I bought a Taurus SHO for $100 and it worked!

"Mike Kopstain" (mikekopstain)
05/29/2014 at 04:34 • Filed to: None

Back in the late 80's Ford had a ground breaking sedan in the Taurus. The Taurus did a lot of things well and other things just, well… ok. One of those things was acceleration. The stock mill was a 3.0L OHV V6 that cranked out 140hp and it wasn't a fun 140hp; it was slow revving, no torque down low 140hp. 0-60 was measured in days.

But alas! Ford offered an optional upgrade in the form of another slow revving OHV engine: the 3.8. This engine got you, wait for it… an additional 20hp no extra horsepower but more low end torque which was available only if it didn't overheat and blow a head gasket before you got a chance to back out of your driveway. So the Taurus was pretty lame in the excitement department.

But soon fate jammed it's finger in the eye of Ford's penny pinching accounting department in the form of the Yamaha V6. The Yamaha was a 3 liter dual overhead cam engine that had impressive specs for the time. It made 220hp and 200ft/lbs of torque, revved to over 7000rpm and sounded like God himself composed it's intake note. It was also wildly advanced.

VTEC is for suckers; bring on the race inspired dual stage intake

220hp out of a naturally aspirated 3.0 liter engine was not exactly common. The SHO accomplished this partially with a dual stage intake that also moonlighted as a piece of artwork. It utilized long skinny intake runners for low RPM and then over 4000 RPM short fat runners would open up and offer their assistance in the form of additional airflow. It's hard to pick a favorite here: the sound the engine made as it reached 4000 RPM or how absolutely stunning yet simultaneously out of place it looked underneath the hood of the plebeian Taurus. Let's say both. It's probably both. No, it's definitely both.

Yamaha sourced V6 Engine

Ford suddenly found themselves having committed to purchasing a lot of these engines with no vehicle to put them in and so they did what any reasonable person would do: they shoe-horned it into their family sedan and ended up with the Ford Taurus SHO. What they ended up with was a Taurus that shaved nearly 4 seconds off it's quarter mile time. Whereas your base 3 liter V6 was chugging through the quarter mile at nearly 18 seconds, the SHO would repeatedly crank out high 14 second passes (low 15's if you're not good with a 5 speed). I know what you're saying "Oh but Mike, a base model Accord does 14's now". Well yes, but this was 1989. You know what kind of 1/4 mile time a 1990 Accord squeaked out? 17.2 seconds. This was a Taurus that was marginally slower than the Mustang GT and Camaro Z28. It was a sleeper before being a sleeper was a thing. The only sedan that really came close in performance was the BMW 540i which was still slower and and had owners that were separated from your average Taurus customer by several tax brackets.

If you haven't experienced this car, go find one. Right now. You're at work? Work is for people that want to lease 3 series BMW's and pay their bills. All you need for happiness is a 90's family sedan with an obscure japanese engine in it. Oh, and a 5 speed manual transmission.

What about that $100 car?

Round about the mid-2000's I owned a company that specialized in selling performance and replacement parts for the SHO. This gig didn't afford me many luxuries. It wasn't exactly financially lucrative, the parts were hard to find and my entire business was built on a car that hadn't been built in 8 years. Every single day I had less potential customers than the one prior. But there was that one day when a gentleman called me to ask about the transmission in his 1993 SHO.

There he was driving when all of the sudden his transmission decided to puke much of it's fluid all over the road. And so he took the car to the local Aamco where he was promptly told he needed a complete rebuild to the tune of a few thousand dollars. It was at this point he called me and explained the situation. I apologized for not being much help and then he said it… $100. It was just a passing statement right before he was about to hang up. $100 is what he wanted for the car. Keep in mind, this is 2004.

He didn't want to put and more money into it. Better still, he's calling me from the Aamco 3 blocks from my house. Now I was well known in the SHO community but for a complete stranger to stumble upon me, have a car they were giving away for nearly nothing, and be less than a mile away, well I have to assume that the planets were all lined up quite nicely that day. And so I did what any reasonable guy in his early 20's would and ran my ass down to get the car before he changed his tune.

