Ford Taurus SHO - Ford's 1st Performance Sedan

[@rev68]

An uncle of mine, who passed away, had a '93 SHO (automatic) that I ended up driving for a few months (several thousand miles back/forth across the country a couple of times). The car was comfortable for long trips (I drove several 12 hour, 1 stop trips) and got great gas mileage at 80 mph on the interstate, (just over 500 miles on one full tank). It was absolutely a sleeper and enjoyable to drive, for what it was.

[@yankeetraveler1118]

I traded a 1986 Chrysler Lebaron GTS for a 1993 SHO. The GTS had the 2.2 Turbo 5 spd and was OK with some added boost, but it was nothing compared to the SHO. Mine was a 5 spd and I upgraded to a Bear Claw throw out bearing when I changed the clutch. What an immense improvement in shift quality and durability. I also upgraded the brakes to Performance Friction, the shocks and struts to Koni Adjustable, tires to 235/60 instead of 215/65, and a K&N FIPK to let it breath at top end. A fantastic all around car that would easily hit 145, corner with the best, and still get 35 mpg at 75 mph on the interstate. Don't overlook the comfort and ability to take the inlaws out for mothers day brunch either. And such a trouble free car too. A clutch was all I ever had to do besides routine maintenance in 150k miles. I loved it so much I bought an '18 SHO before Ford abandoned cars.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thanks for watching and for sharing your experience!

[@billnorris3305]

My dad was one of the engineers that worked on the sho ranger. They built three testers in 1986. The original sho motor put out 265 horsepower. They had to detune it for the Taurus because they couldn’t get a clutch to fit that would hold up to the power. The ranger had a t-5 out of a Mustang. There were also I believe 20 sho sables built in 1994. They weren’t available to the general public. They were aluminum bodies and had oddball taillights.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

I love to see all the development cars Ford never released to the general public.

[@billnorris3305]

I forgot the SHO wagon too. I remember seeing one of those too. It was red. Taurus wagon in the back, SHO front clip.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

@@billnorris3305 I think that was a magazine car ... not for production.

[@billnorris3305]

@@TonysFordsandMustangsThat could be. I did see that car more than once on the road though. Same with a Sable SHO.

[@bobuncle8704]

A friend was a big SHO guy. Really loved modding it’s much as possible. There was an SHO club in London Ontario, where we live

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

They have their fans to this day no doubt.

[@GeekSHO]

@@TonysFordsandMustangs yep, you're absolutely correct. There is still a very strong community for these cars.

[@theartistone5860]

I had two first-edition in white and a second-edition in green, fun little car.

[@SaraStearns-t6f]

I owned a '93 automatic SHO, and later a '94 automatic car. Loved the '93, except that it turned out to be a lemon, just endless problems. I traded it on, but I missed it, and a few years later I bought a used '94 SHO automatic. It was the polar opposite of the '93 car, very reliable, better built, and I drove it for many years, trading it off when it had 170000 miles on the clock. I really wanted a five speed car, but my spouse thought otherwise! I do wish I had purchased a 5 speed variant, I'm quite sure I'd still have it if that had happened. The car was so much to drive! The driveline was smooth and sweet, more sophisticated and higher quality than the rest of the car, especially the interior. After a time, switches on the HVAC panel broke, and then the plastic trim on the seats started falling apart (among other things). In spite of those little issues, plus my experience with the '93 lemon, I consider the SHO to this day one of the most satisfying and fun cars I have ever owned.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thank you for watching and for sharing your experience.

[@mustanlab302]

Those 2 cars in your garage 😍 👌 perfection !

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thank you!

[@joeseeking3572]

My SHO was a 91, burgandy with slicer wheels. HIgh option, lacking only the CD (but with JBL) and full leather - I preferred the cloth/leather grip. Stupid heavy clutch and eventually you needed to touch 1st to get reverse without a huge grind/clunk, but all in all I remember that car quite fondly. (I can still feel the shift knob, especially on the 3-4) No, it did not handle like a BMW and you really had to get into the revs to appreciate the power. A lot my friends just basically couldn't drive it, but if you understood it, it was super fun. Plus it looked great, just understated enough. I could see myself owning another some day.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thanks for watching and sharing your experience!

