It is time for Neff to put up or shut up. There's a '93 Ford Taurus SHO on Craigslist that will provide him with both the car of his dreams and the ability to handle the extreme driving conditions he faces during Cleveland winters. It's been slightly modified by the current owner, who retained the original bodywork and interior, but then chose to mate them with a '76 Ford F-150 underpinnings. The high-zoot Yamaha motor? Also jettisoned. In its stead, a 460 cubic-inch V8 from a '78 Lincoln takes up residence underhood. Ride height is elevated somewhat over stock, but this should help Neff when it snows, and the new wheel/tire package allows him to avoid traffic by simply driving over it. All this for a paltry $800. This is what we call a complete win-win situation for El Jefe Neff. Commence peer-pressuring Autoblog's Editor in Chief below. Make him do it. Props to Stephen for the tip!
Click above for high-res gallery of the BringBacktheSHO Concept V2
We heard yesterday from a group of Ford Taurus SHO fans who were questioned in a focus group by Ford employees working on the next Taurus program, so we know that the Blue Oval is at least considering a high performance version of the next Taurus. Combine that with a grainy cell phone pic we posted of what could be a design study for the next Taurus and you've got fertile elements for our friends over at BringBacktheSHO.com who specialize in letting their imaginations run wild. Ryan Pasch who runs the website actually attended the focus group in question earlier this week, so these renderings based off of that grainy camera phone pic may be more accurate than we realize. Pasch calls the car in his renders the BringBacktheSHO Concept V2, and judging from the pics in our gallery below, we're as ready for the SHO's triumphant return as he his.
Click above for gallery of more modern Taurus SHO renderings
Being an avid Super High Output fan, any news of a Taurus SHO return gets my imagination going. Should it be FWD, AWD, or RWD? V8-powered or have a twin-turbo V6 underhood? Should it be light and handle well or compensate for its mass with awesome amounts of power? I ask these questions to myself, but last Monday a group of 11 Chicago area SHO fanatics were asked those same questions by members of the Taurus program from Ford.
As told by Don Mallinson on V8Sho.com, the story goes that this band of brothers participated in a focus group and had their brains picked for an evening about what makes a SHO a SHO, and if the much missed name were to be resurrected, what should the car be like today? Mallinson is clear that he and the focus group participants did not see a prototype, sketches of a prototype, or anything else that would confirm development is well on its way. The experience was pretty much a one-way street of questions, but these 11 people may have influenced Ford's decision to bring back the SHO and, if so, in what way. Such an awesome responsibility, I probably couldn't handle it.
Around 2 AM EST on Monday night, one of our readers sent us a tip about a photo making the rounds on two Taurus-specific forums. We followed both links and came across the spy shot you see above – now rumored to be the 2010 Ford Taurus. Big deal, right? It was, but not for the reasons you think. While we like spy pics as much as the next pistonhead, we have a policy against posting photos taken inside an automaker's design studio. Unlike the shots snapped by Frau Priddy and the crew at KGP, our legal department insists that anything taken on automaker property is illegal to distribute. So after the picture began circulating on several smaller sites, we held off on publishing it... until now. With sites like MotorTrend and InsideLine throwing caution to the wind, despite Ford's attempt to quell the photo's circulation, we feel compelled to bring it to you in all its grainy majesty – until FoMoCo's legal department starts pounding on our virtual door.
With that out of the way, all of us around the Autoblog offices are split about the design direction this one particular exercise (we're sure there's at least a dozen) is taking. The front end is far more dynamic than the current Taurus, with swept-back headlamps, a pointed fascia and the best application of the three-bar grille we've seen yet -- even if it does ape the last generation Lexus IS. The profile is handsome and distinctly Mondeo, a model that may, or may not, underpin the next Taurus. And if there's an SHO variant packing Ford's new turbocharged, EcoBoost V6, we're sure Mr. Neff will have his dirty little way with it when its officially uncloaked (possibly) in Detroit.
There was a Robocop 3? Apparently so, it even had theatrical release, but it should have gone directly to video. The most memorable thing from the Robocop franchise, at least for us, were the Taurus police cars. They featured prominently in all of the installments, 3 included. Now for those of us who had the AMT/Ertl kit (I had the SHO cop car, not the Robo 1), you can pick up the real thing. This isn't just a hand-me-down Taurus that got a rattlecan paintjob, either, but the last surviving automotive cast member from the final installment.
A longing for the movie and TV icon cars of the 1980s seems to be a common dork affliction – witness the fact you can buy flux capacitors and KITT, uh, kits. It takes a special breed to consider spending more on this '88 Taurus than it likely cost new. If you have no problem dropping $20,000 of today's dollars on yesterday's prop, the Volo Auto Museum has your ride. The car is fully documented and carries a George Barris signature (George seems to have signed any and everything...) and several other prop items. There's even a Robocop suit for an extra three grand if you want to go all-out.
