History of the SHO By SHO Club

The Basics about the SHO

Years Made:
Model years 1989 through 1999.
Production Years: 1988 through 1999

Generations (according to SHO people! see below):
First Generation (Gen I) 1989 through 1991
Second Generation (Gen II) 1992 through 1995
Third Generation (Gen III) 1996 through 1999

Note: Ford for some reason decided to drop one generation of Taurus when they made the 2000 model update, calling it the "third" generation Taurus.  Up till 2000 Ford seemed to agree with most SHO people about the "Generations as listed above"  But When the 2000 update was announced, all of a sudden, they called THAT the "Third Generation" Taurus. 

Ron Porter, SHO owner fan since the start reported: " From Ford's view, Gen 1 was '86-'95, the '93 body changes were really not that radical from a design/production standpoint.  Gen 2 (which, IIRC, I had seen mention of back in the '95-'96 timeframe at the introduction) is what we call the Gen 3.  Ford's Gen 3 in '00 is "our" Gen 4. If you recall, Ford did a huge ad
campaign touting the "new" design that was more conventional, and got rid of all of the ovals. They even stated something like "virtually every body panel was new", or something like that. From a Ford design/manufacturing perspective, I can easily see where the '00 car was a bigger change from the '99 than the '92 was from the '91. The interior was also mostly redesigned on the '00 car, also (getting rid of the ovals). The '92 interior was largely a carryover form '91, and the exterior changes were just basic sheetmetal bolted to the same platform, where the '00 car changed the overall shape of the car and panels"
Ron

I remember the ad campaign for the 1992 redesign, and according to Ford at the time, it was a MAJOR overhaul (cosmetic only though).  The ad campaign used the fairly new "morphing" technique to show the Gen 1 body style morphing into the new one.  But in '00 Ford combined Gen I and II for THEIR purposes and called the '00 version Generation III.

But WE SHO owners know that there are currently (as of 2004) FOUR generations of the Taurus, and that is probably all there will be as the name has run its course. For another time is the discussion of why manufacturers feel the need to dump famous names to jump start sales, instead of making great CHANGES to the car!  The Taurus has a good reputation, it just needs a proper updating.  But Ford will probably call it something else, what we don't know since they lost their first choice, "Futura" to a tire store!  :)

What Does SHO Stand for:
Ford officially called it: Super High Output, thus the name of our club is the same.
Magazines picked up on the Japanese connection with the Yamaha designed and built V6 and called it the SHOgun.  

How do you say SHO:
There are two ways: separate letters, Ess, H, Oh.

As one word: SHO (show)

Both are correct.

What is the Yamaha Connection:
There are several stories, but the one that I believe the most is that Ford was desirous of a sports car in the early to mid 80's to compete with the Fiero, MR2, RX7, 240/280/Z cars.  They worked with Yamaha to produce a light, powerful modern engine for a really world class two seater sports car.  

Ford introduced at the Detroit automotive show in the 80's (not sure on the exact date or even year) a sports car called the GN-34.  It was powered by the new Yamaha V6 but by this time, the competition was going away.  The market for 2 seat "fun" cars was gone.  Ford had a contract with Yamaha at the time and needed a place to put these motors, so they decided to make a sport/luxury version of the Taurus (remember at the time in the late 80's the Taurus was very cutting edge and well thought of by the industry).  With the MT5 manual transmission Taurus as a base, they stuffed in the 220 hp Yamaha V6 with a transmission based on one by Mazda (remember that Mazda and Ford have had a long relationship and are now co-owned).  The SHO was born.

The Yamaha V6 and the SHO made the cover of all enthusiast magazines in 1988 and was on all the "10 Best" or similar lists for at least the first couple of years.  The car was WAY ahead of its time, so much so that even in late 2003, the 220 hp motor is still at the top end of the horsepower heap although not as "super" as it once was, the SHO is still competitive, now about 15 years after introduction.  That is staying power!

So What do the three generations look like:

Generation I

Here is a Generation I SHO, with the Plus package.  1989 and 1990 versions had 15" lace wheels, this '91 version has the "slicer wheels" that stayed with the car through 1995 with minor differences.

Generation II

   Here are three examples of the Gen II.  The nose is a bit longer, and the trunk is about 3" longer requiring slightly different exhaust and giving more trunk room.  The lower nose and longer trunk give the car a lower profile, but in reality the basic body of the car is the same.

Generation III

Here is a 1996 SHO V8, the new "Oval" body style.  As radical as the 1986 Taurus was, the 1996 Taurus body is probably even more of a shock.  Personally, I think this body style will continue to look modern for many years longer than the 2000 restyle.

MORE LATER

If you have anything to add, please contact me at the link below.

Don Mallinson
SHO Club

shoclub1@shoclub.com