The Ford Taurus came out in 1986. I remember seeing it for the first time. I thought it was THE most featureless, generic space pod of a car I'd ever seen...(NO GRILLE?), but sales took off. The car sort of defined Ford for 2 decades... but the Taurus wasn't the first modern-day experiment by Ford with aerodynamics... does anyone remember the 1983 Thunderbird? That car, to me, was a revelation after the horribly boxy '80-'82 T-bird (which only looked good in dark colors, with steel top and the sport aluminum wheels with blackwalls)

Is there any glimmer of love at all here for the '83 Thunderbird? With the 130 hp 302 or the turbo 4 cylinder, it was a decent performer for the time... and it seems our sweet '83 Monte Carlo SS was a NASCAR-taylored response to the sleek 'Bird (corporate spying was alive and well, it seems).

For what it's worth, I love the Taurus for its unoffensive blandness...

It was the first car I rode in that:

1. had digital gauges (HATE THEM!)

2. had cloth seats that gave me a rash on my legs

Are you sure the rash wasn't from... some other activity? :AH-HA_wink:

Are you sure the rash wasn't from... some other activity? :AH-HA_wink:

I am not WPBHarry!

I'm gonna get you for that one 'Blu.

Edited September 24, 200718 yr by K.C.

And at about the same time as the T-bird, they came out with the Sierra for Europe, and the Tempo and Topaz for the US... I liked Ford's '80s aero cars, they definitely stood out in comparison to the styleless, look-alike FWD boxes GM and Chrysler were churning out in those days...

Give Me An '86 Delta 88 over an '86 Taurus Any Day.

The 83 T-bird was good but the Taurus sucked then still sucks today!

The Tempo was such a POS. It made the old 80's Escorts look like good cars

Give Me An '86 Delta 88 over an '86 Taurus Any Day.

I don't think I'd want anything from '86 today..most cars from the '80s are rusted out and/or worn out today..it was an era not known for quality.

And at about the same time as the T-bird, they came out with the Sierra for Europe, and the Tempo and Topaz for the US... I liked Ford's '80s aero cars, they definitely stood out in comparison to the styleless, look-alike FWD boxes GM and Chrysler were churning out in those days...

What surprises me though, is that I still see quite a few Tempos still going out there...

What surprises me though, is that I still see quite a few Tempos still going out there...

My grandparents had a 1986 Tempo... It crapped out on them in 1994 and they bought a Dodge Neon Sport. I think they put about 200K Kms on it in total.

I love the '83 Bird / Cougar, and even more than that the '84 Mark. A guy a couple houses down has a deep red '86 Mark VII LSC with snowflake wheels...it's a beauty.

As for the Taurus, I really haven't ever seen the first gen in good shape so I kind of have a neutral opinion on them. I like the second gen though, especially the SHO models. A friend of mine used to have a '92 Sable with the ground effects package and the 3.8L...good looking car, IMO.

Some pics

Aero Bird

Aero Cat

Mark LSC

It was the first car I rode in that:

1. had digital gauges (HATE THEM!)

2. had cloth seats that gave me a rash on my legs

If you didn't shave your legs your skin wouldn't have touched the cloth seats. :AH-HA_wink:

If you didn't shave your legs your skin wouldn't have touched the cloth seats. :AH-HA_wink:

I was only trying to be cool like you PCS.

The Aero Birds were pretty nice, but I especially liked the '87-'88 ones with no grilles.

Most other Fords through the 80's and 90's... meh.

Back then, the new Taurus kept being compared to the Audi 5000, which probably was the standard bearer for aerodynamic family sedan. The 1988 GM10 W-bodies were supposedly delayed to update them even before they were introduced, but they still came out looking and feeling frumpy.

The '83 T-bird did usher in the era of the jelly bean. The Lincoln Mark VII followed a year later and was the first domestic vehicle with aerodynamic composite headlights. The '84 Ford Tempo brought the aero look to the masses. Ford had a lot of print ads extolling all of its supposed innovations, but it was an awful, awful car.

The beached whale '91 Chevy Caprice probably was highly influenced by the Taurus' sales success.

I always liked the Lincoln LSC and the '87-88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe...I came close to buying a clean used LSC when I got out of college in the early '90s...looked at a few Turbo Coupes also.

I like those Tbirds, as well as the Lincoln Mark VII. They are one of the few '80's Ford vehicles I actually like.

Edited September 24, 200718 yr by blackviper8891

I like these a lot but rarely see any of them anymore...same with Tempos...the last one I saw was a beat up POS that was faded/rusted and teh rear springs were shot from being overloaded with newspapers or something...sounded horrible too.

in my mind, a Blacked out LSC like the one above is sex on wheels...lol

What about '90-'97 T-Birds? The car was cool with its design that seemed heavily 6-Series influenced, and SC models were competent performers.

Never was big on the look of the Aero-bird. I liked the Aero-Cats and Mark VIIs, but they handled like a pig on rollerskates. The whole platform felt very front heavy... something you wouldn't expect in a RWD car. I remember going around an elevated clover leaf in the rain and feeling the rear end slide out just a little every time we passed over an expansion joint.

As for the Taurus... it was a completely new look for the era. It also proved that bland sells. It was the best selling family car in America till it's redesign.. when it was replaced by the equally bland Camry.

Love it io hate it, the 86 Taurus was a landmark car that saved Ford and makes the SUV/Truck era of the 90's even more infuriating.

The 96 ? redesign was the beginning of the end. I've seen mouths like that on bass and nicer asses at weight watchers meetings. I can never understand how that made it out of the design room.

Ford ceded the car title to Honda/Toyota and will never get it back...

Never was big on the look of the Aero-bird. I liked the Aero-Cats and Mark VIIs, but they handled like a pig on rollerskates. The whole platform felt very front heavy... something you wouldn't expect in a RWD car. I remember going around an elevated clover leaf in the rain and feeling the rear end slide out just a little every time we passed over an expansion joint.

I think was a common issue w/ the Fox platform...my '87 Mustang GT feels nose-heavy.. I've had some scary moments with it in the past in the rain..it's very easy to get the car sideways...

the 83 bird was the game changer and ushered in aero. the audi 5000 also ushed in aero and the taurus was sort of spawned off that and the tbird.

aero saved ford and was popular. and they did it well.

my brother in law had an 85 cougar xr7, than an 87 tbird turbo coupe which was an awesome car. he kind of introduced me to fords.

my first two fords were my 89 SHO and 95 T bird. the 90+ tbirds had sort of a 6 series influence in them.

the 89 SHO was well packaged. nice ride height, good cabin space, overall the car was right sized and not ponderous and was a lot more comfy then any GM's downsized FWD floaters of that time.

everything runs in cycles. the aero look is not nearly en vogue these days. Ford's kinetic design themes of the verve concept and Iosis suggest a return to some aero themes.....we'll see if that gets accepted.

Edited September 25, 200718 yr by regfootball

The SHO was a game changer too. It brought in the first high powered fwd midsize sedans. Following the intro of the SHO in 1988, GM rushed to market their Grand Prix STE Turbo in 1990. Dodge followed suit in 1990 with the Spirit R/T. Even though I hated the regular Taurus, I loved the SHO. I liked it even better when Ford dropped those cheesy 15 inch wheels in 1989 and gave it some real performance rubber on 16 inch wheels. Those wheels really set the car off. It's too bad it took Ford until 1992 to come up with an automatic transmission option. I was fine with the manual stick but most people preferred the auto.