Having healthy fascination with the SHO is one thing; that car was kick-ass, so the lust is understandable. This, on the otherhand, is just... wrong. Not even the novelty of a Taurus convertible can redeem this car from being anything more than a wrong-headed bucket of, um, fertilizer. Sawz-All roof treatment aside, there's still the paintwork to contend with. There's obviously a lot of time put into the design, but the color choice and odd striping work look more like someone did donuts in a bunch of spilled pigment than any kind of concerted effort to make the car look good. Then again, if you're chopping the roof off a first-gen Taurus (already made of wet spaghetti), affixing a big, stupid wing to the back and frenching the antennas (let's repeat that, dual frenched antennas. WTF? It's an '88 Taurus, not a '58 Skyliner), you're not much concerned with the way the end result actually looks. We're tempted to buy it just to burn it to the ground, it's only $3500, though apparently an appraiser saw $15,000 worth of value here. We beg to differ, though it'd be a sweet ride for next year's LeMons effort, which would also ultimately assure its destruction.
Ford is launching the Taurus in South Korea at the end of the month where it's expected to compete with locally manufactured sedans like Kia's Opirus, which we know in the U.S. as the Amanti. Korean versions of the Taurus will get the same 263-hp 3.6L V6 and six-speed auto as U.S. spec cars, putting it in good steed against the local competition. Ford officials are well aware of the Blue Oval's budget image, even overseas in places like Korea, and have no ambitions of targeting brands like Lexus and other imports.
The Taurus is a long standing US nameplate, selling in the States for more than twenty years now, but there's not much cachet in the badge in foreign markets. In recent times, the car has lost favor back and home and even led Ford to replace it with the new Five Hundred sedan. Realizing the mistake of throwing away almost two decades of history, Ford's new CEO Alan Mulally set about reinstating the name and thus it reappeared this year on a facelifted version of the Five Hundred. Of course, all this means nothing to the Koreans, who we're sure will have an affinity for their local brands.
At Ford's 2008 model preview at the Dearborn Proving Ground, we had the opportunity drive the newly-reborn Taurus back-to-back with its immediate predecessor, the Five Hundred, and the differences were immediately apparent. Side-by-side, the Taurus is clearly an update of the Five Hundred, retaining the same profile and stance, but the Taurus now has the face it should have had all along.
The three-bar grille gives the Taurus a look that fits in with its stablemates and sets it apart from the competition.A lot of detail work was done on the Taurus and Sable for 2008 to ramp up the refinement levels and bring them to the head of the class. One example is visible on the side mirror housings. The top of the housing has a row of notches that manage the airflow around the mirror. The notches reduce the aerodynamic drag of the mirror and also reduce wind noise dramatically.
Continue reading our driving impressions and see the video after the jump
Studebaker mash-ups with later Ford vehicles aren't an entirely new idea, but we've never seen something quite like this. The seller of this car should be beaten with a sand-filled hose for attempted robbery. $7500 for a Stude-nosed Taurus wagon with a ratty interior? Wait, now, before we get all indignant, this is powered by the potent powertrain combination of the 2.3 liter four backed up by one of the world's vaguest-shifting five speeds. There's nothing wrong with the Pinto-derived cammer four - it's one hell of an engine, in fact. The manual transaxle, well, it gets the job done. But really, a car being advertised as a "one of a Kind Kustom!" may be more enticing were it to have, say, an SHO powertrain. Not that it would soften the blow of the weird visage, but there would at least be something redeeming here. The bodywork is claimed to be all steel, but the pictures don't make it easy to tell whether that's a prevarication or not. We do question the merit of all that time and effort (and expense, if the body man was working for more than MGD) of grafting 1950s sheetmetal on a 1980s car. The ensuing clash never looks right, not even on those Thunderbird-based abominations.
It should come as no surprise that the Taurus and its siblings perform well on crash tests. The platform was developed from the Volvo P2 architecture that provides the basis for the original S80, as well as the S60 and outgoing V70. The Taurus has just earned itself five-star ratings in all of the NHTSA's tests, and the IIHS recommends the Taurus as a Top Pick. Seeking to capitalize on that success, the advertising boffins have whipped up a new tagline: "Rated Safest Car In America." Our spines tingle with delight. Our write-in suggestion of "Saves Your Arse" apparently has gone unheeded.
The Ford Five Hundred was so under-promoted by Ford that we don't recall any tag line. No matter. Seeking a return on its investment, Ford has given the revamped Five Hundred the Taurus moniker and a raft of upgrades. The hope is that the Taurus name isn't totally bankrupt, even though the DN101-based last generation was allowed to die on the vine. The new 3.5 liter V6 helps out by not only bumping power, but the horrid NVH of the 3.0 liter has been replaced by a hearty growl, instantly making the car feel better. It's a roomy, well put together car that drives well, for a reasonable price, so perhaps buyers will find the safety scores a persuasive argument.
It is time for Neff to put up or shut up. There's a '93 Ford Taurus SHO on Craigslist that will provide him with both the car of his dreams and the ability to handle the extreme driving conditions he faces during Cleveland winters. It's been slightly modified by the current owner, who retained the original bodywork and interior, but then chose to mate them with a '76 Ford F-150 underpinnings. The high-zoot Yamaha motor? Also jettisoned. In its stead, a 460 cubic-inch V8 from a '78 Lincoln takes up residence underhood. Ride height is elevated somewhat over stock, but this should help Neff when it snows, and the new wheel/tire package allows him to avoid traffic by simply driving over it. All this for a paltry $800. This is what we call a complete win-win situation for El Jefe Neff. Commence peer-pressuring Autoblog's Editor in Chief below. Make him do it. Props to Stephen for the tip!
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