One of the best combinations of anything is a high-performance drivetrain with a vehicle never intended to have such performance potential. The Ford Taurus SHO has long been an enthusiast favorite, as has the compact Ranger pickup. However, the Ranger wasn’t offered as a high-performance vehicle when new, and the SHO was always and only offered in a sedan (Jay Leno’s SHOGUN notwithstanding). However, a very enterprising individual has combined a Ranger Stepside (or Splash?) pickup bed with the front end of a second-generation SHO, and frankly, it’s glorious. Find it here on Facebook Marketplace for $5,000 in Beloit, Kansas.
Honestly, I’m underwhelmed in most cases by the one-offs by amateur builders. I appreciate the ingenuity and the willingness to cut up a good car, but the finished product always reminds you that the factory would have built one if they felt it was compelling. However, at least from a distance, this looks like a well-executed conversion. It reminds me of the Holden SS Ute that is popular in Australia and occasionally shows up as an overseas import here in the states. The El Camino SS never quite rose to the level of a high-performance machine; the SHO pickup, with a true 5-speed manual, absolutely does. The slicer wheels look fantastic, too!
I mean – to get the utility of the pickup without losing the comfortable and luxurious confines of a second-generation SHO is pretty great. Gray leather seats, the terrific dash and economics of this generation Taurus, and all seemingly deployed in a clean pickup conversion is just the best of everything. The seller does himself a great disservice by not going into graphic detail about how he pulled this off or what motivated him to do so, but again – I’m not seeing the typical corners cut that we would associate with a homebrew conversion. Obviously, there’s no backseat.
Now, where the backseat once was and where the rear confines meet the bed is where you want to analyze the attention to detail. Any shoddy work back there will surely result in rust problems later on. The good news is the wonderful Yamaha-built SHO powertrain appears to be intact with no signs of major alterations from the factory. In stock form, the engine generates 220 horsepower via a high-strung 3.0L V6 that loves to rev. The seller has created a car the factory never had the gumption to build, and I hope the lucky buyer finds out it’s as good as it appears to be in photos. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Mitchell G. for the find.
This looks absolutely ridiculous. I’ll take 2
😂😂😂
Thanks Jeff. I’m pretty much with you on this curious SHO. I wanted to not like it, but actually it isn’t bad. Maybe because it looks like the work is good. Sure wish it had about a hundred pics and several paragraphs describing the work and the results. (As it stands, it is the stereotypical puny Facebook Marketplace ad.)
I don’t want it, but I admire the creativity. High miles, hope the engine maintenance has been done. For the cheap price maybe someone will take the leap.
Happy to see the stick shift Bob 🙌
I like it but I think they should have made it a crew cab!
Just shut up and take my money!
This is real nice , way better than a sedan or wagon by a long shot. now the four door pick up hum? Or perhaps an eight foot bed?? Is there a plow and towing package???
No bed pics-can it carry cargo?
Looks and sounds like a great deal, not sure why it has not sold, posted two weeks ago.
This isn’t just a Ranger bed grafted on to a Taurus – it has a custom frame under the bed section, complete with leaf springs. A photo of how it’s integrated into the Taurus unibody would be nice, mostly because I’m curious as to how it was done. The photo provided is confusing – there doesn’t appear to be anything supporting the bed crossmember.
That was my first impression. A Ranger bed grafted unto a cut off Taurus SHO. Looks impressive. Might have been easier to just turn a Taurus wagon into a pickup with the mechanicals from a SHO but this looks good.
Seems like a quality build, and it pulls off the awkward yet hideous look that we rarely see in these custom cars. Oh, who am I kidding? I saw a ton of them at Barrett-Jackson in January. Was this a marriage of 2 front end/rear end totals, or did they hack up 2 perfectly good Fords for this experiment? Either way, the end result is interesting.
Wow…?
OK, I’ll say it. A RancherSHO.
And by the way, it doesn’t suck. We’ve all seen much worse.
Not my gig! But it seems like more thought went into this, than, the I got this car, let’s cut the backend a hole!!!!
I clicked on it just to see the pics. I was not expecting it to look this good. I’m guessing FWD?
Yes, SHOs were all FWD.
Shame the fitted the engine the wrong way around.false wheel drive is for shopping carts.
This creation reminds me of the pushmi-pullyu Taurus at the corner of Lake Pleasant Road and Imlay City Road in Attica, Michigan. The back halves of both cars are gone and the front halves have been joined together at their centers. It looks like there’s a constant tug of war between the two ends.
Cherry bombs! I had a high flow 2-1/2 inch system in my 89 SHO. Set off car alarms when started ! Loved that motor , bulletproof and easy to maintain…if you don’t mind removing Pass wheel and fender liner.
S-10 pickup bed?
This car/truck had a bit of a following.
https://www.keywestford.com/blog/so-cool-1994-ford-taurus-sho-pickup-resurfaces-after-five-years/
For when you want a sports car & a pickup,but can’t afford both.
The more I see it,the more it grows on me.Looks good in that color.And
I agree,why hasn’t it sold yet?Not a bad price.
Buy it,& take it to your local Cars & Coffee.You’ll have the only one.
Very nice and clean!! That motor was something back in the day. Its sad they didnt make this from the factory.
I like this remodel but take exception to authors comment about el camino ss.70 SS 454 was a bad ass machine!
Never cared for the Taurus until I saw this. I love it!
Ranger, Jon
I like it …
To me most of these type of “rebuilds” look like clown cars. This one IMO turned out really good. At 5k this looks like an exceptionl buy.