Posted on 10/19/2006 10:56:56 AM PDT by floridareader1
DEARBORN, Mich. - Sometime next week, the assembly line at a Ford plant near Atlanta will come to a halt, signaling the end of a family sedan so revolutionary that its 1985 debut changed forever the way cars look, feel and drive. ADVERTISEMENT
Say goodbye to the Taurus.
After 21 years and sales of nearly 7 million cars, Ford Motor Co. is giving up on what some call the most influential automobile since Henry Ford's Model T. The Taurus is credited with moving America away from boxy V-8 powered gas-guzzling bedrooms-on-wheels to aerodynamic, more efficient cars with crisper handling.
To many, the Taurus' death was slow and painful as Ford in recent years abandoned the car that saved the company, focusing instead on high-profit trucks and sport utility vehicles.
"When that thing came out, it was a big deal," said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. "It so much became kind of the template of what a modern car was going to look like."
The Taurus, so futuristic that critics called it a "jellybean" or a "flying potato," made its debut late in 1985, with 1979 gasoline shortages still fresh in consumers' minds. The U.S. economy was just pulling out of a downturn when the scalloped Taurus, initially equipped with V-6 and four-cylinder engines, hit showrooms. It was an immediate hit, with buyers snapping up more than 263,000 in 1986, its first full year on the market.
It became the best-selling car in America in 1992 with sales of nearly 410,000, unseating the Honda Accord just as Japanese imports were starting to take hold in the U.S., and it held the top spot for five straight years until it was supplanted by the Toyota Camry in 1997. Even near death in September, it remained Ford's top-selling car.
Ford also sold another 2 million Mercury Sables, the Taurus' nearly identical twin.
"It was really the last full-size American passenger sedan to dominate the segment," said Jim Sanfilippo, senior industry analyst for Bloomfield Hills-based Automotive Marketing Consultants Inc.
Ford was losing billions in the early 1980s when Taurus was just an idea. Philip Caldwell, chief executive at the time, challenged designers and engineers to come up with a radically different car that would return Ford to profitability.
"We were in terrible condition financially," recalled Jack Telnack, chief designer on the original Taurus who retired in 1998. "He said `Look, we need something really different, really new, that will kind of set the pace out there.'"
Nearly 1,000 people worked on the car, many coming from Ford's European operations. They had spotted a trend that U.S. buyers were moving away from big, cushy cars to better-handling European models, Telnack said.
Engineers met that trend with a stiffer suspension, and they also gave the car more interior room, firmer seats, better ergonomics and more trunk space, said Telnack.
The car also had a lot of new "surprise and delight" features including a cargo net to hold grocery bags in the trunk and rear-seat headrests and heat ducts, said Joel Pitcoff, the Taurus' marketing manager at the time.
It was a hit in market research tests, and sales beat expectations, said Sam Pack, owner of three Dallas-area Ford dealerships who took part in Taurus research.
The car's sales remained strong until it got a makeover in 1996. Although the second version sold well, it never matched the original's numbers.
Still, company officials said the Taurus restored Ford's reputation for quality.
Frank Ribezzo, a lawyer in North Smithfield, R.I., is selling a 1997 Taurus for $950 after running up 210,000 miles. It's his third Taurus, with the first two going over 220,000 miles.
Ribezzo said he buys them used because they don't cost much and, save for the transmissions, they're reliable.
"As far as used cars, their value just goes to hell in a handbasket in a couple of years. But they run," Ribezzo said.
In the late 1990s, the Taurus became symptomatic of Ford's current ills. The company focused on high-profit trucks and sport utility vehicles, leaving the car almost unchanged for 10 years with little advertising support. In the meantime, competitors had copied the Taurus and refined their models, and the Taurus eventually became solely a rental car and fleet vehicle.
"It didn't keep pace. That's the whole story in four words," said Pitcoff.
Ford, left with few desirable cars, was caught flat-footed this year when consumer tastes shifted away from trucks. Sales have dropped 8.6 percent through September, and the company lost $1.4 billion in the first half of the year.
"They put no money into that product for the last several years," Telnack said of the Taurus. "They just let it wither on the vine. It's criminal. The car had a great reputation, a good name. I don't understand what they were waiting for."
The lack of attention to the Taurus has angered workers at the assembly plant in Hapeville, Ga.
Earle Chafim, a 22-year electrician who repairs welding robots, said workers met company goals, yet Ford still decided to shutter the plant.
"The biggest part I hate is we got the No. 1-selling car in the company, we won so many awards for being No. 1, it's a shame. We're still outselling other cars, and we're not even taking orders anymore," he said.
