Pomeroy41144 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 (edited) Yesterday, February 26, 2019, I helped to build the last Ford Taurus Sedan. It was a black one--fitting for a Ford. When I came in for my 6pm to 6am shift at the Ford Motor Company Chicago Assembly Plant on February 25th, we were told that the last Ford Taurus had been built. People apparently were signing a car or the hood of a car to commemorate the event in a lobby area near where the cars rolled off the line. Sure enough, we produced Ford Explorers all night. Near the end of my shift, low and behold, a Ford Taurus came down the line. My line built the doors of what I think was the last Ford Taurus between 0430 and 0530 central time on February 26, 2019. Since I knew that some car was being signed down at the end of the line and sensing a potential last car controversy down the road, I decided that I needed to record the circumstance of the last Ford Taurus to come down the line. I went over to the end of my production line to record the VIN and the Ford Rotation Number (and noting the time) of the what I thought would absolutely be the last Ford Taurus. A line supervisor saw what I was doing and gave me a build sheet from the car. So the last Ford Taurus has been built. I don't know if another Ford Taurus had been built while I was sleeping off my 11.5 hour midnight shift. I hope not. Back in 1986, I worked at a place called Nu-Car Carrier, where we transported the first generation Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable cars from the Chicago Assembly Plant to the nearby Railyard or Truck Transport terminals for transport to Ford dealerships across the country. So I was there at the beginning of the Ford Taurus run and I was there for the end of the Ford Taurus production run. No one thinks of the Ford Taurus as a classic car, but the Ford Taurus was in production almost continuously for 34 years, longer than the Model T and the Model A combined. I am proud to have been there for this part of Ford Motor Company history. . . . Edited February 27, 2019 by Pomeroy41144 (see edit history) 10 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 There will come a time when the original Ford Taurus is appreciated enough to be seen at a show. (Maybe a few have already been shown.) They were all over the place in the 1980's--extremely popular. How sad that Ford is giving up so many of its car models! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFitz Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 I believe that the Taurus X is also the last full-sized American station wagon. I love mine. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 34 minutes ago, John_S_in_Penna said: How sad that Ford is giving up so many of its car models! How "sad" it is that people no longer want a car for daily use. https://www.forbes.com/sites/edgarsten/2018/09/04/passenger-cars-fall-to-lowest-u-s-market-share-ever/#6de22c593f00 Any well-run company will only sell consumers what they demand. If the market is not there, why cater to it and lose money? Craig 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheezestaak2000 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 somebody must have loved the ford taurus, nearly every car sold in america copies the lines of the 1986 taurus. also, fear not, you will be able to purchase the 4 door sedan in the future, it will be electric, and built in china. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACK M Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 My moms last car was an SHO. Don't remember the year but she had it for quite some time. I sold it with only 20,000 miles on it, but every bumper and panel had been dented, Including the sun roof caved in where she backed into a stack of metal doors that were on a dolly in her under ground garage at her facility. I would often show up at her place with rubbing compound and polish, I never should have told her about that stuff. My sister took her keys but mom wouldn't let her take the car. RIP mom. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesR Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Thanks for relating that significant automotive moment to us. I remember seeing my first Taurus (or Sable, I can't remember which) at a dealership in the 1980's. I was impressed...American car makers weren't doing anything like it up to that time. They struck me as pretty futuristic looking. I talked with a salesman about it and he said they were selling extremely well, but their dealership could hardly get any to sell. By the time my Dad bought a used '89 model in the 1990's they were everywhere and seemed a little ordinary. Not when they first came out, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercer09 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 I still drive my 93 with 53k original miles. They werent the best cars, but they did get the job done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Byrd Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Pomeroy, we had a black Taurus MT 5, and I still have never seen another one. Folks usually look blank when I mention it, but I really liked that car. It was an 86 I think. Do you know anything about that model ? That is a great story you have posted, thanks for telling it ! Naturally the only pic I have of it has a smear on the side where the emblem was. I was trying to make a different looking center grille plate for the car when I took this pic... didn't turn out too well, ha ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 I sold new Fords in the 1980's and the Taurus caused quite a stir when it came out. We've had several over the years and they all provided good service. There were 4 Taurus series when they first came out. IIRC, there was the L (basic), GL (better), LX (top of the line), and the MT-5, which was a 5-speed stick shift only available with a four-cylinder engine. Sorry to see the model discontinued. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pomeroy41144 Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share Posted February 28, 2019 1 hour ago, John Byrd said: Pomeroy, we had a black Taurus MT 5, and I still have never seen another one. Folks usually look blank when I mention it, but I really liked that car. It was an 86 I think. Do you know anything about that model ? That is a great story you have posted, thanks for telling it ! Naturally the only pic I have of it has a smear on the side where the emblem was. I was trying to make a different looking center grille plate for the car when I took this pic... didn't turn out too well, ha ! Don't know much about it other than it existed. I remember the "SHO" Taurus was peppy and had more road feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pomeroy41144 Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share Posted February 28, 2019 My cousin worked the shift after me on Tuesday morning. It seems that FoMoCo made a couple more Taurus cars while I was sleeping Tuesday. So my build sheet is not the last Taurus. Not sure if any were produced today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Luddy Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 I like driving this AWD 2015 ex-cruiser Interceptor in the snow! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Skelly Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 a sad end to what had been the best selling car in America for a time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank DuVal Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Having grown up with "full size cars", the Taurus was a mid sized car. My definition, not the rental car company's description. I have argued with them that a Crown Victoria was full sized, not a Nissan Altima, and drove the Crown Vic "Full Sized Car" I reserved. I have a '96 Roadmaster, the last of the full sized wagons. Unless you count the Flex.😁 Wow, an MT-5. I did a small body repair on one back in the late 80s. Neat car. 4 cylinder 5 speed manual.👍 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFitz Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Quote Frank, have you ever ridden in or seen a Taurus X up close? It is the same engine, all-wheel-drive and suspension as the Flex. But even though some refer to it as a crossover SUV, the body is more a traditional family style station wagon, verses the Flex's Coleman-cooler on wheels minivan. Thanks to a transverse V6, it's few inches shorter overall than your 96 Roadmaster, but being 7 inches higher has much more head room. And it has comfortable, adult-size three row seating that fold down to carry stuff up to 9 feet long. 6 passenger, or optional 7 passenger - plus lots of storage space behind the third row. 1200lb capacity. It's as big and roomy as earlier full-sized station wagons. 2010 was the last year produced. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 We could see the 'Taurus' name on some Ford product again in the future. Keep in mind, Ford has a habit of recycling model names all around the world. There has been a Maverick SUV in Europe for a number of years, and now talk of a new design Maverick SUV for North America. We have seen the 'Capri' name applied at least five times on five rather different Ford cars over the years, where it was first applied to a lower-end Lincoln, then a rather stylish series of the Consul in England, then a mid-range Comet in the later 1960's, and probably the most famous iteration, the German sports car for several years, and finally, a Mazda 121-based two-seater in the early 1990's. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 My first thought was "What happens to the Lincoln MKS?" So I checked and found out it was already gone. Two years ago the MKS was one of the cars I was considering for daily transport. I knew it shared the Taurus platform. I still have my '94 Impala SS that is basically a cop car with leather seats and fancy wheels. The Taurus replaced them as the common cruiser. So I was walking out of the convenient store and a Sheriff, 30ish, 6'+, around 200 pounds got out of his Taurus. "Hey, what's it like to spend a day in a car that size?" I asked. He just shook his head and said "Tight". I didn't look at the Lincolns after that. Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank DuVal Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Paul, I did miss seeing a Taurus X driving around here. It does look better than the Flex, I see in photos on the net. Can it carry several 4 x 8 sheets of plywood or sheetrock laying flat in the cargo area? That is my test/definition of full size wagon.😉 All my GM wagons have been used to haul building materials at some point in their life. I could carry about 8 2 x 4 x 8 studs in my 1981 Cadillac Eldorado. With the passenger seat removed, the Eldorado also hauled a 2 1/2 ton outdoor unit 100 miles...... With the tanks (not those small B or MC sizes) for torches in the back floor. Not the best safety move!!!!!!!! Young, dumb, survived.....😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1939_Buick Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 (edited) The Taurus name still lives on in China according to this --->https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Taurus In Eu/UK --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Mondeo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_CD4_platform Edited March 1, 2019 by 1939_Buick (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pomeroy41144 Posted March 2, 2019 Author Share Posted March 2, 2019 I think we built the last one today. After it passed down the line, a crew of people began collecting the Taurus pieces from the work stations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheezestaak2000 Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 On 2/28/2019 at 8:59 PM, 1939_Buick said: The Taurus name still lives on in China according to this --->https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Taurus In Eu/UK --> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Mondeo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_CD4_platform funny how completely different cars with the same name do well thousands of miles away. a few years back i wondered why every time we had a dodge dynasty on the lot, quite a few koreans came by to look, and sometimes buy them. i found out later there was a totally different car for sale in korea called.... you guessed it, the dynasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron65 Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 On 2/27/2019 at 7:13 PM, John Byrd said: Pomeroy, we had a black Taurus MT 5, and I still have never seen another one. Folks usually look blank when I mention it, but I really liked that car. It was an 86 I think. Do you know anything about that model ? That is a great story you have posted, thanks for telling it ! Naturally the only pic I have of it has a smear on the side where the emblem was. I was trying to make a different looking center grille plate for the car when I took this pic... didn't turn out too well, ha ! I had a friend in high school whose family drove a medium red MT5 wagon! There couldn't have been many of those...I think I rode in it once, and it was a bit weird to see a "modern" wagon with a manual transmission. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pomeroy41144 Posted March 4, 2019 Author Share Posted March 4, 2019 (edited) Here is the last Taurus. This silver car matches the build sheet that I have. I definitely worked on this car. Assistant Plant Manager Ryan Wheeler at right. Edited March 4, 2019 by Pomeroy41144 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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