Angry Face

As I'm talking to the gentleman the Aamco worker, clearly upset over the fact that he was both not getting the business from the customer and not getting the $100 car, told the guy that he could get a lot more for it on his own and that I was doing things to him that at first thought you would think required a screw driver. It was at this point I shot him a look, not as if to say "don't mess this up for me" but more to demonstrate that I was clearly not pleased with the fact that he was trying to sabotage this for no other reason than that he was not directly benefiting from it. And then I agreed with him. I told the guy that if he sold it on his own he probably could get a lot more for it but he was clearly at his wits end with the car and just wanted to be free of it. So I exchanged $100 for 3500lbs of steal and a pretty piece of paper that would tell the world (and the DMV) that it was mine.

A simple fix

5 quarts of transmission fluid. That's what the car needed. The halfshaft had popped out of the transmission case which resulted in the lost fluid. As everything that makes an automatic transmission work is based on hydraulic pressure, a lack of fluid results in a car that doesn't move. After locking the half shaft back in place and topping off the transmission it took off under it's own power and not only did the transmission work but it worked amazingly well. The 93's were the first year with an automatic transmission and it was known for being generally terrible. So to have one that was run dry and then still shifted amazingly, well… I guess I have to go back to those planets being in line or some other odd occurrence in nature. I didn't care.

I would go on to own 13 or 14 more SHOs while I owned that business but none brought me the satisfaction of that car. There's something special about getting a car for nearly nothing, not knowing if it runs or if it's fixable and then discovering that there was nothing wrong with it.

Got a similar story? Share it in the comments!

Note from the author: it's since been mentioned in the comments that the Taurus actually had a 2.5l inline 4 as it's base engine. I didn't think that was still the case but as I'm too lazy to go digging through the archives I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. It's also been pointed out that the 3.8 liter "upgrade" actually didn't give you any more horsepower, just a bump in torque. Imagine having to upsell you average consumer on an engine that makes zero more horsepower!

DISCUSSION (55)

Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 06:35

I bought a 2004 Audi A4 Turbo Wagon with a manual for 600 dollars cause I convinced the lady it needed a new transmission shaft which was around 3 thousand dollars since it was made of baby skin.

But all it needed was an axle.

ntl0505 > Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT
05/29/2014 at 08:26

How nice if you.

Mattbob > Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT
05/29/2014 at 08:41

so you lied to a lady to get her to lose money on a car....... Way to go.

Meatcoma > Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT
05/29/2014 at 09:03

Dick move.

Coty > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 09:08

Kinja'd!!!

As seen from my desk. Go SHO.

rabidpenguin > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 09:29

I had a red '95 5-speed(just like the picture) for about two years. The car was alot of fun to drive but a huge pain in the ass to work on. I was always worried about either the fragile transmission or the rod bearings or doing the top/front 60k. Not to mention the rattle free(not rattle free) interior quality. Sold it to move onto to E34/E30. But that engine, I miss that ENGINE.

crowmolly > Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT
05/29/2014 at 09:31

You are kidding, right? Pretty sure this is not serious.

Otherwise 404 Humanity Not Found

sourlemons > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 10:24

I had a bright red 93 SHO Automatic. One of the best cars I ever had. Sold it prematurely with 100,000 miles on it. The young man that bought it crashed it 30 days later. :(

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 10:56

Well dang, I spent 22k on mine.

Clay...Bill Clay > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 11:14

Not to be pedantic, but the 3.8 Essex actually didn't add any horsepower, as it was rated the same 140 hp as the 3.0 Vulcan. It did add torque though, rated at 215 ft lbs.

meatatarian > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 11:40

These things are sweet, I need to drive one some time

Mike Kopstain > meatatarian
05/29/2014 at 11:59

Not the fastest ride by todays standards but when we talk about having soul, this is a car that has it. It's something special.

Mike Kopstain > rabidpenguin
05/29/2014 at 12:04

Most people conceded that the SHO was basically an amazing engine wrapped in a mediocre car. I wouldn't necessarily disagree. The rod bearings were something that came along later on. We really didn't start seeing that problem until 2004 - 2005 and at that point the last V6 rolled off the assembly line in 2005 and the first in 1988 yet we were seeing failures on 1995 model year cars just as often as the 1988's.

I almost wonder if there was some sort of change in oil additive that came about and resulted in that problem because it seemed like overnight it sprouted up and affected all year cars. I still remember the first guy to post that he spun a bearing and how we were all talking about how unlucky he must be since that was basically the first time anyone had heard of that happening.

The 60k isn't hard so much as it's tedious. The valve shim adjustment is just boring.

