Pity the poor Sable. Somehow, it always got the short end of the stick in looks compared to its Ford-badged brother. The first and second generations looked bulbous compared to the more athletic Taurus. The third and fourth generations tried to affect a formal air, but it didn’t come off so well on the basic body’s rounded surfaces.
These second-gen Sables sold reasonably well and roamed the Earth in reasonable numbers. Still, it had been ages since I’d noticed one when I parked next to this clean example on a grocery-shopping excursion here in Indianapolis.
This is how I like my Curbside Classics: all original, lightly used, well cared for. A time capsule. I couldn’t see the odometer, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if thing hasn’t cleared 50,000 miles. I was surprised to find this blue interior. My memories are dim, but I thought surely all interiors had gone to shades of grey and beige by the mid 90s.
The 35 in the corner of that license plate tells me this car is far from home. That’s the county code for Huntington County in northwest Indiana. Little-known facts: J. Danforth Quayle hails from Huntington County, and and Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars spent most of his childhood there. That has nothing to do with this Sable, but how often do I get to slip something like that into anything I write?
The effect of age or fade upon color raises questions; when you look at medieval paintings or Egyptian tombs, for example, it’s not likely you’re seeing the exact colors that the artist intended, & if you’re an art restorer, how do you know what the original shade should look like without a reliable basis for comparison?
Color-matching is also an issue with computer imaging, & moreover, people may perceive colors differently. Sometimes my wife sees orange when I perceive red. Who’s right? I dunno.
I know you could get these with blue and red interiors. I think green was available too- I know the Taurus offered a green interior.
They did have green available. One of my friends had a 95 with a light green interior to match the light green paint on her sable
This is the last year of the good looking Merc Sable. From 1996 on, neither the Mercury Sable, nor its twin, the Ford Taurus, ever looked attractive.
The ’86-’95 Sable might not have been as athletic looking as the Taurus, but it looked more dramatic with the light-bar nose and glass C-pillars.
Bringing back memories of when cobalt blue was the THING! I remember feeling like there was some bigtime backsliding going on at Ford when the 2nd gen Sable inherited the creased doors of the Taurus instead of sticking with its unique smooth flanks.
+1 – I remember thinking the styling of the gen-2 Sable was slightly retrograde, particularly the busy rear fascia. The first Sables sold me on their upscale persona vs. the Taurus. These? Not so much. I did feel the gen-3 Sables were an improvement.
Nice find. I always preferred the earliest Sables with the tasteful use of blackout and chrome trim, lower body ribbing, lace wheels, and two tone paint treatment. These elements helped conceal what was otherwise a generally generic, homogeneous shape. Wasn’t a big fan of the second gen versions with their greater use of monochromatic colors and less distinctive wheel choices. They no longer turned my head.
See now, that Gen 1: it looked substantial somehow, while the Gen 2 just looked flaccid.
Even though it wasn’t the first gen Sable looked bigger and longer to me then the Taurus did.
The 2nd Gen looked like a mid size Tempo. The 86 was far more elegant. Totally agree with you Daniel. They should never have messed with the 86.
Agreed, that and the Mercury specific steetmetal clinches it for me. The only aspect I prefer on the Gen 2 is the thinner headlight/lightbar, the rest of the body just doesn’t do it for me like the gen 1, I’d rather have the Taurus, in SHO form for the best of both worlds.
I think this example is very classy and stylish myself!
To me the 1st generation is by far the best looking Sable. I love the 1st gen and think it got more and more generic as time went on. It quickly became an oversized Tempo/Topaz. There was a richness and distinctive beauty to the 1st gen that was lost over time. The same thing happened to the Taurus as well.
I disagree that the Sable got the short end of the stick. I loved the wraparound look created by the glass covered c-pillar, and the lights that stretched across the entire front end were eye catching at night (and the Sable pulled off the look better than the Grand Prix). By comparison, the Taurus looked cheap with the body colored filler between the lights up front. I even preferred modified dash design in the Sable. It was a blue-collar Taurus dressed up in business casual attire for a night out on the town. The only thing that I think would have benefited the look would be if they rounded off the tops of the rear wheel wells.
I agree 100%. Sorry Jim! I also think the light bar was too wide on the original Sable. This one is more trim and pert. Just right to me.
I must disagree with your “better looking” comments.
I have always viewed the first gen Sable as MUCH more attractive, appealing and desirable car, inside and outside, than the first gen Taurus.
So there.
🙂
I like the completely smooth, crease-less hoods of the gen 1 and gen 2 Sable. It’s quite rare. In fact off hand I can’t think of any other car with that.
Seeing these, I’ve always thought of vacuum cleaners with headlamps when I was a child because of the one-piece lightbar headlight. The 1990ish Pontiac Grand Prix made me think of vacuum cleaners with headlamps as well.
I thought those vacuum cleaners were cool!
I much preferred the “athletic” Taurus to the “bulbous” Sable. I just don’t like cars to look artificially bloated, the Sable had plenty of bloat.
I know its a bit off topic but J. Danforth Quayle???
you have to be kidding!
Well done article. I see everyone has different views on the design aspect. Here is a photo of the wagon version.
I agree that the first-gen Sable was sharper than the second-generation, to be sure. It was one of those cars that took exceptionally well to the two-tone with the contrasting lower body that many of the gen1 cars used.
As to interior colors…”shades of gray and beige by the mid 90s” didn’t apply to Ford! They were still going strong with colors well into the late part of the decade. We rented a 2nd gen Taurus with a green interior, I own a ’97 Crown Vic with a green interior, the Lincoln Mark VIII offered a wide array of interior colors over its run (even a purplish shade one year to complement the “aubergine” paint option. Sadly, by 2000 or so, they too had fallen into line with drab colors only.