All hail the SHO!
This trophy is from when I won best in show at the Kettering University Car Show for student car in the spring of 2006. I've also received a Silver award at the 19th Annual SHO Convention carSHOw.
This is my '95 Taurus SHO ATX. I picked it up in 2001 with about 75k miles on it and it was 100% stock. It only gets driven in the summer since I've owned it.
This picture ^ is me driving on Ford's High Speed
Test Track at their Dearborn Proving Grounds during
the 19th Annual SHO Convention.
Since I've had it, I have done a bunch of things to help it stick around the bends and go faster.
Current Mods:
Engine:
1) Taylor 8mm spark plug wires
2) Full 60k (not really a mod, but starting to count as one in the SHO world LOL)
3) Bosch platnium single tip plugs
5) Silicon Vacuum hoses
6) Throttle Body and IAC coolant lines delete
Intake & Exhaust:
1) SHOSHOP snorkel cold air intake
2) C&L 73mm MAF
3) Dynomax Super Turbo cat-back exhaust system.
4) SHO Source Big Bore Intake Manifold Butterflies
Chassis & Suspension:
1) Intrax Lowering Springs
2) Koni Adjustable Front and Tokico Rear Shocks
3) 26mm Rear Sway Bar with TPR bushings and endlinks
4) Front & Rear Strut Tower Braces
Body:
1) Complete repaint to Mazda RX-8 Velocity Red
2) CincySHO fiberglass cowl hood
3) 35% Black window tint all around except windshield
4) DDM 5000K HID headlights
5) LED Taillamps
Wheels & Tires:
1) 17" Enkei Pk6 Gunmetal wheels
2) Falken GRBeta 225/45 tires
Brakes:
1) MidWestSHO's Stage II front brake kit (includes aluminum dual piston PBR calipers from a Mustang GT, Carbon metallic Hawk pads and 11.6" Vented Rotors)
Stereo:
1) Sony Xplod MP3 CD player head unit
2) 2 Pioneer 6x9" 220W mids hooked to a 340W Jenson amp
4) 2 Farad "Boss" capacitor
My fastest quarter mile time is 15.33sec, but blew the weak differential off the line on my last run because I power braked it too long. That was a few years ago and I don't really take it to the drags. It's mainly tuned for handling and road coarse work.
When I decided to repaint the car it was already red (called Crimson), but I wanted a brighter red and something with some depth. I searched and searched for a color. Then I saw the Mazda RX-8 in velocity red for the first time at the Auto show in 2004. It was a perfect color because from a distance it seems like a plain bright red, but when you come up on it and the light hits it, red pearl bursts out at you. I knew I had to get it.
I powdercoated the intake manifold gunmetal to match the wheels along with getting the lettering pin-striped to match the body. I also swapped my entire interior for something better.
It came stock with mocha cloth/leather combo seats, which were all right, but I wanted to match the rest of the red/black/gunmetal theme, so I found a black '93 SHO ATX in rough shape on the outside, but the interior was almost perfect and it was all black leather. I picked the car up at auction for cheap and did a complete interior swap, excluding the dash because the '93 doesn't have a passenger side airbag and my '95 did. What a difference in appearance.
In the future I plan on rebuilding the motor with stronger and/or new components so I can supercharge or turbo it. I also want to convert it to a manual and put a Quaife LSD in it, but that takes some big bucks and time.
Notice the hint of pearl in the paint:
Yes, the "SHO" is painted on, not a decal. I actually had a stencil used over the red when spraying the gunmetal stripe
Here's a pic of my white faced, indiglo gauges and carbon fiber bezel.
This is a picture put together by the autostitch program. It is actually about 10 pics merged together (obviously before getting the intake powdercoated). I just thought it looked cool.
The above picture is my SHO before I repainted it and with a brand new at the time 2004 10th Aniversery SVT Mustang Cobra Conv. at the dealership I used to work at. This was actually the day right before I started to strip the SHO down and prep it for the repaint.
Look at that Shine! This was taken a week after I finished repainting, buffing and re-assembling the car.
^ This is my car parked next to 3 new SHOs at the Waterford Hills Track day during the 2010 SHO Convention. The New SHO is pretty big huh? (photo credit to Christopher Smith, Autoblog: http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2010-taurus-sho-convention-highlights/full/#3189166)
Chris' article on the 2010 SHO Convention: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/20/ford-hints-at-400-hp-taurus-sho-and-more-during-annual-conventio/
Thanks for checkin out my SHO and keep your SHO going!