Wildstar > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 12:07

Bought my 1990 SHO new. Still driving it. I've added 2 cars to the stable since, a 2000 Z3 Roadster and a 2002 M5. All three are neat cars, but the SHO has more soul than the BMWs. The M5 is one sweet, fast ride, but still doesn't have the soul of the SHO.

Mike Kopstain > Coty
05/29/2014 at 12:08

My buddy has one of the promo cars in every color made. Actually he has that exact car in real life. A 1989 Titanium with under 50,000 miles. He bought it off an old lady 10 years ago for $3500.

Mike Kopstain > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/29/2014 at 12:08

Well that can only mean one thing: you're probably an old!

meatatarian > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 12:10

speed is vastly overrated. If only this thing were RWD... ultimate sleeper hoonmoobile that looks like grandpa's car. variable intake geometry was super trick back then, even now it's relatively rare

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 12:10

lol or it means I bought a '10.

Mike Kopstain > sourlemons
05/29/2014 at 12:10

I feel your pain. I sold my little brother my beloved base model Taurus, the first car I bought myself and within a week he had blown a stop sign and totaled it after being t-boned. I never got the rest of the money he owed me after that either. I paid him back by accidentally backing into his Escort with my F150 years later.

Mike Kopstain > Clay...Bill Clay
05/29/2014 at 12:12

You're absolutely right. Sadly that only makes things appear worse for Ford. How do you upsell the average customer on an engine that has an identical horsepower rating? That's probably why so few of the 3.8 cars existed.

Mike Kopstain > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/29/2014 at 12:17

Well if you bought it for 22k that means you took advantage of it's horrendous resale value. So props to you.

My buddy took me as his guest to the unveiling in Dearborn and I remember telling him when they removed the tarp that the brakes were still comically small and that nobody would pay over 40k for a Taurus.

I still don't know who's buying the current car for that kind of coin. It's a nice car but it's a nice 22k car, not a nice 40k+ car.

Mike Kopstain > meatatarian
05/29/2014 at 12:19

Of all the front wheel drive cars I've driven I'd say it mattered the least on the SHO. There were enough sway bar and suspension options out there that you could make the car a competent handler and actually get some reliable oversteer out of it.

A lot of guys put them into rear wheel drives cars for just that reason though. For a time they were popular on hill climbers as well.

Coty > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 12:19

I bought a silver and a black and gave the black one to another salesman.

Clay...Bill Clay > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 12:20

I actually find the 3.8 cars to be pretty common, about as common as the 3.0 cars. This may be due to geographic location (mountain driving likens itself to more torque), as I have yet to come across a 2.5 Taurus.

Although the Vulcan was considered an advanced design in the mid-80s and the power output was pretty decent for the time, I've always thought Ford missed an opportunity not doing an OHC engine instead. Think how much more advanced the Taurus/Sable would've been (or at least marketed) with an overhead cam V6 under the hood in 1986?

Mike Kopstain > Wildstar
05/29/2014 at 12:20

The M5 is amazing. I'd have to say it's probably at least close to the SHO. I too defected to BMW in the form of a 2006 M5 and now a tuned 2010 535.

Mike Kopstain > Clay...Bill Clay
05/29/2014 at 12:24

I bet you it is geographic. At the time I was living in Chicago and there were nearly none of them.

The vulcan was amazing from a reliability standpoint too. I ran mine dry on coolant and only noticed it was overheating because in between Dave Matthews songs I thought I heard the engine knocking. Sure enough, I look at the gauge and it's pegged in the red. The car never shut off and I *foolishly* continued driving it another half mile to a gas station. I refilled the coolant and it was good to go for another few years.

Clay...Bill Clay > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 12:28

Oh yeah, the Vulcans were bulletproof. My parents had an '87 LX wagon with the Vulcan and put 360k miles on that thing. The AXOD had to be rebuilt at about 150k, but even when they finally got rid of the car (broken motor mounts) the Vulcan was running well.

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 12:54

I think they are selling a respectable amount each year. If I recall correctly it's roughly 10% of Taurus sales.

Mike Kopstain > Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs
05/29/2014 at 13:05

I remember seeing something like that too. They actually thought it was going to be about 5% so that was a good number. Then again, I don't think the Taurus is selling as well as anyone thought it would so 10% of not very good sales numbers still might not be a lot of cars.

