Believe It Or Not: 1992 Ford Taurus vs 1991 Ford Taurus

Welcome back! I’m sticking with the “one stock, one modified” theme today, but this time it’s two very similar cars – or at least they started out that way. One is hardly recognizable now. Whether or not that’s a good thing, I leave up to you.

You weren’t any more impressed with yesterday‘s half-assed Civic boom-box conversion than I thought you would be; only a handful of you chose it over the stock but threadbare Accord. And I have to say that I agree with you. If I were younger, I might be more willing to take on the Civic and yank out all that foolishness in the back, but at my age, just give me the one with a functional interior.

I do have to wonder what the end goal with that Civic was. I’m sure the builder of that box had some grand plan in mind, but grand plans are meaningless without follow-through. You gotta finish what you start.

And that thought leads us nicely to today’s cars. The Ford Taurus is nobody’s idea of a cool car, except maybe in its SHO flavor, but it did put Ford back on the family-sedan map in the ’80s and ’90s after the doldrums of the Fairmont and Granada. Ford sold every one of them it could build for years and years, and that means they’ve been a staple of the used car market for a generation. The first and second-generation Taurus is getting a little scarce, but they’re still around if you look hard enough. You just have to realize that, once in a while, you find one that doesn’t look like a Taurus anymore.

1992 Ford Taurus GL – $2,500

Engine/drivetrain: 3.0-liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, FWD

Location: Bowling Green, KY

Odometer reading: 67,000 miles

Operational status: “Runs great and ready to drive”

When Ford introduced the Taurus in 1986, it was a radical departure from most automotive styling, to say the least. It was designed to be aerodynamic, with smooth soft edges and curves, in contrast to the sharp-edged offerings from GM and Chrysler, or Ford’s own LTD sedans. I believe Ford even said it looked like “nothing else on the road,” which wasn’t strictly true; Audi’s 5000 sedan beat it to the punch by two years, and did it a lot more elegantly. But we’ll leave that discussion for another day.

The Taurus launched with a new engine, a 60-degree 3.0 liter V6 code-named the “Vulcan.” It wasn’t technologically advanced, but it was a good no-nonsense design that served Ford well for decades, finding its way into the Tempo, Ranger, and Aerostar along the way. The AXOD four-speed automatic connected to it didn’t gain the same reputation for reliability, but there are certainly worse automatic transmissions out there. This one has only 67,000 miles to its name, and the seller says it runs great.

Inside, it’s typical Taurus, which means comfy but not exciting. This one has a split bench seat and a column shift, and at least two, maybe three, aftermarket steering wheel covers. I’ve never understood that particular steering wheel fashion, but I suppose they’re easy enough to remove. The seller says the air conditioning works but is getting weak, which probably means it’s time for new seals, and probably a conversion to R-134a.

I don’t know what’s with the fish-eye photos in this ad; it makes it hard to see the car’s overall condition. I don’t see any rust, just some failing clearcoat and a couple of dings. And I can’t remember if the GL model bumpers were actually gray like this, or if they’ve faded from black.

1991 Ford Taurus “Tamaro” – $1,997

Engine/drivetrain: 3.0-liter overhead valve V6, four-speed automatic, FWD

Location: Las Vegas, NV

Odometer reading: 283,000 miles

Operational status: Runs and drives great

Say you’ve got a beloved old beater, something you’ve owned for ages, and it’s getting a little tired. You could give up on it, just junk it and move on, but that’s not our style around here. It’s not this seller’s style, either; instead of giving up on this old high-mileage Taurus, he dove head-first into an epic customization, grafting fifth-generation Camaro front and rear bumpers onto it, blending them in with custom sheetmetal, and fixing a lot of other things along the way. There’s a build thread detailing the whole process, but all you really need to see to appreciate how much work went into this car is the “Before” picture.

Yep. Underneath all that flashy paint and custom bodywork is a rusty, run-of-the-mill 1991 Ford Taurus sedan, I believe also a GL model. It’s powered by the same Vulcan V6 driving the front wheels, and it’s closing in on 300,000 miles. It runs great, has had a ton of mechanical work done to it, and even the air conditioning works.

The car’s interior is all customized as well, but in the ad we only get this one tantalizing photo of, I believe, the back seat. Buried a few pages deep in the build thread are some more photos of the interior; I won’t post them here because I’m not sure I have permission, but check them out. The entire dashboard and all four door panels are custom-built. It’s a sight to behold. The seller says it now shows “significant wear,” but that’s all right; that just means he enjoyed it.

He also says the paint “isn’t great,” but considering the amount of fabrication work that went into this car, I think any flaws can be forgiven. And whatever you may think of this car, keep in mind that the seller had a vision, saw it through, and then drove and enjoyed the car for ten years, and is now offering it at a reasonable price instead of asking some ridiculous inflated number. And all of that deserves a lot of respect.

The car universe is a big one, and it takes all kinds. Some people delight in preserving and maintaining a car exactly as it left the factory, enjoying it for the anachronism it is, while others can’t leave any part of a car well enough alone, and have to make it their own. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle, I think. So which one of these is more your style – the fairly fresh original, or the wild custom job?

(Image credits: Facebook Marketplace sellers; hat-tip to Opposite Lock user “awesomeaustinv” for the Tamaro link)