[Shotimes] 93 sho limited edition

[Carl Prochilo]

Comments below.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donald Mallinson" <dmall@mwonline.net>
To: <shotimes-admin@autox.team.net>
Cc: <shotimes@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 10:05 AM
Subject: Re: [Shotimes] 93 sho limited edition


> There is a page on the club web site that details the SHO 
> Plus more than anywhere else.  Production numbers, projected 
> color distribution (an educated guess) and more.
> 
> http://www.shoclub.com      go to the SHO History section.
> 
> The Plus is worth a little more to some SHO people (like me) 
> than a regular '91, and Ron is right, a four door sedan with 
>   FWD won't ever be a true high dollar collectible, but 
> people still buy and sell Edsel's when the Ford and Mercury 
> versions were much better, and there will be people that buy 
> and sell SHO's long after I and a lot of others are gone 
> from the earth.

Thanks for the pointer.
2500 copies of that flavor SHO is still a fairly small number, so
by any standard that is the most "limited" type of SHO you
could get.  And I do like this car too.

It was interesting to read that brochure.  Was there any 
equivalent consumer level literature published for that car?

When I look at the 92 brochure and the SHO is just one
of the trim levels of the Taurus, it really made me think that
the program manager for the Taurus missed a great chance
to enhance the image of that product line.  I bet I would have
loved to have been a project manager on the team for the early 
SHO years and probably less interested in the later years.  I
can only imagine that the car fell out of favor with management
when the sales for the car didn't materialize the way they
probably thought it would.

If Ford had only done a better job to keep the SHO out
of the the consumer reports sh!t list, and had done a good
job designing a solid clutch and proper brakes at the 
beginning of the program instead of waiting until years later,
I bet things would have turned out differently.

> The main thing is that cars make a VERY bad "investment". 
> So if by "collectible" you mean investment, then no, the SHO 
> and 95+% of all cars made world-wide are not collectible.
> 
> If by "collectible" you mean there is a market for the cars 
> and people still like to own them, drive them and look at 
> them, then yes, the SHO is a sure fire collectible long into 
> the future.  Go to any car show or cruise-in and look at the 
> variety of old and average cars that people love to look at. 
>   Anything nice, interesting and well maintained is a 
> collectible.  Some people collect salt and pepper shakers. 
> I could care less about them, but they are collectible.

If you have any experience selling on EBAY, you will know
that people will buy just about anything and pay a rediculous
amount of money to get stuff that really makes me wonder. 

> One thing the world of collectible "stuff" has taught me is 
> that you can't guess what someone will pay big bucks for in 
> the future.  Comic books?  lunch boxes?  2 door sedan ex 
> race cars?  The SHO?  maybe, but don't bet the farm on it.
> 
> Keep and maintain your SHO because you like driving it, not 
> because you want to make money off it...

Profit has never been a consideration I bet for most of us here.
Just the fun factor, and for some of us, the practicality of toting 
around a small child.

Carl P.