Four Wheel Drift-Internet By Don Mallinson, President Welcome to the start of something new and the continuation of a good thing.
In 1991 Bill Staib started the SHO Registry based on his love of his new Ford Taurus SHO four door sedan. The major automotive magazines were falling all over themselves to heap accolades on the new SHO and it won a lot of Top Ten awards and more for the next couple of years.
Now almost ten years later, Ford has quit making the SHO and while we can mourn the loss of new SHO sedans, we can celebrate what we have.
Many of my friends have never quite understood my fanatical love of my trusty '89 S-H-O. It now has 174,000 miles and I look forward to every drive no matter how short or long. I have now added the Generation III SHO V8 to my stable (for some reason Ford insists on calling the 2000 Taurus the "Third Generation" but we know better don't we?).
My V8 SHO is a new type of car compared to my V6 '89. I call my V6 SHO my hot rod, while the V8 is different. It is still more of a hot rod than say, a Lincoln LS. The V8 SHO makes a busy sound that makes heads turn when you pull away from a stop. Sounds like you are all over the throttle even when taking it easy. And that V8 sound from the tailpipes! Even pure stock, if you stand behind a V8 S-H-O and have someone floor it, you will hear sweet music. Add some turbo mufflers and you can hear it in the car! Put on a cone K&N air filter and you hear those 8 tiny pistons working with all their heart to suck more air into that aluminum beauty.
SHO Club is dedicated to the joy that comes from driving one of the worlds best performance sedans. Yes, I can say that with a straight face. I know that in many ways, the hyper expensive machinery from BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Saab, even Lexus, Acura and some others are better cars. Rear wheel drive has a decided advantage in most situations, but I can tell you that there are some BMW drivers and even a Viper owner that are still scratching their heads over how my '89 S-H-O got by them during the One Lap of America in 1996. It was driver skill (my friend and now columnist for SHO club, Mike Benét) that got past those cars, but if the SHO wasn't such a good car to begin with, even a great driver would not be able to get past an average driver on the track in much more expensive/refined equipment.
So, we accept that the SHO is no longer made, we now work towards keeping the parts supply line going and keeping as many SHO's on the road as possible. A big part of the job of this web site is to be a resource for S-H-O events around the country. When traveling, check here to see if you can attend a meeting in another area, or take your SHO to a driving or race event where there will be others that think like you. We support our friends at SHOtimes.com and V8SHO.com as they have put together good archives of valuable information on these cars that we won't try to duplicate here.
We will work to promote local and regional S-H-O clubs and organizations, as we hope they work with us. We put on one main event a year, the official National Convention for the SHO. Not for the SHO and Mustang, not for the SHO and Edsel. But JUST the S-H-O. When we go racing we want just SHO's on the track. When we polish our cars there will be just SHO's in the lot going for trophies. When we caravan, there will be just SHO's on the road (OK, Kerby and the Texas gang can bring their rental Jag if the crank is broken on his SHO again!) :)
I hope you are a member of SHO Club. If not, please consider joining, just click on the "Join SHO Club" link on the left. If you don't own an S-H-O, feel free to join and learn more, or just hang around, read and catch the fever. As I write this it is the day before Thanksgiving, 2001. We still don't have a President Elect and I am worried over some of the stuff going on, but as long as they don't take away our right to own cars and drive them if we can afford them, we will be OK.
That brings up one rather major point. Many states are trying to pass legislation that leads to old cars being crushed to insure that newer lower-polluting cars get on the road. As a person who has owned many old cars, I know my 1966 Grand Prix or your 1967 Mustang and for sure my 1989 SHO, probably put out less in pollution than many newer cars that are not taken care of. I urge you to keep in contact with your local, state and federal elected officials to let them know you don't want our old cars taken away. But you say: "what has this got to do with our fairly modern SHO's?" Many states would crush my 1989 SHO to force me to buy a newer car anyway. And every S-H-O that is crushed is just that many fewer potential used parts to keep YOUR SHO on the highway! We are already finding shortages in many parts. Don't let more SHO's give their life needlessly without giving up their recyclable parts.
For now, I need a dose of SHO fun. See you on the highway, the information one and that fun one just outside your door! Put the YamaHAMMER down and keep the shiny side up.