[@streetroyalty1]

Love the SHO! I’ve had a 1991 and a 2011. So much fun!

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thank you for your comment and for watching!

[@danwake4431]

My local police department bought the police version of the SHO when they came out. I was walking across a parking lot once and saw a cop parked waiting for speeders. As I was walking by, he starts the car and goes to pull out to chase someone. I guess he wasn't used to the torque steer (they still had some crown vics) and plowed right into a parked car. He saw me and told me i was a witness and had to stick around. I ended up telling his SGT what I saw and that was it. He seemed pretty sheepish about it.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thanks for sharing!

[@upbeattvraw-hiphop8242]

😂😂 awesome story

[@ronporter8542]

There were no Police versions with the SHO engine. All were the 3.8 or the 3.0 Vulcan.

[@Viking88Power]

Had the exact same car, the most fun car I ever owned.

[@williamsinger4124]

Not too long ago, i owned a 93 SHO sedan. Manual, dark green with the gray cloth and leather interior. Got it cheap bc I live in upstate NY so the car had plenty of structural weight reduction aka rot. Car run good, lots of life in the power train. I ran it for a bit, then parted it out. I kept the intake manifold, tore it apart and polished the aluminum. Its currently hanging on the wall of my man cave. Those intakes are a work of art in my opinion

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

That is awesome thanks for sharing!

[@adamsmith9636]

I think the SHO was perfect with the manual trans and the slightly different looks .

[@Nick-yq3wt]

Great video and information on the SHO Tony! I purchased a 91 from Villa Ford in Southern California. White with beige leather interior, JBL sound system, pretty much loaded. I belonged to the SHO registry back then and I think I still have a few Newsletter’s hanging around. I really loved that car! Thanks for the memories!

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thanks for the kind words and for sharing!

[@TomGunnTools]

Always appreciate the detail and research you put into your videos. 👍👍

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thank you! I appreciate that!

[@etiennegregoire3091]

Back in 1998 we were looking for a winter car....picked up a 91 Plus 80000km for 5k cdn. I know crazy winter car but it was great.

[@91MustangLX]

Love the old SHO's!! Great video as always 🤟💯

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thank you sir!

[@Todd.T]

A few points: 1. The motor had a dual intake runner system, not a variable length runner. At the time one of the other major brand cars that featured dual runners was the Covette ZR1 with engine design help from Lotus. 2. Cars had bad torque steer due to a FWD car having unequal lenth half shafts. Ford adressed this before others by making one of the drive shafts hollow. 3. The original shifter was cable controlled and sloppy. The upgraded shifter was rod and linkage which made the car easier to get into gear. I used to powershift my 1993 SHO. 4. The car was meant to take on the BMW M5 using parts from a failed project (point #7) 5. The car was executive class meant for the boys in suits from the office to go out for lunch together. This is why the manual didn't do so well. 6. The car was STUPID expensive in comparison to other performance Fords like the Thunderbird SC (I had both at the same time) 7. The engine wasn't designed for this car, it was designed for Ford's "Ferrari" the GN 34. Look it up. It looks like a Probe, a Nissan 300ZX Turbo, a Ferrari F355 and it was mid engined. All the other competitor's cars that look like the GN 34 would be produced well over a decade later. Who copied whom? A lot of people's big mistake with comparing this car is looking at peak HP instead of area under the curve. The SHO produced peak or near peak HP across a much broader range where all single runner cars had a small peak and then you had to shift. You got past three grand and it pulls the same until you hit max RPM. It accelerates like a Euro car. Each gear just delivers more of the same until it's time to shift. It will spank a Mustang from 100mph on up and has a higher top speed rumoured to hit 150 +mph with all limiters removed. The alternator was part of the RPM limiting factor as they didn't want it to fly apart and even the alternator was unique. I have raced stock Mustangs with my SHO and verified they cannot hang at top speeds. I have owned/worked on 8 Fox Mustangs in various states of tune from the ten minute tune up to 13:1 460ci big block as well. The biggest problem I had with the SHO was getting unique parts. It kept breaking the engine shock absorbers. It rusted. To change the clutch, Ford gave you a paper template to peel the carpet back and drill holes in the floor to you could access bolts. Ford gave your plugs to fill the holes you had to drill.

