Looks like the one we bought our son for his 16th birthday. The one I worked on for a year after that to repair damage caused by sitting under a tree in the Northeast for nearly five years.
“Malovelent” comes to mind. Drove great…when it ran…but nothing short of abusive to work on.
Really though all it needs is a trunklid (non SHO-specific part, any junkyard should have one) and a respray to look presentable again. The condition of the mechanicals, on the other hand… I don’t know if this engine was known for reliability or not. There don’t seem to be all that many left (the 1st-gen might as well be extinct) but they didn’t sell a whole lot in the first place and a car like this was probably high on the list of many a teenage boy–good performance in an innocuous parent-pleasing and cop-invisible Taurus body. Probably resulting in a good many being wrecked, used up, or blown up.
I’ve always been a fan though. The one older Taurus I’d actually like to own. First-gen preferably but I’d take a good 2nd-gen. Third is too porky and lost the plot, plus that odd little V8…
I owned a 93 for a number of years. Purchased with 100K on the odo and limped it in on a trade at around 195k. The previous owner had just put in a new tranny before I bought it. Spent the last couple of years without being able to get the CEL to go away. And the 2nd tranny was spent. But that engine…as sweet of one as I have owned. Overall the car wasn’t ultra reliable but wasn’t bad. I’d have another.
If you feel like spending more than the Taurus is worth you can rebuild the engine and transmission if those are broken and a trunk lid is not too expensive. Do not know if I would bother with a repaint since it is only original once.
I had a coworker who’s family was relatively clueless when it comes to cars and her daddy bought her a 2nd gen Taurus SHO. None of them had any idea an SHO was the speed demon Taurus until she got a speeding ticket on NY 17/I-86 and she might have gotten more than one. I just find that to be quite hilarious, but never said it to her face. The Transmission went out and her next car was also white, but an Oldsmobile Intrigue.
While on some cars I agree with “it’s only original once”, 90’s clearcoat finishes like this one don’t seem to ever develop patina, they just eventually oxidize and become dull. Given that and the numerous scrapes and scratches, I’d respray it, but that’s just me. If the engine and trans both need work it’s probably not worth it, true. If one or the other is good, then it could be interesting. Not something that you’re going to make your money back on, but as an interesting “modern classic” keeper? Maybe.
Your story reminds me of a sight I saw while working at a university, about 5 years ago. I noticed a bright yellow Volvo 850 T5R parked along the curb–the ‘R’ being the really hot version. Figured it would belong to a gearhead, maybe one of the engineering students…as it would happen the owner walked up and got in just then, and it was the most stereotypical-looking sorority girl you could possibly imagine. Big sunglasses, big bag, greek letter shirt, hair and makeup, the works. Maybe she was into cars too–I’m certainly not trying to say that girls can’t be gearheads too–but the image was certainly not what I was expecting! My suspicion is that it was just a Volvo with leather seats to her, very possibly Dad’s old car, and that the ‘R’ badge and its attendant capabilities were probably of zero interest.
That is a good story and who knows the inner details.
The failing clear coat on my Voyager’s roof developed into something with a sandpaper-like texture and if I rubbed my hand on it my palm would pick up the Poppy Red paint that had been applied at the factory. Don’t know if this counts as patina though I assume it would, but I have seen two Grand Caravans recently (one in Missoula, one in Portland, OR) where the horizontal surfaces were Whitish-pink/rusty and the further down the sides you looked you could see the original color around the Rocker Panels.
The exhaust tips the size of coffee cans suggest that the owner of this car was the kind who saw that the engine has taken its share of abuse! This one has the Yamaha 3-liter V6 (3.2-liter with an automatic), which wasn’t THAT bad on reliability (nothing like the rock-solid but much slower Vulcan 3-liter OHV V6) but parts were always hard to get and are getting scarcer. The next-generation Taurus SHO (the ovoid generation) was the one where the sprockets on the overhead camshafts would slip, causing catastrophic engine damage and usually totalling the car.
By that time, the Duratec DOHC V6 would accelerate with the SHO up to around 60mph anyway, and was/is a much more durable engine.
The SHO was more than just an engine…it had the equivalent of the police-package suspension, too; and a fancy interior package, but by 1994, Ford was putting the SHO interior into a regular Taurus and calling it the “SE.”
It is not easy to tell from the photo, but the second-generation Taurus SHO had the hood and fenders of the Mercury Sable.
How long will it take before the “leave it in patina” fad goes away? Not soon enough for me, I like shiny paint. But that may come from growing up in northern Minnesota in the 50s; almost every car 2-3 years old had “patina” more then it’s share; and all dad’s cars were defiantly not shiny. This Taurus is so generic looking I couldn’t tell what it was and I had one back in the 90s; till the second transmission started smoking a month after the local Ford garage put in a “factory improved rebuilt” one. Traded it on a 2 year old Buick Century certified used car; now that was a great little car.
The head gasket kit for these engines is no longer available, so you have to go Ebay hunting for a NOS one and they are pricey.
The other item that plagued the engine was the swaged cam lobes on the tubular camshaft that liked to loosen and rotate. This could be fixed by welding them to the camshaft tube.
(Cohort: LeSabretooth Tiger)
Looks like the one we bought our son for his 16th birthday. The one I worked on for a year after that to repair damage caused by sitting under a tree in the Northeast for nearly five years.
“Malovelent” comes to mind. Drove great…when it ran…but nothing short of abusive to work on.
That’ll buff out.
