eBay Find of the Day: The SHO that got away

What'd you do this weekend? I spent Saturday and Sunday agonizing over an eBay Motors auction for this 1991 Ford Taurus SHO. You probably think I'm crazy, but the SHO remains one of my all time favorite cars, primarily because of its motor, a Yamaha 220-hp 3.0L V6 designed and built for Ford. Of all the SHOs built between 1989 and 1999, the '91 model is king. It was the last of the first generation, and therefore the lightest and fastest thanks to its lack of pesky safety features that added weight to later models.

I'm about ready to replace my infamous '99 Alero, and wasn't even thinking SHO until I found this auction on eBay Motors for a Burgundy '91 model – one owner with just 53,000 miles. Anyone who regularly monitors this country's stock of SHOs for sale knows that finding one with less than 100k miles is rare enough, let alone one with just 53k.

After going back and forth with the wife, I got permission to go after the SHO, which was owned by a gentleman in Oconomowoc, WI, a suburb of Milwaukee. I spent last week email with the seller, who turned out not to be the original owner, but had never retitled the car under his own name to preserve its single-owner status. The info I got out of him suggested it was a well running example, with a faded front bumper and paint bubble on the rear bumper being the only cosmetic trouble spots.



Unfortunately, Cleveland, OH is not also a suburb of Milwaukee, and I couldn't verify the condition of the SHO in person. The starting bid was $3,500 and there was a Buy It Now price of $5,500, but I wasn't about to pay full asking price sight-unseen for a 17-year-old domestic sedan that doesn't exactly have a sterling reputation for quality. After a week with just one low bid, I set up my auction snipe on Sunday with a maximum bid of $4,750. Too bad it was $225 too little, as that original low ball bidder came back in the last half hour to outbid the rest of us and beat the Reserve Price with a $4,975 bid.



So there it was, a whole week of planning an epic road trip to bring the car home, my plans for building the world's best concours quality SHO, and hours of bartering away personal freedoms for my wife's permission... out the window. eBay Motors, you are a cruel mistress.



But that won't stop me. I'm still searching for a suitable replacement for the Alero, and will be looking for more SHOs across the country. If you find a good one for sale or are selling one yourself, tip me at abresearch at gmail dot com. Maybe, just maybe, it will be the next car to score a permanent place in the Autoblog Garage.

[Source: eBay Motors]