[@rstel6295]

Hi, on the "peeling the carpet back". Firstly, that's not a SHO centric thing. The trapped retaining bolt modification for the rear subrame mounts was for Taurus, Sable and Continental. It started life as program (recall) 92S61 that was applied to all the aforementioned cars within 14 selected "rust belt" states. The 92S61 Kit came with yes, a template, plug, new bolts (with large washer plate that covered the entirety of the subframe mount from below) and new bolts. The original design had the upper rear subframe bolt mount was fully trapped inside the channels of the unibody. The retention nuts were held in by 2 ears that were folded over during assembly. In the words of Neil Young "Rust never sleeps" so things would go on with the rear subframe mount after being continually exposed to salt spray. Either the tabs would break and the retention nut would just spin why you tried to remove or, in the worse case part of the subframe mount would rust on the lower side and pop through the bolt, causing the rear subframe mounts to drop. The 92S61 kit changed this so, now you had access to the nut holding the rear subframe in place. It frankly wasn't hard to do, if memory serves me the SLTS for the era had the job denoted at 7/10th of an hour for both sides. All things considered, the SHO was by far the easiest Taurus/Sable/Continental/Windstar platform cars to R/R a trans. MTX was a pleasure to change the clutch on from that era as opposed to the AXOD/AX4N. I think I had my own personal one in and out twice although that was more for throw out bearing noise.

[@houstoner]

My grandmother had a shiny red SHO when I was a kid. That car was quick! I remember her driving fast, weaving lanes and muttering foul obscenities towards other drivers in the way. Good times! I sort of wish I could have gotten my hands on it, but it got totaled after hydroplaning into a ditch.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thanks for sharing

[@Prairieshutterbug64]

Thanks Tony for another great video. I could never get past the looks of the Taurus so didn't pay much attention to the SHO.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thanks for watching and yes I can understand your line of thought.

[@michaelsimko7694]

The 1993-95 model years are my favorite Tauruses, along with the SHO. 2 colors I love on the second gen SHO are Performance Red and Deep Jewel Green Metallic.

[@scottmiller8791]

Had a Blue 95 SHO with the automatic. Working at a used car dealer at the time and the boss got the car. The transmission slipped a little bit and he sold it to me for $600. That was about 2013. I drove the car with no big problems for over year and then sold it for $1600 to a friend of a friend who drove it for I don’t know how long. I miss that car.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

That sounds like a hell of a deal! Thanks for sharing.

[@bobloblaw8660]

Hey Tony. Love your channel and love this video about the origins of the SHO. Are you planning on doing a fifth generation SHO video? I have a 2015 SHO and would love to hear the details about that model line that they seemed to give up on midway through.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thank you for the kind word I will cover every generation at some point for sure. Thank you for watching it is appreciated!

[@phillipmcmurran8991]

1962 Galaxy 500XL A 406 cu in (7 L) engine was available in single four-barrel or triple-carbureted "six-barrel" form.

[@jimlafreeda43]

Another great video, watch your video I got to drive a 95 version SHO at Sands Ford in Red Hill Pa. My 5.0 was in for service and my sales guy needed to deliver a car. Lol, they offered me to drive him. It was a bad fast car for a 4 door ! Fortunately, I could drive stick 😉

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thanks for the kind words and driving stick is becoming a lost art. ;)

[@dougpendleton1266]

Good job! I lusted after the SHO when it first came out, finally got around to buying one in 1992. I really loved the seats and handling, but the car had an awful amount of torque steer. I was also more of a pushrod v8 torque kind of guy and it seemed pretty gutless until you let that beautiful engine sing above 5k. I didn't end up keeping very long, too many warranty repairs for my taste. Funny thing, those cars are still on my radar all these years later!

