What’s with hoons and a strange affinity for old Ford Tauruses? What’s the plural of “Taurus,” anyway? (Don’t ask Ford.) Hooniverse reader skitter sends in his nomination for our HCOTY, the rare first-generation SHO, and why it deserves our respect unlike your average late-80s grocery getter.
Also, I know it’s not Thursday. – BZR
Over the past twenty years, the list of cars accepted as classics has changed as little as the definition of classic rock. Values have skyrocketed and plummeted, but the rose tint of a golden era has stayed centered on the Mustang and GTO, curtailed by the malaise, and glancing rearward to the insolent chariots of the 1950s. Little from the ’80s will ever be welcome.
Today, we benefit from more than a quarter century of unbroken progress in power, emissions, and efficiency. Hemis-in-name that could shame a push-up gross-rated big-block pass nearly unnoticed. Every market segment has seen continuous improvements in performance. Any car can do the numbers, and performance has long outstripped the pace of on-ramps and 5-percent grades. Rare is the freak-of-acceleration that is not is not quickly equaled or surpassed. Five years on, Porsche 911 Turbos and Nissan GT-Rs harry Piech’s Veyron. The test of time has left past masters to fade away; always the future classic, never again the pinnacle.
Time has been kinder on the aesthetic front. That 20 year old cars still look appropriate on the road is a testament to reliability, rust proofing, and all of us getting old the thoughtful work of aerodynamicists and stylists. But this too clouds our ability to spot a classic. Despite our enthusiasm, we’ve done the Taurus SHO a disservice.
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