Well, I finally got around to getting my SHO cleaned up. Thought I'd take a few pics and share with all my CarDomain buddies.
This is my 1994 Ford Taurus SHO MTX. I bought it in Oct. '96 from a local dealer, whom I am friends with. It had 63K miles on it at the time. The body style has always appealed to me, with an aggressive, muscular shape. The interior reminds me of both the '83 GT I once owned, and the '94 Explorer which is currently my daily driver. Same Ford bloodline I suppose.
I've since learned through a CARFAX report that this car spent it's first 25K miles in Dearborn, MI, as a Corporate Fleet vehicle. It was purchased by the son of the local Ford dealer, and thus was surely well maintained until I purchased it. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it was well taken care of by the time it ended up in my garage. As far as I can tell, it is fully equipped with power leather seats, sunroof, CD/Premium Audio, cruise control, PW locks and mirrors, and lighted vanity mirror, keypad entry, delayed lighting, and others which I've surely forgotten and taken for granted.
Here you can notice the removed foglights, each which fell to seperate deer strikes over the years. I finally removed them. The headlamp assemblies are leaking, with water spots inside. Also notice the lack of water beading following the wash. Needs wax.
It now has 193K on the odometer. I'll admit that it was mostly used and abused for about 9 years by me. I really failed to stay on top of the maintenance and appearance issues that occur over a period of 130+K miles. The leather driver's seat is in tatters. There are small interior trim pieces which have broken, headliner is torn, the dash pad is severely cracked, etc.
I've always liked the "slicer" wheels on this model. Over the years, failure to clean/protect them, as well as severely overdue brake pad replacement has caused them to become fouled in the outer rim. Oh well. They still look decent from 25 feet away. :lol:
Tires are off-brand, Wynstar Exocet's, with asymmetrical tread, upsized to P225/55/16H. Stock size is P215/60/16.
It's been a wonderfully fun car to drive though. The 3.0L DOHC engine, developed by Yamaha, has always pulled strong to redline. The 5-speed shifts with pleasantly short shifts, ignoring the occasional grind going into 1st that developed in the later years. Fuel mileage varied depending on my mood, but I could coax as much as 25+ mpg if I kept a gentle right foot. The dual brushed stainless steel exhaust tips are easy to keep clean with a 3M pad.
The engine/manual transmission has always been the strong suit of this car, and it's #1 appeal. It was developed at a time when there were precious few choices in a 4 door sports sedan with a stick shift. New, it cranked out 220 bhp, which was on par with the Mustang GT of the same time period. The beautiful "nest of snakes" intake offers both short and long individual runners. Under 4K rpm, the long runners are used, providing a nice fat torque curve. At 4k rpm, a valve actuates, opening up the short runners, allowing the engine to continue pulling with gusto up to it's 7K rpm redline. Often faced off against Nissan's Maxima SE, it held it's own in multiple comparison tests. It's a surprisingly fast car.
Well, that's my SHO. Hope y'all like it.