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thank you and thanks for sharing!

[@CAROLDDISCOVER-1983]

On another KZbin channel the guy crushed an SHO! HE TRIED FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS THAT I KNOW OF TO FIND A BUYER FOR THE CAR. There was no interest. I was surprised. I had a company car back in the day has a Ford taurus. With DOHC. I'VE HAD other ones with a standard 3.0liter. I bought a DOHC Mercury sable. Never had an SHO. I'VE THOUGHT ABOUT IT AND WOULD LIKE TO BUT I DON'T NEED ANOTHER PROJECT. There is a cult following in younger people for the Ford Taurus in General. I was surprised how well a Ford Taurus did on my little channel compared to the average I was doing then especially on what is normally my off day. The comments were favorable and they were from people probably ranging from 25 to almost 40 years of age for the most part. Their parents had one. They had their problems with the lower end of the engine.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

I had a 1994 Taurus 3.0 as a company car and i loved it. That said the prior car was a Tempo so it was a much better car to drive. Thanks for watching!

[@CAROLDDISCOVER-1983]

​@@TonysFordsandMustangsthanks for the reply. I do enjoy your channel. But I am a GM guy so I'm learning more about Fords through your channel. Of course I've had a number of comments of people telling me on my channel that I need to come out of the blue oval closet. The only time I do drive are Fords. I went from the Taurus to a Mitsubishi outlander for a company vehicle. I kept that Taurus for just about 300,000 MI. I convinced them to put a set of heads on it. And got almost another hundred thousand miles out it. The DOHC WAS A VAST IMPROVEMENT OVER THE STANDARD 3 L. Sorry sometime leave a caps on. I came back to see your reply. Replies do not show up in my notifications. They show up as a number on the bill but never on the list. If you have any ideas about this or where I can look to get that fixed I'd appreciate the information. Thanks 👍

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

@@CAROLDDISCOVER-1983 I only see replies in my gmail account. I do generally have to look them as well. I'm glad you enjoy the channel!

[@teebird94]

For a period of time between Thunderbird's,i owned a used 1989 Taurus police car.But it wasnt a patrol car it was a captain's car.It had wide bucket seats/ a console(with various hole plugs in it..also the car was still column shifted) clothe interior, certified speedometer,lots of hole plugs in the dash...LOL...BUT...they left the heavy duty cooling,wiring,brakes and was specially geared .The engine was a bone stock 3.0 with heavy duty wiring and the only thing that altered the "speed" was it had a higher top end due to the gearing,but accelerated slower..LOL...It was brown on brown.I liked it because it was a bland as heck brown Taurus..with bucket seats and a console ..LOL

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thanks for watching & sharing!

[@RagingWeasles86]

Interesting car, never knew it existed. When can we expect more SVO content? 😂 I’m biased I have a 7B 86 SVO

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

I will be getting back on that car in the next couple of months. I am working on finding rear calipers (have the left side still looking for the right) so I can get the parking brake sorted and I want to go to a serpentine belt setup and a modern A/C system. Those videos will be coming once all the parts are here.

[@RagingWeasles86]

Throw on a 3G alternator while you’re at it. It’s a simple conversion

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

@@RagingWeasles86 Maybe we shall see. I don't know if I have a need for the extra juice and the factory Alt is just fine at this point.