Turbocharged400sbc > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 13:09

i dont read anything you say after you sold the turbo GP

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 13:19

Yeah, good thing is it shares its drivetrain with the police model, the explorer and the flex. So all in all I think they are getting their moneys worth for the transverse ecoboost platform.

Mike Kopstain > Turbocharged400sbc
05/29/2014 at 13:27

ha!

flabberboozled > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 13:59

The stock mill for an 80's Taurus was the 2.5l I4.

Mike Kopstain > flabberboozled
05/29/2014 at 14:19

You're right. I think they dropped that by the time the first SHO was released though.

flabberboozled > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 14:36

It was the base engine for the entire first gen.

Turbocharged400sbc > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 14:43

if i 3800 swapped a SHO youd be all over it

Mike Kopstain > flabberboozled
05/29/2014 at 15:00

The beauty of writing stuff like this is you find out how much you don't know!

Janson Rodger > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 16:48

Did Ford use the good old F-4EAT in the SHO or did the wise up and get some other auto box to put in?

Mike Kopstain > Janson Rodger
05/29/2014 at 17:01

1993 cars got the AX4S transmission and the 94 - 95 got the AX4N. I'm not familiar with the F-4EAT but if it was worse than what they put in the SHO it must have been a truly wretched piece of gear because the AX4N/ 4S transmissions were 400lbs of garbage.

Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT > crowmolly
05/29/2014 at 18:12

In my defense, my parking lot diagnosis was a transmission since I didn't look under it.

On top of that she thought it needed a transmission and listed it for a thousand dollars.

Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT > Meatcoma
05/29/2014 at 18:12

Unless you know the whole story.

Nick, Drives a Cobalt LT > Mattbob
05/29/2014 at 18:13

Didn't lie to her, she thought it was the transmission to begin with.

I didn't lift it up and look at axles, all I knew is I would put it into gear, and nothing moved, the speedo did climb though.,

I assumed she was right and told her 800 and I would take it, she took it and I walked off with the car.

Decay buys too many beaters > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 20:18

HMM, there is one near me for $500

Mike Kopstain > Decay buys too many beaters
05/29/2014 at 20:20

It will be the best worst decision you never didn't make.

Decay buys too many beaters > Mike Kopstain
05/29/2014 at 20:30

And it's a manual! :)

but has "some mild fire damage" :(

Mike Kopstain > Decay buys too many beaters
05/29/2014 at 20:44

That doesn't sound so bad. Kind of a like a "minor" engine knock or "slightly" slipping transmission.

MrBillG59 > Mike Kopstain
05/30/2014 at 03:45

The 2.5l 4cyl Taurus also had a manual transmission (to make it more like a Honda Accord), it was canned the Taurus MT-5. I think "Car and Driver Magazine" dubbed it the Empty Five.

Janson Rodger > Mike Kopstain
05/30/2014 at 08:07

I guess Ford only ever used it in the Escort and Probe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_F-4E…

It would overheat and eat 3rd gear it was just a matter of when. A popular upgrade when replacing it was to grab a power steering cooler from an F250 and use it instead of the cooling running through the radiator.

Mike Kopstain > Janson Rodger
05/30/2014 at 13:22

Yes that all sounds very much like late 80's Ford engineering!

Mike Kopstain > MrBillG59
05/30/2014 at 13:23

Oh man, I completely forgot about that car. I think it had different body cladding on it too didn't it?

Mike Kopstain > MrBillG59
05/30/2014 at 13:25

Found it! Stolen from the interwebz, complete with some very appropriately 80's looking gentlemen. In hindsight maybe the SHO was atonement for past sins.

Kinja'd!!!

Matthew Phillips > Mike Kopstain
07/10/2014 at 18:58

I have a 94 Gl with the Gutless but will never leave you on the side of the road 3.0 ;)

Great first car, looking to give her to a family member......

Matthew Phillips > Clay...Bill Clay
07/10/2014 at 19:04

Frankly 140 is more than enough power for this car, I know I have one, But if it had at least 210 ib/ft of Torque and a Manual transmission instant hoon mobile.

once you're in third gear you have all the Torque available and I have more then enough power to do what I need to in Northern VA traffic.

DarkGemini > Mike Kopstain
08/05/2014 at 17:07

It's a sickness Mike. A sickness.

Also, I regret nothing.

Kinja'd!!!

Mike Kopstain > DarkGemini
08/05/2014 at 23:45

I do not hate this.