Teh Car Blogz

in a continuation of the last “Uncommon Q-ship” article, we now move our geographic concentration from Sweden to the good old US of A. Or well, sort of. A bit of Japan, too.

When Ford launched the Taurus in 1986, it was a landmark of the mid-size market, instantly bringing the American mainstream sedan up to date with foreign competition on a refinement and modernity scale. It’s hard now to fathom just how important the first Taurus was: people were trading their Audi 5000’s for these things. That’s somewhat hard to imagine when the modern inherent meaning of “Taurus” is “Hertz Special.” Still, while Ford was still riding the waves of the Taurus’ awesomeness, they decided that a high-performance model was necessary. The first SHO (which, obviously, stands for Super High Output. Ok.) debuted in 1988 with lowered suspension, slick-looking alloys, and a 3.0L twin-cam 24-valve V6 that was mostly designed by Yamaha. These cars were quite fast by the standard of the day. the 220 horsepower V6 moved the 3300lb Taurus from rest to 60 miles an hour in 6.7 seconds with a 5-speed and on to a top speed of 140 miles an hour.

When Ford finally got around to replacing the aging Taurus in 1996, they did pretty much a direct about-face on the styling and priorities of design. There was not a straight line to be found on the futuristic, jelly-bean inspired MkIII Taurus - interior included, with it’s bizarre asymmetrical oval dashboard layout. Big news on the standard Taurus line was the available of a brand-new 3.0L DOHC 24v Duratec V6 which made 200 horsepower. Since this was very close in specification to the old Yamaha SHO motor, Ford decided it needed a bit more to properly differentiate the new SHO from the optional overhead-cam Taurus motor.

What they came up with was a bit weird: the new SHO had a 3.4L, dual overhead cam 32-valve V8, mounted sideways and paired with a 4-speed automatic only (the major downside.) Like the old SHO, this motor was mostly Yamaha - the biggest sign being the complex “nest of snakes” intake manifold that also was apparent on the old V6 SHO’s. This smooth-as-butter powerplant was actually derived from the twin-cam Duratec V6’s, but with two more cylinders tacked on and adjusted a bit more towards low-end torque output. This meant that although the SHO was about 200lbs heavier than it’s predecessor, it was still good for a nearly identical 7.2 second 0-60 time and a 140mph top speed (almost the same as the 3.2L Automatic V6 SHO figures of 7.3 and 141, respectively.) What was different was that this was a much more modern, refined chassis with a more character, torque-rich motor - and what a unique sound these cars made:

Like any other Taurus, an old SHO is available for a song these days. On ebay they gravitate between 1,500 and 6,000 for a later year in really good condition. There are a few well-known issues with the Gen III SHO Taurus, the most common being camshaft failure. This was caused by a weak design which allowed the camshaft to separate from the timing sprocket, which meant catastrophic engine failure - usually around the 50,000 mile mark. This is rectified by having the camshafts welded tgether - a relatively common fix for long-term SHO owners.

The stock performance of the SHO Taurus isn’t that astounding by modern standards, but it’s got some character. With a set of Borla 40’s, the SHO has a unique, cultured V8 burble that is wonderfully, totally out of place coming out of an egg-shaped Taurus. Acceleration on the highway is strong, as a punch to the throttle results in a kick-down to third which puts the engine right near it’s torque peak on the highway. Suspension tuning on the Gen III SHO was much softer than the first two, as it was being pitched more as a “sneaky executive express” than a true performance sedan like the originals. The SHO also benefits from a special rack-and-pinion steering mechanism designed by ZF in Germany which gives it much better response and stability than the stardard Taurus setup. The interior’s still weird, though.

While there isn’t the aftermarket support for the V8 SHO that the first two generations enjoyed, if you desire more power (or a ridiculous sleeper), there are still options available. Kenne Bell sells a supercharger kit for the Ford Duratec (twin-cam V6) that is relatively easy to adapt to the SHO with minor modifications - not surprising considering how similar they are. On the 3.0L 24v Duratec, that kit makes 300 crank horsepower at only 9psi. on an SHO Taurus, easily 350 crank or around 320 wheel at low boost with no intercooler. While aftermarket internals required for that sort of setup are virtually nonexistant except for things custom-made to specs, the SHO was blessed with relatively strong internals from the factory - a little boost wouldn’t hurt. Suspension is easier to find, and typical n/a motor mods are as well - bigger throttle body, SVT Cobra MAF, larger Ford 460 injectors, exhaust systems and high flow cats, etc.

And be honest: how cool would it be to have a supercharged twin-cam 4-valve V8 FORD TAURUS? Be honest with yourself!

Really though, I think what i miss (and admire) about the SHO is that “we can do anything” attitude Ford had. Can you imagine them doing that today? “Well, let’s build a high-strung high-performance version of our dull family sedan, with an engine half built by a company in Japan then shipped over here for final assembly.” Someone throwing out an idea like that at Ford today would probably get shot, or laughed at, or both. But here’s the crazy thing: when Ford did it, it WORKED. And they never do anything original or admirable like that any more - maybe that’s why they qouted an $8.7B loss for the second quarter of 2008?

The good news, like I said: these cars have been largely ignored, and can be bought for a song. With a little TLC and some choice modifications, you’ve got a quick, composed, comfortable car that’s not like anything else on the road.*

*=except for the Oldsmobile Aurora. Wait…

-James

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 4:16 pm and is filed under Uncommon Q-Ships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.