[@jeremytd7072]

I heard some Bionic Woman voiceover on that one commercial. Nice…

[@rstel6295]

Yeah sleeper is right.. Greatest SHO moment.. must of been 95ish (mine was a 92) and our kids were little, 9-10 somewhere around there. We're just heading off to do stuff on a Saturday. There is a 944 infront of us just being "Porsche ass-clowny". Not 911/930 "Doctorish" but, what you'd expect from most 924/944 owners of the era. There is a long right hand sweeper from the road we're on going onto the interstate. We clear the apex and as I expected, suddenly see that Bosch K-Jet dump black unburned fuel out the exhaust and they try to go all "Millennium Falcon". Anticipated this had had the SHO a gear down.. two could play at this game.. blew their doors off, embarrassingly, welcome to gapplebees and the pièce de résistance... kids in the back seat laughing at them at waving as we streak by. Tucked into right lane and just returned to normal highway speed. They caught up a few miles later and the look of amazement on their faces was priceless. That car would do things like that all the time. People would try and clip you on the right for a merge from a light and lose bigly then catch up at another dual lane light and roll down the window and ask "what the hell"? You did have to manage Torque Steer and really "live with it" to anticipate its quirks. When the aftermarket caught up and offered an LSD carrier for the MTX, it really unlocked the potential. Not having an LSD onset really was an oversight by the boys in Powertrain Eng. But in fairness and as called out, the Taurus platform wasn't the original home for the powerplant. If was for the GN34 project and a Ranger variant and both were RWD cars (although the GN34 was a mid engine and would have used a more traditional trans axle). There was and still is a lot to be unlocked. We used to joke, you can tell where Yamaha stopped and traditional Ford bean-counting procurement began, especially with the exhaust. Beautiful flowing headers and then "F" it 90 degree right angle into cats from the front bank flange. Beautiful tuned intake runners and "F" it typical Ford corporate cheap restrictive air box and silencer from behind the facia. Instead of running under drive pulley's to protect the FEAD equipment (specifically the P/S pump that couldn't handle the motors higher rpms), "F" it lets put an RPM limiter on it and leave 15% of the motor's potential on the table. The car really should have been a "SVT" project like what occurred later with Contour. Could you imagine what it truly would have become if you had a semi-autonomous group like SVT behind it, with someone like Colletti that had the internal ass, horsepower and balls to "fight the man" internally at Ford? I realize he was busy with SN-95 at this time but, one can dream :) Sadly by 93 the dream was over, sorry that is my personal opinion. The second it picked up the 3.2 and AX4S it changed for the worse. No longer a pure "enthusiasts car" competing with M5's and the like, the road for it becoming a fat, stupid, bloated golf-club hauler was now fully paved. The 3.0 and MTX was raw, you had to love it to own it. 3.0 for instance was bucket shims for the valve train, and you damn well had to adjust them every 25-30K. So many little intricacies for the care and feeding of the 3.0. 3.2 meh---turn the key and go and it lost its soul in there. Might be slighted but 92 is peak IMO. 2 gen body, rod and linkage instead of cable and pulley shifter and no spoiler. Kept more of low profile

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thanks you for watching and for sharing your story. You know your SHO's.

[@phantom0456]

SHO-nuff!

[@dameon2170]

Sho was faster then you think

[@yankeetraveler1118]

145 mph was easy before a tune.

[@frickerstl]

My parents bought a still new '89 SHO from the local Ford dealership in early '90. No one wanted a 5 speed but fortunately my parents always preferred manuals! They had it as a garage queen until '98 when I bought it and had it as my daily driver until 2015. I still have it tucked away in a garage with just over 200k on the odo. Went thru 2 clutch changes and lots of maintenance. Nothing like that Yamaha V6 and those intake snakes! What a design and so ahead of its time in 1989!!!

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

@@frickerstl Thank you for sharing your experience!

[@robertamoyaw8812]

A RWD SHO could have become a serious classic today . I had a '89 SHO and i had issues with the manual tranny , issues I don't have with the same Mazda 5speed manual in my '07 Mazda 3 even at 300K miles of rough riding. It was tough , very stiff to shift in the SHO. It was a stressful tranny in heavy traffic

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

That's most likely true but it would have caused a complete redesign of the entire car so it wasn't going to happen.

