Looking at a 1994 SHO

[Donstang86]

I found a real clean 1994 Taurus SHO. The car in clean and an automatic. What do you all think of the SHO? She is RED!!!

[PaxtonShelby]

The '93-'95 SHOs are the best ones to get. Cheaper to repair / maintain than the '89-'92 models, as many of the parts are standard-issue Taurus. I'd rather have a manual than an auto though. But they are a lot of car for the money. The most important thing to check is the service history - those cars need a timing chain / belt / valve service when the miles get higher. There are some good SHO forums out there you can find with a quick google search. You only want to go with Ford / Motorcraft plugs and plug wires - all the others are junk. Higher mile auto trannys can have some problems if they weren't well cared for. But if the car is really clean and has a good service history it might be a good deal. The performance back in the day was really good - a nice SHO manual would outrun a stock '87-'93 fox body. And a 7k redline is a whole lot of fun too.

Send Dan Barbush a PM ( dbarbush here on SCS ) - he isn't on here a lot - but if he gets a PM he'll probably check in. He is a local guy who knows everything about SHOs - and he's a nice guy to boot. Tell him Ron George sent you his way. He can answer any question you might have.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Oh - I loved my '95 SHO 5-speed. She was red too. I'd still be driving her if a senile old man wouldn't have done this to me when I was stopped waiting my turn to merge at the end of a downhill on-ramp...

[Stroked03Cobra]

I actually have a heart for the Gen 2's, preferably the mtx version. With proper maintenance they can last for a heck of a long time!

[Terminated]

Big fan of em. I looked at one for my first car but it had 125k on it already (was a 95 ATX in 2001) and I just didn't want to have to worry about maintenance on it.

So I bought a Thunderbird SC instead, which was probably just as bad/worse.

[Mark Aubele]

I had my first 7K clutch dumping to massive burnout experience as a kid courtesy of a pissed off father in his '93 MTX, so I have a soft spot for them as well.

[Mitternacht]

I've always been a Z-34 person, but the SHO's are pretty nice. I say go for it. Yamaha designed the motor (I believe).

[PaxtonShelby]

Yes - the motor was built by Yamaha. The way the butterflies open at around 4k rpm is a thing of beauty - both in the sound and the surge of power. Damn I miss that car...

[gpfarrell]

Ron is spot on, especially with his idea to reach out to Dan Barbush.

I had a '91 and a '95, both manuals, and both were incredible fun.

They were truly a world-class car, but that was a long time ago!

I think a 2nd generation (92-95) would be my pick today, but it would have to be an MTX if I was looking for one.

On the other hand, if one "found me" and it was really nice, I'd be okay with the auto.

But cranking 70 mph in 2nd gear and over a buck in 3rd was what made them so fun with a stick!

[03 OW SVT]

Great cars, I had two of them, a red one and a blue one, both 94 sticks.

I raced a friend of mine that had a 93 GT and we were dead even till 60mph and I started pulling from him. At 90 I was a car ahead of him. Dude was pissed!