The
Ford Taurus SHO (Super High Output ) is a mid size performance sedan trim level on the
Ford TaurusThe Ford Taurus is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States. Originally introduced in the 1986 model year, it has remained in near continuous production for more than two decades, making it the fourth oldest nameplate that is currently sold in the North American...
that was originally produced by the
Ford Motor CompanyThe Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands, Ford also owns Volvo Cars of Sweden, and a small stake...
from 1989 until 1999, and will return starting in the 2010 model year.
The SHO was originally created as a limited production model to use up engines that Ford ordered from
YamahaYamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
under contract for use in a two-seater competitor to the
Pontiac FieroThe Pontiac Fiero was a mid-engined sports car that was built by the Pontiac division of General Motors from 1984 to 1988. The Fiero — meaning "proud" in Italian and "fierce" or "ferocious" in Spanish — was designed by Hulki Aldikacti as a Pontiac sports car...
that was canceled while still in development.
The
Ford Taurus SHO (Super High Output ) is a mid size performance sedan trim level on the
Ford TaurusThe Ford Taurus is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States. Originally introduced in the 1986 model year, it has remained in near continuous production for more than two decades, making it the fourth oldest nameplate that is currently sold in the North American...
that was originally produced by the
Ford Motor CompanyThe Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands, Ford also owns Volvo Cars of Sweden, and a small stake...
from 1989 until 1999, and will return starting in the 2010 model year.
The SHO was originally created as a limited production model to use up engines that Ford ordered from
YamahaYamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
under contract for use in a two-seater competitor to the
Pontiac FieroThe Pontiac Fiero was a mid-engined sports car that was built by the Pontiac division of General Motors from 1984 to 1988. The Fiero — meaning "proud" in Italian and "fierce" or "ferocious" in Spanish — was designed by Hulki Aldikacti as a Pontiac sports car...
that was canceled while still in development. Ford had intended to only produce the SHO for the 1989 model year, and initially advertised it as a limited production vehicle. However, the model proved to be very popular, selling over 15,000 units in its first year, leading Ford to order more engines and begin series production. The SHO would go on to be produced for ten years in three generations, totaling 106,465 vehicles as of late 1999.
Production ended after the 1999 model year due to a decline in popularity, in which Ford decided to not produce a SHO version of the fourth generation Taurus; in 1999, just over 3,000 SHOs were sold, which was nearly a sixth of the SHO's sales numbers from ten years prior. Today, the SHO enjoys a
cult followingA cult following is used to refer to a small or large group of fans that are either somewhat or highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture.-Cult media:...
among performance car enthusiasts, due to its relation to the Taurus, which classifies it as a "
SleeperA sleeper or Q-car is a car that has high performance and an unassuming exterior. Sleeper cars are termed such because their exterior looks little or no different from a standard or economy-class car. In some cases the car appears worse due to seeming neglect on the owner's part, typically...
".
First generation (1989-1991)
The SHO differed from the normal Taurus on the exterior by having different bumpers, side cladding, and fog lamps. The interior also differed, with sports seats and an 8000 rpm
tachometerA tachometer is an instrument that measures the rotation speed of a shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute on a calibrated analogue dial, but digital displays are increasingly common...
. The SHO became the only Taurus to feature a
manual transmissionA manual transmission, or manual gearbox is a type of transmission used in motor vehicle applications...
since the MT-5 was discontinued in that year.
The first generation Taurus SHO can accelerate from 0-60 mph in 6.6 seconds
with a quarter mile time of 15.0-15.2 seconds. Car and Driver reported in their December 1989 issue a top speed of 143 mph.
A special edition of the SHO called the Plus package became available in 1991. It came as part of option package #212A and contained different styling cues from the standard SHO, including a plastic 'Power Bulge' hood, chrome window trim, a plastic spoiler without the 3rd brake light, 24V DOHC badges, body colored stripe in the lower cladding, black mirrors, and a body color TAURUS badge. White painted pluses had the option of white painted "slicer" wheels. A green called "Deep Jewel Green Clearcoat Metallic" was also only available with the plus option.
Second generation (1992-1995)
The SHO was redesigned in 1992, although it continued with the same powertrain as before: The Yamaha-developed 3.0L V6 and 5-speed
manual transmissionA manual transmission, or manual gearbox is a type of transmission used in motor vehicle applications...
. The second generation SHO borrowed from the
Mercury SableThe Mercury Sable is a mid-size or full-size luxury sedan car model created by the Ford Motor Company and sold under the Mercury brand...
's front fascia, but used a different bumper, fog lamps, and no middle lightbar. The SHO also got unique seats, wheels, side cladding, dual exhaust, as well as a unique rear bumper.
The lack of an automatic transmission had hurt sales, which was a situation that Ford rectified in 1993. A 3.2 L version of the
Ford SHO V6 engineIn 1984, executives of the Yamaha Motor Corporation signed a contract with the Ford Motor Company to develop, produce, and supply a compact 60° DOHC V6 engine for transverse application. There has been some confusion about the original intended use of the engine...
was introduced for automatic-equipped SHO, which still had 220 hp (164 kW), but now boasted 215 ft·lbf (292 N·m), a 15 ft·lbf (20.3 N·m) increase over the 3.0 L version.