Really though all it needs is a trunklid (non SHO-specific part, any junkyard should have one) and a respray to look presentable again. The condition of the mechanicals, on the other hand… I don’t know if this engine was known for reliability or not. There don’t seem to be all that many left (the 1st-gen might as well be extinct) but they didn’t sell a whole lot in the first place and a car like this was probably high on the list of many a teenage boy–good performance in an innocuous parent-pleasing and cop-invisible Taurus body. Probably resulting in a good many being wrecked, used up, or blown up.
I’ve always been a fan though. The one older Taurus I’d actually like to own. First-gen preferably but I’d take a good 2nd-gen. Third is too porky and lost the plot, plus that odd little V8…
I’ll admit to having had a soft spot for these as a teenager in the mid-00s – but most were (fortunately?) too ratty to think about.
I owned a 93 for a number of years. Purchased with 100K on the odo and limped it in on a trade at around 195k. The previous owner had just put in a new tranny before I bought it. Spent the last couple of years without being able to get the CEL to go away. And the 2nd tranny was spent. But that engine…as sweet of one as I have owned. Overall the car wasn’t ultra reliable but wasn’t bad. I’d have another.
Just a week or two I saw an early SHO in a parking lot, but did not have time to stop. First one I had seen in a long time, sorry I missed it.
I have pictures of one the same color and vintage. Just haven’t found the right inspiration yet.
If you feel like spending more than the Taurus is worth you can rebuild the engine and transmission if those are broken and a trunk lid is not too expensive. Do not know if I would bother with a repaint since it is only original once.
I had a coworker who’s family was relatively clueless when it comes to cars and her daddy bought her a 2nd gen Taurus SHO. None of them had any idea an SHO was the speed demon Taurus until she got a speeding ticket on NY 17/I-86 and she might have gotten more than one. I just find that to be quite hilarious, but never said it to her face. The Transmission went out and her next car was also white, but an Oldsmobile Intrigue.
While on some cars I agree with “it’s only original once”, 90’s clearcoat finishes like this one don’t seem to ever develop patina, they just eventually oxidize and become dull. Given that and the numerous scrapes and scratches, I’d respray it, but that’s just me. If the engine and trans both need work it’s probably not worth it, true. If one or the other is good, then it could be interesting. Not something that you’re going to make your money back on, but as an interesting “modern classic” keeper? Maybe.
Your story reminds me of a sight I saw while working at a university, about 5 years ago. I noticed a bright yellow Volvo 850 T5R parked along the curb–the ‘R’ being the really hot version. Figured it would belong to a gearhead, maybe one of the engineering students…as it would happen the owner walked up and got in just then, and it was the most stereotypical-looking sorority girl you could possibly imagine. Big sunglasses, big bag, greek letter shirt, hair and makeup, the works. Maybe she was into cars too–I’m certainly not trying to say that girls can’t be gearheads too–but the image was certainly not what I was expecting! My suspicion is that it was just a Volvo with leather seats to her, very possibly Dad’s old car, and that the ‘R’ badge and its attendant capabilities were probably of zero interest.
Agreed, Peeling clearcoat is not patina. Really clearcoated soft bumper jellybean cars in general look terrible as they age.
That is a good story and who knows the inner details.
The failing clear coat on my Voyager’s roof developed into something with a sandpaper-like texture and if I rubbed my hand on it my palm would pick up the Poppy Red paint that had been applied at the factory. Don’t know if this counts as patina though I assume it would, but I have seen two Grand Caravans recently (one in Missoula, one in Portland, OR) where the horizontal surfaces were Whitish-pink/rusty and the further down the sides you looked you could see the original color around the Rocker Panels.
The exhaust tips the size of coffee cans suggest that the owner of this car was the kind who saw that the engine has taken its share of abuse! This one has the Yamaha 3-liter V6 (3.2-liter with an automatic), which wasn’t THAT bad on reliability (nothing like the rock-solid but much slower Vulcan 3-liter OHV V6) but parts were always hard to get and are getting scarcer. The next-generation Taurus SHO (the ovoid generation) was the one where the sprockets on the overhead camshafts would slip, causing catastrophic engine damage and usually totalling the car.
By that time, the Duratec DOHC V6 would accelerate with the SHO up to around 60mph anyway, and was/is a much more durable engine.
The SHO was more than just an engine…it had the equivalent of the police-package suspension, too; and a fancy interior package, but by 1994, Ford was putting the SHO interior into a regular Taurus and calling it the “SE.”
It is not easy to tell from the photo, but the second-generation Taurus SHO had the hood and fenders of the Mercury Sable.
And also the headlights of the 92-95 Mercury Sable
MPO
How long will it take before the “leave it in patina” fad goes away? Not soon enough for me, I like shiny paint. But that may come from growing up in northern Minnesota in the 50s; almost every car 2-3 years old had “patina” more then it’s share; and all dad’s cars were defiantly not shiny. This Taurus is so generic looking I couldn’t tell what it was and I had one back in the 90s; till the second transmission started smoking a month after the local Ford garage put in a “factory improved rebuilt” one. Traded it on a 2 year old Buick Century certified used car; now that was a great little car.
That must have been a very popular color back then as there is a similar SHO on the Gainesville (Fl) Craigslist.
Dude, my father is a TV repair man. He’s got all kinds of tools. We can fix it.
The head gasket kit for these engines is no longer available, so you have to go Ebay hunting for a NOS one and they are pricey.
The other item that plagued the engine was the swaged cam lobes on the tubular camshaft that liked to loosen and rotate. This could be fixed by welding them to the camshaft tube.
Don’t know about the head gasket but I’m pretty sure the cam lobe issue was peculiar the V8, jelly bean SHO.
5 speed varieties were nice