• The Ford Taurus SHO turned America’s most popular sedan into a legitimate sports machine.
• A big-string Yamaha V-6 is mated to a five-speed manual.
• This first-year SHO has seen only two owners and 37,000 miles.
Auction at Bring A Trailer, which, as Car and driver, is part of the Hearst Autos group; is an example of an innovative performance sedan that brought power to the people. “Ford Taurus SHO shocks the world,” we said, with only minor hyperbole, after testing the new sports sedan in its debut. OK, so the Taurus SHO wasn’t a BMW M5, but by the standards of the day it filled the same brief, and for less than half the price. When this 1989 example hit the streets, we called it a “breakthrough car,” one that could nibble on the heels of Camaros and Corvettes while still retaining its brief familiarity with four doors and a snug trunk.
Open the hood and take a good look at one of the most beautiful engines ever made, a Yamaha V-6 with its snake basket cylinder head. Displacing the same 3.0 liters as the regular Taurus’ optional Vulcan V-6, the SHO had 80 more horses under its belt, for a total of 220.
Yamaha had been tasked with developing the V-6 for a possible mid-engine sports car called the GN34 (think Ford’s never-before-seen NSX). When that project fizzled out, Ford’s special vehicle operations team called for the V-6 to find a new home in a hardened Taurus. Since Taurus was already a mainstream hit, why not? Lucky for us, because he was a motor fiend.
In a 1988 review of the car, Csaba Csere wrote:
“The Shogun motor is limited to 7300 rpm, not to protect the internals, but to prevent the accessory drive system from pulling apart. (The motor itself is capable of safely turning over 8500 rpm.) The engine’s durability comes from its forged steel crankshaft and connecting rods; a high-strength cast-iron cylinder block with main bearing brackets and reinforced cover faces; and a cooling system that offers full water jackets of 360 degrees around the cylinders, extra-large cooling passages and a water-to-oil heat exchanger. Yamaha spared no expense when designing this engine.”
The exotic engine also sent 200 pound-feet of torque to the front wheels, sent exclusively through a Mazda five-speed manual transmission. (An automatic wouldn’t be offered until the next generation, the ’93 SHO.) The SHO didn’t look all that different from the hundreds of thousands of garden-variety Taurus sedans already roaming the streets of the United States (370,000 of which were sold in 1989). ). And yet it was faster than any sedan at twice the price. It could also keep up with a Mustang V-8. It doesn’t just keep up, it actually beats it.
From that same road test period: “Compared to the powerful Ford Mustang V-8, the SHO is just 0.3 seconds slower in the quarter mile. And all that lost time comes at the start; once rolling, the SHO keeps pace with the Mustang and finishes the race at the same trap speed of 95 mph. Above 100 mph, the aerodynamically superior SHO consistently pulls away from the Mustang. The Taurus SHO is a fast family sedan of five passengers.
This example has relatively low miles at 37K and has only had two owners. It has typical interior quality wear of a late 1980’s Ford product and some other blemishes. Although the silver paint hides them well.
Even today, most may not know the SHO from any other Taurus. But take off the hood at your local Radwood show or car and coffee event, and show off Yamaha’s good work. It will be clear that this is not a Hertz-spec Taurus.
The auction will last until May 22.
Collaborating editor
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British cars, came of age in the golden age of Japanese compact sports performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it’s racing. Walter Cronkite’s career or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He’s taught his two young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to perpetually buy Hot Wheels.
