I might. Although that price is a bit high. But how many decent looking examples of the first generation Taurus/Sable are left? Especially ones with less than 30k miles on the odometer?
Back in 2017, Paul discussed the rarity of the first gen Taurus. These are exceedingly rare even in states that don’t salt their roads. In New York, nearly every vehicle over twenty years old is a sight to behold, especially if they’re in decent shape. Third generation Taurus and Sables are quite uncommon these days, and fourth generation examples are quickly following suit. This particular Taurus seems to have spent its life in Washington state, which likely explains why it’s rust-free.
This bull is also a low mileage example. Unfortunately, Ford had yet to switch over to six digit odometers in 1990, which makes it impossible to determine if the number shown above is the real deal.
The Carfax report doesn’t clarify things either. No mileage was officially recorded between 2004 and 2017. And after 2011, Washington state did not require anyone to report its mileage.
That being said, this example definitely looks like it has less than 30k miles on it. Aside from some bumper scratches and a rear bumper that looks misaligned, the car is close to being in showroom condition, at least cosmetically.
As for options, this appears to be a relatively plain GL model. The ad says it comes with a three speed automatic, but that’s incorrect, because the Vulcan 3.0 liter V6 only came equipped with a four speed automatic.
The interior looks pretty much perfect. The seller did not include any decent shots of the dash, so it’s impossible to determine what amenities the dealer or owner opted for. But it does appear to at least have power locks and windows. The lack of any rocker panel moldings suggests that this model was not ordered with the 202A Preferred Equipment Package. That means this Taurus might not have A/C or cruise control. However, at thirty years old, those things could be more of a liability than a benefit.
As CC’s resident Ford Taurus historian/fanatic, I declare this Taurus a decent buy. It’s not my ideal first gen. That would go to this 1990 Taurus wagon I spotted last year. But at this point beggars can’t be choosers. My goal is to purchase a first gen Taurus by 2021 at the latest. Not at that price though. I’d take it for $3,000. Hopefully something like this is around when I am ready to buy.
Source: Autotrader
I can’t even remember the last time I saw a 1992-1995 model let alone one of these. The fish-faced 1996-1999 ones are rapidly becoming extinct too, although you can still spot one in a blue moon. The only model of (original) Taurus I still see on the road are the 2000-2007 generation and even those are thinning out fast as they’ve all become End Stage Beaters(TM) in the sub-$2000 section of Craigslist. Even the 2008-2009s (which aren’t a real Taurus anyway) have become a common sight in junkyards already as I believe they have exploding V6 engines that leads many examples to an early grave.
It’s weird to think that a car which was once obscenely common has now gone almost extinct. A world without used Taurii floating around? But, time marches on. I can’t even imagine how few first generation models must be left in the world. Yes, they built a lot, but it’s not a car anyone ever thought to save. This one seems like a good deal for what it is!
A much rarer 3rd Gen Sable sitting in my garage next to my Cougar.
How are you keeping the rust away from the B Pillar? On mine, the water gets trapped in the channel in the B Pillar and has started to rust out the metal where that plastic sill under the doors is. It seems like a design flaw
You mean this area?
Yup that area. Mine is rusting out on both sides at the bottom even though I try to keep that area clean.
On the 08-09 Taurus/Sable, you are somewhat correct. Most of them in there are due to dead waterpumps, the pump is driven by the timing chain which means that to replace it, you needed to pull the engine out. Which was a stupid stupid stupid design(yes many cars have a waterpump driven by a timing belt, but you can replace those with the engine still in the vehicle(like a Civic) )
On top of that most did not give any indication of an issue until it first overheated and killed the engine.
On my folks 2009 Taurus, the car was fine until one day that I was driving it and noticed that despite it being 20 degrees fahrenheit in the middle of Feb, the coolant fans came on. There was no coolant in it and no warning of a problem. On top of that, it took a bit of time to find where the coolant was leaking from
Most folks did not catch this in time and that would toast the engine. Plus it was not just the Taurus/Sable that had this issue, any ford with a 3.5l or 3.7 Duracrap V6 can have this problem
It is hard to tell for sure, but looking at the under-hood photo on the linked ad it appears that this car has A/C. It would be most unusual if it did not – A/C was pretty much ubiquitous my 1990.
