I’ve had my eyes open for a gen1 Taurus SHO for quite a while; I’ve shot a nice gen2, but the story isn’t quite right without the original. So this caught my eye when I drove past, and I stopped the car and opened the window just long enough to know it wasn’t the real thing, despite some efforts to make it look like one. Moving right along…
“Reverse CC Effect”: a few days ago I saw a pristine white first-generation SHO with the less common “center cap basket weave” wheels. (Every other SHO I’ve seen has the wheels in your picture.)
It was in Pawtucket, RI, of all places!
Not the actual car, but looked just like this.
Somebody got a deal on Gen2 SHO wheels for his Gen1 GL.
Yep, as well as a bad maaco paint job to almost make it look like a SHO.
Although the Gen 1 SHO did have these wheels for 1991. The Basket weaves were 1989 and 1990 only.
The mesh style wheels were what came standard on the 1st gen SHO. Which suggests that most of them you have seen are the 2nd gen. The slicer wheels as shown on the red car here were available on a 1st gen in 91 only on the plus package. I had a 90 or 91 SHO I forget now in the same red as shown in the picture. Awesome car to drive, that motor was so nice. I always had fun popping the hood to show people that motor, it surprised a lot of people who weren’t expecting a motor like that in an old Taurus. Mine had a habit of just not wanting to start sometimes but if you waited and came back later then it would. It would also just randomly stop running. It had other issues so I ended up having to just sell it. Still would like another but nicer than what I had.
Yes; these wheels were a tip-off almost immediately, but I wanted to make sure…
The SHO’s Yamaha engine was indeed a work of art. My ’89 SHO was fast, and with a 5-speed manual it was a fun drive.
The engine never let me down, but the rest of the car was a constant source of frustration. The aircon broke (twice), the stereo failed (twice), the passenger door lock stopped working, the rear muffler support bracket snapped off and the rear brake disks wore prematurely. The clutch was replaced (twice) before the technician discovered the culprit was a failed bearing on the clutch housing. After only three years, rust started to appear on the edges of the trunk lid.
But what finally convinced me to get rid of it were two steering failures within a couple of months. First, a bunch of teeth broke on the steering rack (not good!), then a bolt/stud holding the steering rack to the front subframe snapped (definitely not good).
No other car I have ever owned suffered so many faults, all within 3.5 years from new.
Despite it’s impostor status, this Taurus doesn’t look half bad.
I had a ’91 SHO with those wheels. I think it was the only year they came standard on the first gen (89-91) SHO. Mine had issues too, but not as many problems as Stephen had.
Many years back, our Lebanese next-door neighbors had a SHO of this vintage. I have since learned there are many of this nationality in Dearborn who work for Ford; perhaps there was some brand-loyalty here. The family moved back there (the husband was a well-paid medico).
Kind of ironic when you consider old Henry’s prejudices.
A 1990 Ford Taurus was hands down the worst car I’ve ever owned. Knobs and switches on the inside fell off like autumn leaves. You could scratch the paint off down to bear metal with your thumbnail. It went through four (that’s right, FOUR) power steering pumps and two transmissions in the agonizing ten year span I drove it. One of the trannys committed suicide on New Year’s Day. Post-holiday depression, I guess. One of the numerous times it was in the shop I had a mechanic tell me “This thing was a piece of s**t the day it rolled off the assembly line.” On the upside, it was pretty fast and the AC always blew ice cold.
A coworker of mine at my first Air Force duty station had a base Taurus he “converted” to an SHO and was trying to sell it to me… His even had the 4-cyl and auto, but he got his hands on the correct body kit parts from a junkyard and advertised it as a real SHO. He used to insist on calling it a “show” rather than S-H-O which I endlessly debated with him and my dad, who sold Fords at the time and did the same thing.
Of course I didn’t buy the car but who was right? Is it show or S H O?