-8 into the Taurus, Ford contracted with
Yamaha
to produce a sophisticated high-revving screamer of a V-6 that looked
as lovely as it sounded at full tilt. Ford strayed even farther from
the formula by offering the SHO with only a five-speed manual--a great
boon to the do-it-yourself enthusiast crowd, but an edgy move given the
automatic's popularity with the masses.
The combination
of the stick and the high-revving V-6 gave the Taurus a European flair
and ferocity utterly absent from American sedans, and the extremely
subtle exterior cues maintained the SHO's under-the-radar profile.
Later,
of course, Ford succumbed to temptation in restyling and eventually
ruining the Taurus's looks, then replacing the SHO's highly strung V-6
with a much more mellow V-8. The change sold more cars but spoiled the
SHO's sleeper high-strung character.
Early SHOs in good
condition are harder to find now--they were made and sold in limited
numbers, and most were treated very badly. Still, the numbers hold up
even in today's environment of wild horsepower infl
ation.
In 1989, 200 horsepower, a redline of 7,500 rpm, and 0-60 in 6.5
seconds were awfully impressive and put the SHO in the same performance
league as the Mustang GT--and even faster at high speeds.
Subtle
visually, but a rapacious performer, the Taurus SHO was as excellent a
sleeper as the original Taurus was as a family sedan.
SHO stands for "Super High Output" and thus it stands to reason that
www.superhighoutput.com is a great source for SHO information--and these photos.
--Chris H.
Greg on July 29, 2008 at 03:02 PM
A couple points to note:
The Taurus SHO V6 had 220 horsepower, not 200. It did, however, have 200 lbs. feet of torque. It redlined at 7000 rpm, not 7500.
The limiting factor on the redline was not the motor itself, but the accessories mounted to the motor. They could not withstand being revved over 7000 rpm. If not for the accessories, it is said the SHO motor could rev up to 10,000 rpm.
The 2nd generation Taurus SHO was a revised version of the first with many improvements, not the least of which was a rod-type shifter in place of the cable shifter. The body was cleaned up some, and the SHO looked a little more the performance car it was than the previous generation SHO. A 2nd generation 5-spd SHO will keep pace with a 1st generation SHO. It was the third generation SHO (which could not be had with a 5-spd) that was slower. 2nd generation SHO's with an auto were about a full second slower to 60 than the 5-spds.
Jason on February 02, 2009 at 08:44 PM
Hmmm... I took two of those pictures :-)