[Shotimes] Hold it a minute.....was: Re: SHO replacement

[Donald Mallinson]

To the SHO/Taurus basher(s):

Have you ever owned a car before that you tried to keep 
running this long?  (assuming you even own an SHO/Taurus)

The problems mentioned are all valid things that happen to 
these cars.  But the "fleet" here on SHOtimes is 17 years a 
lot of the time, and these cars have been used hard.

Just getting back from the convention, we had three or four 
cars from the 120 or so (20 just came to look, 100+ 
registered) that made the trip, many from the east coast, 
that had failures.  All but one I think got solved and are 
going to live to run a lot longer.  One will need a new motor.

 From any group that doesn't trailer to their conventions, I 
would say that is a good result.

Rust?  Sure you can find rusted examples, but the Taurus 
doesn't rust out strut towers unless it has been severely 
mistreated, and LOTS of newer cars I see on the road 
routinely rust worse than the Taurus.

Aero?  The 1986 Taurus was WAY ahead of the curve, a very 
bold move for Ford.  The 1996 version was at least 5, maybe 
10 years ahead.  Style is a very personal thing, but the 
original Taurus looks a LOT more modern today than anything 
built in 1986-1989 that didn't cost at least twice as much.

We know more about these cars than any typical owner.  If 
you weren't plugged into this group, it is doubtful that you 
would have access to the entire list of problems, and not 
every Taurus/SHO has every problem.  Even if YOUR car has 
had every one of them, you still have it?  Then if you don't 
like it, why keep it and keep spending money on it?  For 
most of us the answer is that there just isn't anything out 
there to replace it, at least for anything close to 
reasonable money.

Nobody here ever said the Taurus/SHO is perfect, but it 
holds up better than many of the cars sold the same years, 
and it outsold most of them by a wide margin.  Since you see 
more of them beat to an inch of their life, you notice the 
bad ones more than other makes.

I doubt if the bashers have ever been to a convention.  To 
see 100+ of these cars, almost all of them in near showroom 
condition (with lots of miles, almost zero trailer queens in 
this group), you realize how much people love this FWD 
four-door sedan.

Anyone that continually bashes the car on this list has 
proved one thing, they don't belong here.  Everyone here 
realizes the many possible faults/problems the car has, we 
know it better than you do.  Go start your own list to 
bad-mouth the car if you wish, but you won't find converts 
here, like British car owners, we know the problems, live 
with them, fix them and then take a drive and smile. 
Knowing we are still probably spending less money than 
people with other cars.

Think the Taurus is the only car that rusts, and has things 
wear out?  You can't possibly believe that.  The Original 
Taurus is safer than many other cars built today as far as 
crash testing, and the fact that so many are still there for 
you to cuss at says that they last a long time.

Seriously, if you or others hate the car that much, then 
your only reason for being on this list of the others where 
people love the car is to cause trouble.

It is time the rest of us ignore these people so they can go 
away and start their own hate list.  The rest of us know 
what we have, and enjoy it, warts and all.  The bashers will 
never understand.  To co-op a great Jeep saying:

"It's a SHO thing, you obviously don't and can't understand"

So please leave.

Don Mallinson
President
SHO Club