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."
I drive a Montego the Mercury version of the 500. The Montego has a lot of nice touches and is fun to drive.
"oh sort of like the Del Sol, Integra, NSX, Prelude, and Vigor?"
The NSX is still in production, AFAIK. The Del Sol was a "Civic Del Sol". The Prelude is on hiatus but may return, undoubtedly with the same name. The Integra and Vigor, well, Acura changed their model naming conventions, first to the "3.2 CL" style, and now just to the "RSX, TSX, TL, RL" style names.
No, the NSX is on hiatus.
Conan O'Brien & his Ford Taurus SHO
Regular Tauruses were pretty much crap, but I had a Taurus SHO (Super High Output) with the aluminum Yamaha engine and a five-speed manual transmission that was a lot of fun to drive. That car would really haul...
I knew that. I suppose Mazda changed the name of the GLC to the 323, then finally to the Protegé for the same reason?
I gotta say, the kid in me is very jealous of that!
I gutted previous Vic (pbui) and rebuilt it with cop and sport parts. On the outside it was a grannymobile, on the inside it was at least Interceptor spec (in places even better).
I had a lot of fun in with that car.
The Taurus has it's problems but in general it's solid and reliable and most of all DIRT CHEAP to drive if you run up the miles ...
The brake pulse is due to the dual-metal rotors (copper? cored) that dissipate heat better than all steel rotors , unfortunately they tend to pulse badly as the outer steel layer wears off and thins ,, new rotors are only $30 for the solid steel cheapies at the local auto parts store.
The 3.8L motor was too much for the AXOD tranny ,, the best engine is the weakest , the 3.0L pushrod "vulcan" series motor ,, especially if you do the maintenance , compared to the 24V motor alternators starters and water pumps are simple to change out..
Mine is a 3.0l vulcan powered 98SE with 140K , the handling is solid (SE is similar to the SHO in that regard) , the 4 wheel discs with ABS work fine but I too will need rotors next pad change,, no major problems, no rust , only current issue is 1 window motor (rear) that's inop and that's probably just a $3 relay.
As far as the reported paint problems that's been going on with all US made cars since the late 1980's when the new EPA standards for VOC's went into place ,, the foreign built cars still use the better (older) paint formulations as the standards don't apply to them...
The Taurus is a wonderful car in that you don't ever even think about it, the control layout is intuitive , everything works exactly right...
Every car has it's problems ,, some of the best known luxury brands totally s*ck ,,
As the exception that proves the rule, I had an 87 K-car in law school that was indestructible...God knows I tried.
It had the 2.5 Mitsu powertrain and, sans A/C, was almost powerful enough to tolerate. The braking system was for chit, though. Nobody made heavy-duty rotors or pads for it, not that I could find.
"Mr. Smith, your hysterectomy was a total . . . success . . . uh . . . wait here . . ."
Big mistake in my part to buy that dog.
It had like maybe like 90 horsepower.
Used to have a Sable with the 3.8 V6. As I've already read here, I know too that engine loved to blow head gaskets. I still stand amazed when I remember the day green antifreeze was dripping out the back tail-pipe!
Man that sucker was blown!
The SHO was a special car, at the time I was impressed and I don't even like Fords.
Ford killed the SHO the day they deleted the Getrag stick shift.
I'd love to have one of the originals.
Over the years, I've had an '87 Taurus with the 4 banger, '88 Sable Wagon with the 3.8 V6. I had a 94 Taurus with the 3.8 V6. I think the 92-95 Tauruses were the best ever. They went downhill in 96.
I bought a 1997 Taurus and sold it to my brother. He's still driving it. And he's only on his second transmission.
But overall, they are cheap to buy.
No, actually. Mazda had a quality problem with the GLC (it stood for "Great Little Car," which it wasn't), so it got renamed the 323 when they went to an all-numeric naming scheme. Then they decided that numbers sucked, so the perfectly acceptable 323 became the Protege (to the point where there are some cars with 323 *and* Protege badges).
Um, actually, no on the paint issues. There are foreign-badged cars that are made and painted in the US, and they have to abide by the same rules. It's the Ford/GM beancounters that are skimping on paint - they use cheap top clearcoats and the paint thickness is half or less that of a comparable US-built foreign-badged model.
They save $30 per car that way. :P Too bad they tick off customers by doing so.
The control layout of the Taurus, especially the ovoid ones, is NOT intuitive.
You can now bolt on later Chrysler calipers and pads for them....
Then the question is "Why are your calipers worth more than your car?"
I haven't seen that car in fifteen years.
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