by Don Mallinson! On Wednesday February 11th, at the Chicago Auto Show, Ford Motor Company did the almost unthinkable, they introduced a new SHO Taurus to the world.
Last year the SHO Club was asked to put together a group of people for a Focus group in Chicago having to do with a new "performance" sedan from Ford. At the time I thought the idea of Ford resurrecting the SHO badge was very remote.
The people in charge of the focus group indicated a desire to be involved with the Seattle convention, if nothing else, they wanted to do another focus group with SHO specific people. In the process of trying to set that up, the person in charge announced one day that his budget was gone and the project was dead. OK, the economy had not gone to hell yet like today, but the signs were there, and it didn't surprise me that Ford would kill what by definition is a marginal project for them. I put that info on file in my brain and the SHO world moved ahead. Jump forward to January 2009, I am working on trying to finalize details for the New Hampshire convention, and get another call from a person at Ford about the "new" SHO that will be unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show. Well bowl me over with a feather! That stuff about the budget being gone and the project being dead was a smoke screen. I was once again asked to supply several things including a group of owners/cars for a photo and video session for an event in Dearborn, and also to put together a group of about 25 people for the Chicago Auto Show. Ryan Pasche with bringbackthesho.com was included in this effort and we both brought in Beth with SHOforum.com. The group was coast to coast and also included both "Doug's", Doug Lewis from FPS and Doug Mellum from Performance Plus. Kirk Doucette from NESHO and Mike, Kurt and Matt from SHO Source made is basically countrywide, including many people from the Midwest. We met up at the Chicago Auto SHOw (he he) and were part of the introduction of the new SHO Taurus. The specifications, pictures and more are now on SHOclub.com, and we will keep up with developments in the future. We hope to have one or more at the convention this summer.
By all accounts it will be a different car from the original SHO, for one it will be a full size car, more along the lines of a BMW 7 series, or a Chrysler 300C, but it will be powerful, AWD, and we hope it will have a superb suspension and driving dynamics. We will bring you some actual driving impressions soon. This is big news, and I want you all to embrace this new SHO, just as we did the Gen II and Gen III SHO's. OH about those generations! SHO Club and the larger SHO community has always considered that there were three generations of the SHO: 1989-1991, 1992-1995 and 1996-1999. Then Ford threw in a monkey wrench calling '89-'95 one generation for purposes of the Taurus in general. We continue to call those three separate generations, and we can do that, because, well, we can. IF you go by those, then the 2010 Taurus is a Generation Six (or Five according to Ford) car. WE at SHO Club will call the 2010 SHO, the Gen IV SHO, because that is what it is, so welcome to the Gen IV SHO! (based on the Gen V or VI Taurus). Welcome to the new SHO, may it live long and prosper!
Click on the pictures for a bigger image Here are some public pictures of what could be the new SHO. It is a sporty version of the Taurus with dual exhaust and body changes, and a badge on the trunk that says SHO that is covered.
