The Ford Taurus SHO remains a solid buy in the emerging 80s/90s performance vehicle bracket. With a Yamaha motor that screams at the top of its lungs, sleeper-style looks, and enough aerodynamic tweaks to differentiate from the bread-and-butter Taurus, Ford got a lot right with the original recipe for one of America’s foremost performance sedans. All these years later, it still looks fast standing still. This SHO is a first-generation model with the must-have 5-speed manual. It does have some rust issues but overall looks solid, and it’s listed here on Facebook Marketplace for just $3,500.

If you had asked me in 2021 if the Taurus SHO was going to rise in value, it was one of those cars that I felt confident would be borderline out-of-reach for the casual enthusiast by this point. It what is a good news/bad news story, it hasn’t as cars like this go to show. The bad news side of that equation is that the marketplace is effectively saying the SHO will remain a vehicle where only the absolute cream of the crop rise to the top, and even then, the high water mark appears to be $20,000 or so. While I don’t wish to see enthusiast vehicles go out of reach, I do like to see good cars get the recognition they deserve – and the SHO always struck me as one that deserved more appreciation. In the case of our subject car, you can see some of the rust issues mentioned on the rear wheel arch above the wheel.

The SHO came with nicely bolstered bucket seats, attractive alloy wheels, a body kit, and of course, the Yamaha-kissed engine. The interior of our car does look quite tidy with just some wear on the driver’s seat leather to register as a concern. Ford didn’t go over the top when distinguishing the SHO from the garden variety Taurus, and I’ve always felt that was a blessing. The SHO was a gentleman’s sports sedan, not intended to look like an overcharged performance vehicle with wild colors and wings. In many ways, the sedan was all about its engine, which was significantly worked over by the Yamaha team.

The 24-valve engine really was a work of art. The gorgeous intake manifold accommodates 12 intake runners, with each plenum hosting three short and three long runners. When the engine is putzing around town, the short runners stay closed, but when you open it up, butterfly valves open, allowing the engine to suck in air through all 12 and sing to a redline of around 7,300 RPM. Other hardware includes forged-steel crankshaft and connecting rods and oversized cooling passages, among other evidence of Yamaha’s genius. For less than $5,000, you’re getting a nice price of 80s exotica, and bearing witness to a segment of sports sedans we’re not likely to witness again any time soon.