Sometime next week, the assembly line at a Ford plant near Atlanta will come to a halt, signaling the end of a family sedan that changed forever the way cars look, feel and drive.
Say goodbye to the Taurus.
After 21 years and about 7 million cars, Ford Motor Co. is giving up on what some call the most influential automobile since Henry Ford's Model T. The Taurus is credited with moving America away from boxy, V-8 powered, gas-guzzling bedrooms-on-wheels to aerodynamic, more efficient cars with crisper handling.
To many, the Taurus' death was slow and painful as Ford in recent years focused instead on high-profit trucks and sport utility vehicles.
The Taurus, so futuristic that critics called it a ''jelly bean'' or a ''flying potato,'' made its debut late in 1985, with 1979 gasoline shortages still fresh in consumers' minds. It was an immediate hit. Hell, it was so futuristic, it was even used in the movie Robocop.
It became the best-selling car in America in 1992 with sales of nearly 410,000, unseating the Honda Accord just as Japanese imports were starting to take hold in the United States. It held the top spot for five straight years until it was supplanted by the Toyota Camry in 1997. Even near death in September, it remained Ford's top-selling car.
Ford was losing billions so they challenged designers and engineers to come up with a radically different car. Nearly 1,000 people worked on the car, many coming from Ford's European operations. They had noticed that U.S. buyers were moving away from big, cushy cars to better-handling European models.
The car's sales remained strong until it got a makeover in 1996. Although the second version sold well, it never matched the original's numbers.
In the late 1990s, the Taurus became symptomatic of Ford's current ills. The company focused on high-profit trucks and sport utility vehicles, leaving the car almost unchanged for 10 years with little advertising support. In the meantime, competitors had copied the Taurus and refined their models, and the Taurus eventually became solely a rental car and fleet vehicle.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Friday, October 20, 2006 11:31 AM
>>>For Sale? Clicky!<<<
-----The orginal Mr.Goodwrench on the JBO since 11/99-----
never liked the car from day , so
YAY , get da fuge out
they guy next to me has one JUNK!!! he hates it and my ex gilfriend had one and it was in the shop or siting on the side of the road more times then she could drive it.
i like the SHOs a lot, but its good, its time as come and passed
I call it the ranch..
cuz its where I keep all my 220 horses!
Great car, I loved having it for a rental when my old car was trashed. not fast by any means but comfortable.
Good job Ford, ya had a good Run.
SHO = fun.
My Cav
I give up...
i'm buying a VW those people love trees, so they should love eachother too... "Andy"
good @!#$iing riddance, i cannot wait to get rid of my 2002, anyone want to buy it?
I drove like a 2002 Taurus in Florida a couple years ago...was a pretty nice car...but im still glad they are all finally dead!
amen
i dnno which one had made me happier...death of the taurus or neon...
I don't see what the big deal is.
Expect for a good few years (92-95), they were mostly junk.
If you noticed, the older models are disappearing pretty fast, as are the 96 up models...
Hmmm.....
Oh well......
i thought of this thread on my way home from work when i saw 2 96+ taurus's on the side of the road dead
anyone ever see the article on the SHO wagon... that was cool... that'd be one hell of a sleeper project...
I thought of halfj99 on my way home from work when I saw two retards.
You have to remember it was the Taurus that broke the mold of boxy cars of the 80's in N-A and 220HP out of a V6 in 1988 was impressive. IMO I thought the last version was attractive looking too.
Call it: "ahead of it's time."
>>>For Sale? Clicky!<<<
-----The orginal Mr.Goodwrench on the JBO since 11/99-----
yeah the trannys in those things were always breaking................yet they never seemed to fix it as the years progressed??
i dunno my aunt and parents never had a problem with their tauruses
and my aunt has had the last 3 major bodystyles ( early, mid, and late 90's/00)
my friends mom had a wagon one, it was a 90 or something, had to put like 2 transmissions in it but it had alot of miles on it. Besides the trans it didn't give much trouble, but yea i remeber riding in it when i was little and it was so different from my moms caprice that i really thought it was cool. It had all kinds of interior buttons and options that even my moms 95 camry didn't have when she bought it.
Farewell Taurus.
SHOs are badass
1989 Turbo Trans Am #82, 2007 Cobalt SS G85
When the unique becomes ubiquitous...
Roo rah.
And now for something completely different... Click the Minister.
the V6 SHO's are bad ass they sound sooo good with not cat and just glasspack mufflers
