With a development budget of $3.5 billion, the Taurus was Ford’s most expensive project ever. It was also a Hail Mary for the company, which was in financial trouble.
And the SHO was the fastest version of the Taurus.
If the Taurus failed, so, too would Ford. It was so important to the success of the company that Ford restructured the engineering and design teams to work together on the new family sedan.
The Taurus’s design was so revolutionary that Ford kept its previous mid-size sedan, the LTD, in production at the same time, just in the new car failed — as the other American car executives predicted it would.
Instead, Taurus was an enormous success, eventually becoming the bestselling car in America. The performance version, the Taurus SHO, used the same basic 3.0-liter Vulcan V-6, but instead of pushrods, it used four overhead cams and 24 valves. The DOHC 4-valve heads were designed, manufactured, and assembled by Yamaha in Japan.
The SHO used a Mazda-sourced 5-speed manual and was the most powerful front-wheel drive sedan in the world. The only four-doors quicker or faster in America were the BMW M5 (E34) and 750iL. It was a performance bargain.
But although Ford sold around 400,000 Tauruses per year, it didn’t come close to its target of 20,000 SHOs annually. Except for the first year with the new, optional automatic transmission and larger 3.2-liter SHOgun engine.
Why didn’t the SHO sell? Well, because it looked like a Taurus — then, the de rigueur family sedan for the person who didn’t care about performance.
So the SHO was a victim of the Taurus’ success.
===
Subscribe to our YouTube channel for new videos every day!
Visit our website for daily automotive news, cars stories, reviews, and opinion:
Stay up to date by signing up for our email newsletters here:
Talk to other car people on our community:
Follow us on social media:
Facebook |
Instagram |
Twitter |
If you love cars, you belong with us. Hagerty Drivers Club is the world’s largest community for automotive enthusiasts. Members enjoy valuable automotive discounts, exclusive events and experiences, roadside service created specifically for collector vehicles, and a subscription to the bimonthly Hagerty Drivers Club magazine. Join Hagerty Drivers Club here:
Like what you see? Watch our other series including:
Redline Rebuild | Engine Time-lapse videos from start to finish
Barn Find Hunter | Tom Cotter searches the country for abandoned cars
Chip Foose Draws a Car | Reimagining popular cars with new designs
Contact us:
Suggest and feedback – tips@hagerty.com
Press inquiries – press@hagerty.com
Partnership requests – partnerships@hagerty.com
You sleep on the newer sho but it still does the same thing the old one does. Smacks around BMW’s and with tune is faster then a 6.4 scat pact with 2X the engine. Yea it’s not like the older one but it’s not something to forget
It's so strange that Ford US did NOT join forces with Ford Europe at this time.
The europeans worked at the "Scorpio", at the same time. And the Car looked quite similar. Google for it.
BUT: It was rear wheel drive, available with a lot of different engines, including a 2.9L 24V performance V6.
The Scorpio was roomy, had precise handling, good brakes and a similar design. But it was a completely different car. So Ford threw a lot of money out of the window…
Funfact: It was sold in the US as the "Merkur Scorpio" for a short period of time.
That song would have been much better without the lyrics.
I think the second gen small V8 SHO was even more interesting honestly.
I remember the SHOs from the early 90s, it was one of the best looking sedans on the street.
The Taurus also had those cool slant cut on the rear doors that many car companies have using for the past 20 plus years, take a look at the 97 Mercedes E class rear doors. Ford did it 8 years earlier.
@Hagerty –
YES , FORD pulled an (1990s) AUDI -> "Vorsprung durch Technik" & a modern more advanced design (that is even nearly timeless , like 1990s Audi) & far less wiredness + far more user freindlyness than the typical USA-car
The latest sho can be tuned for over 500hp lol
Now I want a SHO engine for my Ranger
Mitsubishi made that car… The galant/legnum vr4
I had a white 1994 SHO 3.2L auto. I LOVED that car and the seats were spectacular for any car, much less a Taurus!