[@diecastlifeanddeath4528]

I am sad you didn't say that the 1984/85 LTD LX / Marquis LTZ (4 Door Fox Bodied 5.0L Cars) as the 1st performance Sedan offered by FoMoCo. The 1989 SHO was a interesting addition to the lineup at time fore sure, however, the Mazda Manual Transaxle was "Clunky To Shift" at best. And torque steer? WOW, the were a handful. The first Cadillac Seville STS sedans powered by the Northstar V8, combined with the "Equal Output Shaft" designed automatic transaxles, were far more drivable under harsh acceleration. The SHO, while I agree was a notable offering by FoMoCo back in 1989, it clearly didn't have the "Panache" image the public was seeking at that point. Great cars nonetheless.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Thanks for watching & sharing! I didn't see the LTD LX or the LTZ as performance sedans. To me they were more a striaght line hot rodded LTD. A Mustang GT with a bit more space. Interesting car. I agree. the SHO failed to be an over the top success because Ford didn't do enough to make it stand out from the standard Taurus in the looks department. Kind of the same deal with the Chevy SS of a few years ago. You had to know what it was to point it out in a crowd.

[@oneninerniner3427]

I believe the auto OD AXODE/AX4S transaxle was the weak point of the SHO. Actually on many Taurus's. I fixed a pile of gm 440T4/4T60Es too though. So I fixed a couple of SHO transaxles, but never worked on a manual one though. Heard some folks were hard on the clutchs on those, which is not uncommon on a lot of manual trans vehicles for some folks too i believe. lol

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

I know Ford had some issues with the clutches going out in the early cars. This is the first I have about issues with the auto.

[@oneninerniner3427]

@@TonysFordsandMustangs yes, the earlier ones had an aluminum forward apply piston that sometimes cracked in the seal groove. It was later updated to steel and that fixed the issue. I found it was equal opportunity for any brand to have a failure at the shops I worked at, but I have to say most of the trans I worked on were GMs, with a lesser mix of other brands. But then again some people can break an anvil too so there's that! ha ha

[@oneninerniner3427]

The early Escapes had similar EPC (electronic pressure control), high pressure spikes that could break parts, I believe it happened cold. I think that was the root of the issue on the Taurus too, also GM 4L80Es had a pressure spike piston cracking issue as well that comes to mind. So with improved parts and or a high pressure relief valve added they were ok.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

@@oneninerniner3427 It's tough to break and anvil! :)

[@jasondayton1581]

Those of us that still drive and enjoy the SHO strongly prefer the manual.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

I appreciate those of you who do drive them! That’s why they were built.

[@bobuncle8704]

Can you segway into the SHO Gun?

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

That was an entirely different car and there were only 7 built so I doubt I will be doing a video on the SHogun but you never know IF I could actually see one up close I would.

[@CAROLDDISCOVER-1983]

Interesting point

[@bobuncle8704]

@@TonysFordsandMustangs reach out o Jay Leno. I’m sure he’ll give you a tour of his😂

[@kubeanie18]

conan still has the car btw

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

That is awesome! Thank you for the update.

[@SuperDougiedoo]

I wonder why it took Ford US so long to catch on to performance sedans.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

It because four doors in the US were always thought of as family cars and not sporty. That line of thinking continued from the 50's through the 80's

[@emergencyresponsevideosand4423]

1:50 why did he say “SHO” so slowly, in a simaler commerical, it said SHO pretty fast

[@tomgeoghegan9173]

How is the SVO doinig?

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

I have a few parts I am waiting on prior to the next video. The SVO is running well. I took it on a couple hundred mile covered bridge tour a few weeks back with no issues. Thanks for asking!

[@GeekSHO]

You said that the look of the engine drawing attention, "today, not so much" . I disagree. I can park my beat-to-snot SHO at a cars and coffee, pop the hood and draw a ton of people to look at my unwashed, grody engine bay. It's still one of the best looking engines you will see anywhere.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

I don't disagree however my thought being that there were very few engine bays at the time that had intake runners let alone a set up like the SHO. Today they are more commonplace.

[@romirro]

Grüße aus Deutschland 🇩🇪.

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Danke Schoen

[@kevinwilson2442]

Conan gave his SHO away on his show....😢

[@TonysFordsandMustangs]

Are you talking about his podcast?