Stylistically, these cars have held up pretty well. Even though they are 30+ years old, when I look at one I still see a “modern” car, which is more than I can say when I see a Lumina or Grand Prix from this same era.
There’s a 92 Taurus wagon with approximately 90K miles on it in central Florida that is about 2/3rds the price of this example…I would be more interested in that car instead of this one. And about 2 months ago, the same general area had a 80s-early 90s Sable for less money than this.
I have always preferred the oddball, but even though a 80s Taurus is a bit of an oddball, make my ultimate FWD Ford product an early 90s Sable.
The first thing I check on low mileage cars is the brake pedal. It is usually a tell-tale that the odometer is on its second trip around. I certainly wish there were better pics of the interior.
that’s an old grandpa story, just like “you can tell the year of the car by looking at the number on the tail light”.
my Buick Encore has 110,000 miles, and there isn’t a single mark of wear on the pedal. conversely, an old fart who rests their foot on the brake pedal can look like 200,000 miles when there is 20,000 on the odometer.
If I lived in the same area I would definitely consider it. There are 1 or 2 of these from the 1st & 2nd generations in my area that have held up VERY well for their age. ANY from 1996 & onward don’t look near as nice. The only other thing besides the 5-digit odometer (the “6th” digit measures 1/10th of a mile; my grandparents’ ’88 Cutlass Ciera was the same way) that tells the era this car is from is the red dot indicating the 55-mph mark on the speedometer, a design feature I kind of miss if only for the nostalgia.
I paid $5354 for my ’05 Astro and it already had 260k miles at that time. I’ve only put about 5k on it in a year so it should hold up its value pretty well should I ever decide to trade it in for a Transit or newer Express (the van in the background of the 1st picture)–NOT in my plans right now. That Taurus should last a lifetime for whoever buys it.
CC Effect: I saw a blue 2nd-gen (’92-’95) model in town just this afternoon. It wasn’t one of the better ones though b/c it had a good bit of front-end damage. But it’s a Taurus all the same. There was also a tan 1st-gen Windstar in front of it–also getting pretty rare.
I could see my self paying that for that clean example of a Taurus.
I might have back in 1992 but not now 🙂
Seriously though, these time capsule cars are difficult to really put a value on, there aren’t that many people out there really interested in a lowish spec Taurus, no matter how nice, we see the same type of thing in the junkyard posts regularly.
Still, if you are remotely interested I’d very politely lob a lowball figure, say $1500, at it and see what happens especially once it’s been for sale for a month or more.
Re: the odometer, is that normal that the first and second digits would be perfectly centered but the third one (6) would be so far off especially since the fourth one (5) is right in the middle of its numerical range and not just right at the cusp of making or having made the 6 move? You (and others) are much more familiar with mechanical Ford odometers better than I am. I suppose the Carfax tells a story of consistent mileage increases but I did own a car whose odometer would work intermittently/sporadically
Good god, no. First off, any old car with low miles is going to need a whole lot of repairs—unless the goal is for it to do nothing but sit there lookin’ cute, most of the mechanical and body seals and soft parts are suspect; so are the seats (foam), as well as the brakes (hydraulics). That’s for any car, and here we’re talking about a car with a notoriously fragile engine and transaxle under the best of cases; at the yard we used to amuse ourselves by saying “Sorry, we don’t have a good engine or trans” as soon as a caller would get as far as “Taurus” or “Sable”, and that ended most of the calls.
A young-old Volvo 240 or suchlike might be worth the age-related repairs to wind up with something actually usable, but this? Fun to think about, but no.
Me thinks you’re starting off the new year overly pessimistic. 🙂
The Vulcan V6 has a very good rep; you’re thinking of the Essex 3.8 V6. And the transaxle generally tolerated the Vulcan ok, but not the 3.8 V6. As for the all the soft parts, they may well be mostly ok, given the climate and the fact that this almost certainly spent all those years off the road inside a garage.
