In 1985, Ford’s midsize sedan providing was the angular, rear-wheel-drive LTD, a automobile that seemed and drove just like the Seventies design it was (don’t confuse the Fox-platform LTD with the unrelated and far greater Panther-platform LTD Crown Victoria of this period). Although Ford did have fashionable, environment friendly small automobiles to promote People that 12 months the Tempo and the Escort — the dearth of a powerful competitor within the all-important battle with automobiles such because the Chevrolet Celeb (and its many A-Physique siblings), Plymouth Reliant (and its many Okay-Automotive siblings), plus such more and more threatening imports because the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord had grow to be an actual drawback in Dearborn. The 1986 mannequin 12 months would change all that, nevertheless, as a result of that is when the brand-new Taurus hit the scene and have become an immediate gross sales hit. This is a kind of first-year Tauruses, now leaving the highway after 36 years of service.
The unique Taurus stayed in manufacturing right through the 2007 mannequin 12 months, with some facelifts and chassis enhancements alongside the way in which, gone the period through which the midsize sedan was People’ most popular technique of getting round. Even after that, the Taurus title proved so beloved that Ford revived it a number of extra instances, with the final North American Tauruses coming off the meeting line in 2018. Even immediately, the Taurus title lives on in China.
It is exhausting to think about how radical this automobile seemed when it was new, as a result of all people went straight to the wind tunnel to make extra aerodynamic designs instantly after the 1986 Taurus hit the streets, and it wasn’t lengthy earlier than most automobiles seemed loads prefer it. To be honest, Audi beat Ford to that smooth-curves/flush-glass design by a number of years, however Audi 5000s had been very unusual sights on our roads then (and 5000 gross sales had been about to fall off a cliff).
It is a GL, which was the second-from-the-top Taurus trim stage in its introductory 12 months (just under the loaded LX however effectively above the manual-transmisssion-equipped MT5 and prole-grade L).
The MSRP on this automobile got here to $11,322, or about $30,605 in 2022 {dollars}. The very least expensive Taurus L four-door value simply $9,645 ($26,070 immediately). In the meantime, your native Honda seller would promote you a brand new Accord DX sedan for $9,679, however you needed to settle for a compulsory guide transmission at that worth (worth with computerized: $10,149).
The GL got here with an computerized transmission and a V6 engine as base gear, years earlier than American-market Accords and Camrys supplied a V6. This 3.0-liter pushrod Vulcan made 140 horsepower, whereas the Tempo-sourced four-banger within the L and MT5 was rated at simply 88 (struggling) horses. The Vulcan had its debut within the 1986 Taurus and went on to have a profitable profession that stretched effectively into our present century; it was neither smooth-running nor notably environment friendly, nevertheless it bought the job executed.
The GL got here with such niceties as an AM/FM stereo radio and distant energy mirrors thrown in without cost, however cruise management, air con, energy home windows, energy seats, and different options we take as a right immediately value additional. This automobile seems to have been optioned pretty closely.
Ford used five-digit odometers on these automobiles, so we won’t know what number of miles this one traveled throughout its lengthy life. I am prepared to wager that the entire was rather more than 2,918 miles.
The truth is, the yard rattle-can inexperienced paint job (the unique paint was Medium Grey Charcoal Metallic) and rope-through-grille hood tie-down inform us that this automobile most likely drove at the very least 202,918 miles and might need traveled higher than a half-million.
The Taurus— and nearly each different American-market car that wasn’t a truck or truck-shaped automobile— fell sufferer largely to a different Ford product: the fantastically profitable and influential Ford Explorer, which first appeared as a 1991 mannequin. Taurus gross sales waned as Explorer gross sales waxed, however they began from such a excessive level that true relevance actually solely dimmed for the Taurus (and its Mercury-badged sibling, the Sable) within the early years of the 2000s.
Unusually, all of the hype on this advert about Ford’s new philosophy turned out to be true. Remember to keep for the advert for the AH-64 Apache!
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