5k: Furious Front Driver: 1990 Ford Taurus SHO
Ford’s special vehicles team (SVT) was busy celebrating their success with the SVO Mustang when they decided it was time to show those Germans a thing or two about building a sport sedan. The took the basic Dn-5 platform Tarurus and added a high revving V6 to create a sleeper in its day. Find this 1990 Ford Taurus SHO offered for $3000 near Portland, OR via Craigslist.
The first generation Taurus SHO was designed and engineered by car folks, for car folks. The only available gearbox was a 5-speed manual and suspension was tuned on the sporty side. It may not have been rear drive, but the 3.0 liter 220 horsepower Yamaha designed V6 revved to 7,000 rpm and offered plenty of fun.
See another fast sedan from the 90s? Send it here: tips@dailyturismo.com
First, no interior or engine bay photos, why? Its not like you have to do a 5 minute exposure on plate glass and then lock yourself into a carcinogenic cave of caustic chemicals to process the photos. Remove cell phone from pocket, press button.
OK rant over now onto the car.
The first iteration of any car is generally the purest form of the mark; it may not be the best car of the lineage but is closest to the creator's intent. So is the case with the 1st generation SHO. It was the lightest and only offered a manual transmission. For me it's the one to have.
The later autobox only V8 versions seem pointless. If I was going to go that route I'd just get a Lincoln Continental of the same vintage, pay less and get more toys to distract me from the boredom.
These cars are a bargain and have an owner's club to help you through the inevitable ravages of time and decay.
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It's worth noting the Ford Taurus SHO PLUS Special Edition. Is it worth seeking out? That would be up to you.
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'90-91 the best years IMO, the gen-1 body better looking than the gen-2, the interior better though still plasticky in spots. '90 had the ugliest of the basket-weave wheels, '91 had the 16in 'slicers'.
The 'SHO Plus' was a trim package on the '91 and was basically the spoiler, blacked-out B-pillar, and body-color wheels. Some of the late '91s including the 'Plus' got a fiberglas hood that, since they had to ensure it didn't need different springs/weight distribution or affect crash-test results, was every bit as heavy as a steel hood.
The only color that was not a base-clear paint, and therefore subject to clearcoat molting, was the Oxford White, so you can assume any SHO that looks decent has been repainted at least once.
Like the E28 M5, it's a period piece, an example of the state of the art (compromised slightly through Ford's bean-counters, like the lack of the viscous limited-slip diff they were using on the Euro Escort XRs at that time) at the end of the '80s. Lots of fun, worth preserving, parts availability sucks.