Still miss that thing every day.
Tom Morana racing reved the original SHO engine out to 10,000rpm stock, they did it just for testing purpose and by their own account was making around 70hp that high but it could do it
Another revelation should be the Dodge spirit r/t same time taurus sho came out… Spirit r/t was the sedan in america when it came out
american ford owners are so funny. coswroth or die
6:40 please tell me where you're getting this info because that absolutely isn't true.. do your fact checks 🤦♂
I remember these when I was young. Taurus were everywhere, but the SHO was very rare. They were quite a lot more expensive than the regular Taurus so only enthusiasts would by them.
Whoever designed the last taurus needs to be beaten with a hose
Xr6 turbo would like to have a word with you
there is one local to me. i spotted it outside of a car and coffee! park alone on the side of the road! i was soo happy to see one i went directly to it! took pic of it and then my coworker was like why? i was suprise he didn't even know why that old taurus was special! and the worst he knew the owner! i might be able to buy it but its not really to best timing for me to buy another car! 😆
Can you please do a video like this on the 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited? It’s definitely a historic Jeep Icon and is kinda the grandfather of what started the SRT-8 Grand Cherokee.
Hey.. I love my 2013 SHO… it is one hella fast land yacht!
That was the single greatest opening I have ever seen. You are the GOAT sir.
Jason I did not know that the 4th/Last Gen Taurus was based on a SUV platform. So that's the reason I never cottoned to the last Ford Taurus SHO. It's proportions looked weird, it had very little interior space, front seats had as much room as an old Gemini space capsule from the 1960's and I was never a fan of that high above the shoulder window design. Even though It would seem that on paper that an AWD twin turbo V6 sedan would be the second coming of the American Family Muscle Car/Sports Sedan ala Impala SS, Mercury Marauder, Dodge Charger, etc. .
My mom had a 1988 Ford Taurus she bought it brand new.
Who remembers Robocop? I remembers Robocop.
awesome soundtrack too
Thanks for this video! I loved my 93 SHO!
Absolutely stellar description of the reality that was Taurus. So impressed!
I helped a buddy install an amp and sub in an SHO. We cruised afterwards – it was kind of scary from a sedan perspective.
The irony of a car insurance company sho-ing (paying even) someone drifting a Taurus on a cliff side road.
man the production quality is off the rev limiter.
It’s funny Tim Allen chose to use use this in his 1994 Santa Claus movie 😂
I remember the first time I saw a Taurus. I was on the school bus and stood up and shouted, “that looks like a car from the future!!!”
FYI: Just the steering wheel from a Porsche 928 (and other models) had the same amount of man-hours in it that an entire Ford Taurus had. That being 13 hours in total.
Isn't this the model just before the
Pinkly Taurus ??
Last one of these I saw was speeding down the road. He stopped at a light and it was smoking out the back.
My father in law had a 1st generation and a second generation, both manuals. Second one had custom exhaust. Both very fast for the time
Robocop choice car numba one! Pew pew pew!
My parents owned a couple of Taurus and my wife’s company leased thousands for sales reps.
Ok.. I have to say they were very good for the price and for the time.
Now, it needed improvements in quality of materials and the production line definitely had some drug using workers.
In 1995 my wife Conpany gave her a new Taurus. After 9,000 miles and three months in the shop it was lemon lawed. The next Taurus made it to 6500 miles before being lemon lawed. Finally she receive a new model version of the Taurus with the round rear window. It was a 1996. That car made it to 42000 miles when it was turned in for a 1997 Ford Explorer. She never went back to a car after that.
What interesting is how very reliable some Taurus’s have been.
My parents last Taurus was a Mercury Sable. It had the performance engine and the coolest digital dash. The interior was leather and very quite. I really enjoyed the car.
I remember the SHO, because some kid at my high school was destroying all the modified Honda's and Acuras at the street races
I was enjoying your videos for a while, and then I realized half of them were just you bitching about the government. If I want that, I can just watch Joe Rogan. Focus.