**The Evolution of the Ford Taurus: A Journey Through Time**
1989 was a significant year, as it marked six years before the birth of Post Malone and the introduction of the Ford Show, which stood for Super High Output. The Show was a game-changer, offering 220 horsepower and a sick 5-speed manual transmission developed by Mazda.
By the time the second-generation model was launched in 1992, the Taurus had become the best-selling car in North America, despite being a completely new design. This iteration of the Taurus looked more like a refresh of the first generation, with the Show getting an automatic transmission. You may have spotted Conan O'Brien driving his 92 Taurus around LA to this day.
In its day, the Taurus was quite the sexy car, but despite strong sales numbers, Ford didn't want the design to get stagnant. They asked designer Doug Gatschet to create something that looked way different from their best-selling car in America while maintaining the oval theme. The third generation of the Taurus was released in fall 1995 for the 96 model year and is probably the most '90s car ever created.
This era of the Taurus, designed to the extreme, featured a jellybean-inspired body with no straight lines, making it a head-turner... or not. Unfortunately, this design didn't resonate with consumers, and less than half of third-gen Tauruses were sold to the public, making them the king of fleet cars. My dad had one, given to him by his boss.
The 3rd gen Show was also plagued by issues, as they did away with the manual transmission and gave the car a 3.2-liter V8 engine. Sounds cool, but the engine suffered from separation of the camshaft from its sprockets, leading to catastrophic failure at around 50,000 miles. Ford quit making the Show in 1999.
Ford tried to dial back the third-gen design with the launch of the more traditional fourth-generation Taurus in 2000. However, by this point, the Taurus had become a car synonymous with corporate fleets and rental agencies. Ford sold this Taurus through 2007, temporarily retiring the nameplate.
The late 2000s were a terrible time for American auto manufacturers, including Ford. Instead of making a single new model, they introduced smaller (Fusion), larger (500), and crossover wagon thingies (Freestyle). Unfortunately, nobody wanted the 500 or Freestyle in North America, so Ford tried to win back consumers by renaming them the fifth-gen Taurus and Taurus X.
Nobody cared, and still, nobody liked it. Ford went back to the drawing board and launched a fully redesigned sixth-generation Taurus in 2010. Gone was the mid-size everyman's car; now the Taurus was a full-size highway destroyer. The new Taurus initially retained the 500's 3.5L V6, which was modified in 2013 to produce 288 horsepower.
There were two notable variants that enthusiasts are drawn to: the rebirth of the Show, powered by a 365-horsepower twin-turbocharged V6 Ecoboost, and the Police Interceptor, which came with a 3.7-liter V6 good for 305 horsepower but offered an optional SHO engine.
As I've said before, this is the best buy in cars right now. The editor of Bumper to Bumper bought one for like two grand. Despite the cool variants, the Taurus never regained its footing in North America and on March 1st, 2019, the last Taurus rolled off the assembly line.
My hero Robocop would say, "Hasta LaVista, baby." Thanks for watching Up to Speed and Everything Else on Donut. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter at Chance Bump Repo (Donut) and watch this episode of my son Nolan's show about the cheapest ways to go fast in a straight line.
Watch this episode of my other show; I Love You, I'm Not Scared Anymore. I love you.