In 1993, Ford did a minor redesign of the SHO interior, updating the center console. Other changes for 1993 included a trunklid spoiler, with integrated center high mount stop lamp.
By request of
Car and DriverCar and Driver is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. Its total circulation is 1.31 million. It is owned by Hachette Filipacchi Magazines. Originally headquartered in New York City, the magazine has been based in Ann Arbor, Michigan since the late 1970s.-History:Car and Driver was founded...
magazine, a SHO station wagon was created by the Car and Driver staff with the help of Ford engineers. They started with a production Taurus wagon, and from there installed SHO bodywork, including its unique front end. They then replaced the stock engine and drivetrain with SHO drivetrain. Inside, the interior was replicated of that of a high spec SHO sedan, including its sport seats, steering wheel, and included most of the SHO's equipment. The staff then tested it, and took it on a cross country trip. The model became nothing more than a one off special, and the Car and Driver staff as well as Ford admitted that the SHO wagon was created "just for fun", and was never meant to be a serious production vehicle.
Third generation (1996-1999)
For 1996, the SHO was redesigned. Unlike its predecessors, this SHO was more refined and used less radical bodywork. It differed from the normal Taurus with different seats,
wheelA wheel is a circular device that is capable of rotating on its axis, facilitating movement or transportation whilst supporting a load , or performing labour in machines. Common examples are found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle overcomes friction by facilitating motion by...
s,
bumperAn automobile's bumper is the front-most or rear-most part, ostensibly designed to allow the car to sustain an impact without damage to the vehicle's safety systems...
s, drivetrain, as well as a fin being put on the driver's side windshield wiper, to keep it on the
windshieldThe windshield or windscreen of an aircraft, automobile, bus, motorcycle, or tram is the front window. Modern windshields are generally made of laminated safety glass, a type of treated glass, which consists of two curved sheets of glass with a plastic layer laminated between them for safety, and...
at high speeds.
A 235 hp (175 kW) aluminum 3.4 L V8 engine with heads from
Yamaha, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company. Yahama Motor is part of the Yamaha Corporation and its headquarter is located in Iwata, Shizuoka. Along with expanding Yamaha Corporation into the world's biggest piano maker, then Yamaha CEO Genichi Kawakami took Yamaha into the field of motorized...
and block from
CosworthCosworth is an automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines for automobile racing . It supplies a wide range of motorsport series, including the World Rally Championship, World Superbikes and, as of 2010, Formula One...
was specified for the SHO model, but it was given the same four speed transmission as the LX: the manual gearbox option was no longer offered on the SHO. Separation of the
camshaftA camshaft is a shaft to which a cam is fastened or of which a cam forms an integral part.-History:An early cam featuring a camshaft was built into Hellenistic water-driven automata from the 3rd century BC. The camshaft was later described in Iraq by Al-Jazari in 1206...
from its sprocket has been implicated in a growing number of engine failures, at around the 50,000 mile (80,000 km) mark. The standard warranty on this model was 36,000 miles (58,000 km). This problem is oft attributed to cost saving measures taken by Ford in the manufacturing of this vehicle, which included a new method of manufacturing camshafts that produced them with a lower degree of quality. This problem can be rectified by having the camshafts welded. This SHO model sold in lower numbers than the previous SHO generations, with sales peaking at 9,000 units in 1997. As a result, Ford cut the SHO when redesigning the Taurus for its fourth generation. It was also the only Ford Taurus generation with a
V8 engineA V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft....
.
Fourth generation (2010-)
A month after the introduction of the sixth generation Taurus, Ford unveiled the much-awaited return of the SHO at the 2009
Chicago Auto ShowThe Chicago Auto Show is held annually in February at Chicago's McCormick Placeconvention complex. At , with over 1,000 vehicles on display, it is the largest auto show in North America and the third largest in the world .The event, first produced in 1901, has been staged more times than any other...
.
After skipping two Ford Taurus generations, the resurrected sport sedan is all-wheel drive. It features a 3.5 liter direct-injected twin-turbo
EcoBoost V6 producing at 5500 rpm and of
torqueTorque, also called moment or moment of force , is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....
at 3500 rpm, mated to Ford's 6F55 six-speed SelectShift
automatic transmissionAn automatic transmission is an automobile gearbox that can change gear ratios automatically as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...
with a paddle- or console-activated Manual mode.
The new SHO comes with Ford's new SR1 suspension setup with MacPherson front struts and a multi-link set up in the rear. This includes SHO-specific shock absorbers, springs, stabilizer bars and strut mount bushings. An optional Performance Package offers better brake pads, recalibrated steering, a "Sport Mode" for the stability control and shorter 3.16 to 1 final drive ratio.
Visually, the differences from the regular Taurus are subtle. It is encompassed by a dark grey grille finish that matches the larger wheels, a decklid spoiler, dual chrome exhaust tips, new parking lamp bevels, an EcoBoost rear logo, and an SHO C-Pillar logo.
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