Ray Daniels, a 33-year company veteran, blamed Ford for not updating the Taurus and keeping the name.
"If they'd kept the name, we'd still be here," he said.
Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, said he, too, can't understand how the company strayed so far from the Taurus. He wasn't with Ford when those decisions were made, but said he knows well that Ford's 1980s turnaround was led by appealing products, something he's trying to duplicate now.
"We are very, very focused on what customers want," he said.
When the lights go out on the last Taurus in Hapeville next week, there won't be any ceremony.
"It's not a reason for celebration," said plant manager Dale Wishnousky, proudly adding that workers raised quality levels since Ford announced the plant closure. "There will certainly be tears shed. There's already been tears shed."
Gives new meaning to the word "hybrid", I guess....
Of course you are! That's why Ford is doing so well in the market. :-)
I'm 6'2" and my Sable (Mercury version of the Taurus) fits me fine too.
I'll probably look at the Gran Marquis or Crown Vic. This `95 hasn't given me a lick of trouble and I drive it hard. (3.0 engine.)
You sound like me; I drive my into the ground. I once took an Oldsmobile VistaCruiser wagon in to trade and the guy said, "Looks like you got the good out of this one."
I love Oldsmobiles; always drove them, but now I'm driving Fords because I'm not going to buy a foreign car.
We have a 2007 Taurus and a 2000 Taurus wagon which I keep for the kids to drive when they fly in or somebody needs an "extra" car. It supposedly seats 8, but two of them have to be the size of Charlie McCarthy. :-)
I just got a Windstar which has an entertainment system on it and I slap the earphones on my grandkids and never hear a peep out of them; also on long trips, I can listen to the radio and he can listen to his book or play a game or watch a movie. How we EVER raised our kids without that thing I'll never know.
My inlaws have a Honda Touring Odysessy, which is really nice -- the seats fold all the way into the floor.....and you can lay a whole piece of plywood in the back! She just bought a Buick Lacrene (?) which is really nice, too.
We have way too many cars for the number of people who live here! I just gave a LeBaron (POS) convertible to my nephew in school at South Carolina; it really LOOKED good, but man, Chrysler CANNOT make a transmission, can they??
Those Odysseys are nice. All the doodads are there, even for the "third seat" crowd.
I stick with the Vic because I do my own repairs and, after twelve years, I know all the tricks. No torque (sob), but roomy as hell and plenty of top-end power for interstate driving. Also, people tend to get the hell out of my way: "Is that a cop?"
;OD
Plus, cyborg is just a tiny little thing, and she's cute as all get out when she's behind the wheel of that giant car.
Roomy? I have sofas smaller than that back seat!
Then you don't want the Vic: it's made in Ontario. The Honda that cyborg used to have was made in Ohio, but my Ford was made in Canada. Go figure.
LOL..I think I've seen her driving! For years, I've thought that rich old men are mad because they can't live forever and they take revenge on the world by buying their (surviving) wives BIG OLD cars to tootle around in!
Shortly after I graduated college I took a job as a field engineer with a major fire alarm manufacturer. I was provided with not one but two Ford Taurus' during my time with them. This was about 1989 or so. What a piece of crap! The first one spent more time in the shop than on the road. The tranny physically came loose from the engine on the second one in 5:00 traffic in Atlanta. I begged the company to get something different after #2, so they leased a Dodge Dynasty for me. Jeez, and I thought the Taurus was bad.......
When I was single, my girl friends and I made an elaborate rating system for guys and your right, owning a Taurus actually was on the list..and did not score a guy any points.
The Ford Fagot?
It worked for the MiG-15....
An American made Honda Accord. It really feels like a big car and it's so powerful it can pass a gas station.
Good catch! I never like Ramblers much either. LOL
That's a Tempo, not a Taurus.
At two years old, it should be *just* about to explode in year three.
DUH.. man I screwed up... LOL.. yes it's a tempo..
Sorry...
Given the UAW's quality record, it's probably an improvement to have the Mexicans make it.
Had this exact same problem wih a 94 GL wagon. A wierd, strong vibration appears between 65-70 mph, and has since the get-go. Despite many visits to the dealer, it was never fixed. The head gasket went out 1 month Before they issued the recall/repair notice. Other than that, it's been ok, though it's been driven lightly. It barely has 100,000 miles.
We gave it to our teenage daughter,and it is the perfect teenage car; being too embarrassing to cruise in, and the vibration keeps her from going very fast, or far.
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