Revival Hour (Featuring The Taurus SHO)

Once again, it seems actual work precludes writing, although both are enjoyable.  When push comes to shove, however, building in real life will unfortunately always beat typing on a keyboard.  Things are still a bit of a madhouse, but this blog is entirely too cool to be ignored, so . . . onward!

Recently Ford announced the development of a new Taurus SHO model, based upon the 2010 Taurus, which seems at first glance to have a bright future.  Come to think of it, if you take a close look at the thought put into the design of the Taurus and the facelift on the Fusion (which is more like a redesign rather than just a new grille), Ford seems to be actually considering the fact that cars should be more than just a metal box to sit in.

In the ’90s, we think Ford actually was trying to make exciting cars.  Heck, they were trying period.  Build quality wasn’t exactly consistent across the model lineup, but there were flashes of brilliance.  SVT made some rather good products (the SVT Focus and Contour are a couple of great and relatively unheralded cars), and for the money, the Explorer with a few options was a great buy if you needed an SUV.  We still miss our old 1998 XLT, with the trusty, torque-monstery 5.0 and leather/sunroof/premium sound/AWD combo.  What did we pay for it?  Maybe $4K?  That body style was about right, too — later Exploders became boxy all over again, and less interesting overall.  Were we to get another one, it would get something like a supercharged stroker engine with performance suspension and grippy rubber.  Budget Cayenne, anyone?

One of the all-time best cheap, fun-to-drive sedans (our weakness, remember) was the 1989-1995 Ford Taurus SHO.  Thumbing its nose in the face of all current fast four-doors, Ford had Yamaha design an all-aluminum 3-Liter DOHC V6 and dropped it into its mundane family-hauler, providing an instant transformation.  Four disc brakes and a 5-speed later, with subtle ground effects and bucket seats, out came a sedan that could stomp a Legend or Maxima SE with ease, for considerably less money.  Mind you, the interior quality was, um, early ’90s Ford, but you have to overlook such things as you would with an Alfa Romeo in order to focus on pure driving fun.

Our favorite is the facelifted SHO from 1992 on.  Somehow the first iteration just looks too heavy or chunky on the outside.  A popular swap is the 3.2L engine from the SHO automatic.  The bigger engine gets you increased torque, which we all love.  Find a clean, cared-for, unmolested model, add an intake and a free flowing catback exhaust, and go 5-series hunting.  Not M5s, they will still eat you for breakfast.  Remember what you’re driving here.

With the all-new SHO model, Ford was looking for V8 power without V8 fuel consumption and came up with a twin-turbo version of their venerable Duratec 3.5-Liter V6 engine.  God bless Ford!  What is it we tuners absolutely love?  That’s right — factory engines with forced induction (especially turbochargers) already installed!  The hard work is literally done for us and handed over on a platter.  You better believe there will be those who jump on this opportunity the moment this car is released.

So — improved build quality, quite good to look at, a fairly well-designed interior (we feel there could be an “SHO” put somewhere, maybe the guages or steering wheel, just to make the owner feel that extra bit special), all-wheel-drive, and a twin-turbo V6.  Provided Ford doesn’t muck up the paddle-shifted automatic (anyone with a DB9 knows exactly what we mean here) with sloppiness . . . dare we say it . . . we could have ourselves another era of stylish, fun-to-drive Ford sedans.  What a concept.

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