Donno what to tellya, PN; either there was a network of crank callers dedicated to making us think 3-(point-zero)-litre Taurus V6s were a much-in-demand item, or…they really were! I don’t recall much demand for Ford 3.8 V6 engines. I don’t argue that my recollections constitute statistically sound evidence, though.
We played (and “won”) the same phone game with another shoddy 3.0 V6 and another transaxle made out of damp paperboard, too, those being the Mitsubishi 6G72 engine and the various Chrysler 4-speed ProbleMatics.
In Texas any car with cold AC is worth at least $2000. So that covers almost half this car.
Offer $3000. Be willing to pay a bit more. I know just how eager you are to have a pristine gen1 Taurus, and it might be hard to find a better one.
I just can’t justify the expense right now. Otherwise I’d jump on it.
C’mon, do it. Look at it as a COAL candidate. Writing and reading about its life as a CC would seem to be worth the price of admission, alone.
Exactly like the ’90 Taurus I bought new and put 330k, almost troublefree miles on! If it were closer, I’d buy it!
Not unless it was a SHO. While the Taurus was a landmark car in American history, it’s still just a V6 automatic front wheel drive midsize car. Certainly not the most interesting used car for $4500. Nice museum piece though.
There’s this base-model 1990 Taurus L with a claimed 65k miles on it for sale on Philly craigslist for $1500: https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/d/morrisville-ford-taurus/7038349557.html. If it’s legit and rust-free (and it’s hard to tell because the pictures are such shockingly poor quality), it might be a better deal.
1990-91 is peak Taurus for me, still one of my all-time favorite cars. The ’92 refresh had significant decontenting, a busier-looking exterior, and a cheaper-looking interior – all which would become even worse throughout the ’90s. But I’ll hold out for a top-line LX, fully optioned except for leather, digital gauges, and bucket seats. Hopefully in a nicer interior color.
90-91 peak Taurus for sure!
The only ‘drawback’ is, they had airbags. But they had 4-5 years of practice building them.
This one looks great!
The 92 may have been ‘improved’, but it was also noticeably uglier.
As to the comments about the seals and gaskets from sitting–it’s a crapshoot. A car garaged in a climate controlled environment is likely to need the least of those.
But whoever buys this should probably be prepared to add $1,000 to $4,000 in repairs. If possible and mutually agreeable, offer $x,xxx, with a $200 non-refundable deposit THAT permits buyer to have car inspected, and walk away.
Everytime I see one of these it reminds me of the movie RoboCop.when it comes to a 30 years old car even low miles things like rear main seal can go bad which would cost a small fortune to repair in USA.
I’d say to jump on this one if you really want a first-gen Taurus. As others have said, I’m sure the seller would be willing to negotiate.
I had a much nicer 1990 Sable GS in Currant Red with the Mercury equivalent of the 202A package. It had the lace alloy 15-inch wheels, 4-wheel ABS, power driver seat, power locks, and power windows, among other desirable features. I picked the Vulcan engine for better fuel economy (not knowing at the time how problematic the Essex engine would become). Given Mercury’s higher status, a/c was standard on all Sables that year.
It was a great car — at first. The styling was beautiful, probably better looking in most people’s eyes than any other car I have owned, matched arguably only by a 1977 Chevy Impala 4-door. But after about 65K miles, all of the usual Taurus/Sable problems manifested themselves — transmission, a/c, water pump, tie rod ends, power lock actuators — at great expense. The engine was trouble-free though, and I had no rust or body integrity issues.
Based on my experience, I would run away fast from this example.
Water pump an easy change out. Tie rods also. Not much one can do about the transmission if one didn’t fully change out the fluid every 30,000 miles or so. There is an easy way to run the car, drain out the old and introduce new which is not all that difficult to do at home. A/C would be R12 which of course is a problem today unless you have a stash of R12 and a complete set of new hoses.
Never seen one in the metal there is or was the only Sable in the country locally different but not what I’d call an improvement on the Aussie Fords we got though those were quite crappy cars they looked ok and inside definitely nicer.
I would offer 2500-3000 for it. Plan on needing some work done to things like water pump/coolant replacement, A/C if equipped, springs, a possible sensor and for the love of god service that trans axle as that has always been a weak point.