I am the proud owner of the 1992 Taurus SHO pictured below
Click here to see more pictures of her
Intro
For those of you that don't know what a SHO is (you're missing out), let me tell you. This is the coolest sports sedan in the world. The engine was made by Yamaha for another project that was scratched. Ford decided to pursue this engine and build a high performance Taurus, the SHO. SHO stands for Super High Output, and they really mean it. 220 hp stock, a couple of mods and a supercharger and your up around 400 horses. Weeeee. It's front wheel drive but don't let that fool you, I love pouncing on mustangs and eating them for lunch.
The three generations
There are three generations of the SHO. Generation one (89-91) looked pretty much the same (from the outside) as the regular Taurus but they added side skirts (ground effects) and fog lamps. The inside was deluxe, most had a JBL sound system (CD/Tape), full leather, and electronic front seats with lumbar and bolster support. Most also had a sunroof. In '91 Ford offered what they reffered to as the "plus package". This package included a "power bulge" in the hood, the new "slicer" rims that you see on my generation 2, blacked out mirrors and pillars, DOHC badges, and a new "emerald green" paint option.
Generation two came with a refined body style (my favorite) and she looked more sleek that her older sister. The main body was basically the same but the front and back ends got a facelift and the ground effects kit was re-designed. She also came with bigger rims (16") and a re-designed dash. There were other subtle changes made to the generation two's but another big change didn't come until '96 when they re-designed the whole thing.
In '96 Ford decided to scrap what they currently had for a Taurus, and completely re-design the car from the ground up (including the engine). The generation three was born. I don't particularly like the design of the generation three, to me it looks like a fish car that has VW beetle envy, or maybe the Dodge Neon's mother. It has round headlights and a round back window. The design is slowly growing on me but I still don't like it very much. The only generation three that I do like the look of is the Taurus RAGE but unfortunately it is only a concept car and won't ever be built. They dropped a new engine in this car, it's a V8 but it only adds about another 15 horses and you can only get them with an automatic transmission. Still, there are a lot of SHO fanatics out there that like the generation three and I must say, even though I personally don't like the look of it, it is quite a nice car (and it handles like a champ!)
Ford had some other ideas for the SHO engine but unfortunately they didn't go anywhere. Check the Spotlight SHO's page to see pictures/info on them.
Ford has decided to abandon the SHO as of 1999, this will be ten years from the birth of the SHO and the creation of a wonderful car. Ford is planning on completely re-designing the Taurus yet another time for the year 2000. To me the new design looks like a Honda Accord, so I'm sure it will be very popular with the general public. As of yet I haven't heard anything about another high performance Taurus but I will keep this web page updated as I get more info.
My SHO
I bought this SHO in July of '98 from a local dealer for less than bluebook. This is my second SHO, before this I had a light titanium '90. I was driving down the road one day, saw a generation two, and decided that I had to have it. Two days later I sold my '90 and bought my new baby. My car is my passion and most of my free time is spent tweaking, detailing, and performing routine/preventive maintenance on her. Her name is SHO GUN which is what's on the plates if you look. I've done lot's of modifications to her. Most of them are cosmetic because I don't have any money right now. I am planning on doing the '96 brake upgrade, SHO shop exhaust, full suspension overhaul, new rims, under drive pulleys, and a supercharger in the future. Check out my SHO GUN page to see pictures of my baby
Please let me know if anything on this page doesn't work properly. E-mail Dave
This page was last updated 10/11/99