“The wind has set it free” in the words of Ford. Image from the 1988 brochure.
As I’ve been watching this automotive trend changing, with electric vehicles and so many manufacturers moving to new horizons, I began to think back to a big change that took place at Ford in 1986. That was the Taurus and Sable project.
Ford spent some 3 billion dollars and took a big gamble with these new vehicles. They were a new shape, more aerodynamic than ever before, and Ford had committed to a better build quality.
My father-in-law Paul and I were both very intrigued by this new line, and he decided in 1988 that he wanted a station wagon. So, we were off. The first stop was at our local Ford dealer. Paul wanted a fully loaded version (sans a moon roof) and he wanted silver. Ford had one loaded LX wagon in smoke grey. He didn’t like it but the salesman mentioned looking at a Sable. He reasoned that Mercury, being the higher end, would have more loaded units.
The next stop was the Lincoln Mercury where we found the future car. I should mention that Paul and I often shared vehicles, based on the needs at the moment. This was great for me because I wanted to experience every car I could.
He signed a four-year lease and was off to the races. This car was so very nice. It was loaded with the Equipment Group 467a, including the new Essex V6 option.
I was to take a road trip from Davie Florida up to Tampa. Paul suggested I drive the Sable. What a nice highway car that was. The steering was so much better than what I was used to, it was very quiet, and I thought it had one of the best climate systems of the day.
At the end of 1989, Cindy and I found out that we were expecting our child, Jacob. The lease on our black Mustang was up and Paul offered for us to take over the Sable. We agreed and he leased a 1990 Mazda MX6 (Paul owned two businesses and leasing was a more practical thing back then.) Our next big road trip was to Ohio to see my family. Again, the Sable was just a great traveling car. Cindy loved the power passenger seat and I just liked the way it drove.
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But, all was not heavenly. At 8500 miles, the transaxle began to shift very erratically. We took it to the dealer, who added some anti-friction fluid.
By 10,000 miles, overdrive had clocked out. And this was before our trip to Ohio. Ford, where quality was job 1 began to argue with Paul. They started by refusing to repair the issues, saying that “ it was only a lease.” Being that he also drove a Lincoln, he called the 800 number on his Lincoln Commitment card and explained that his Sable was sold off by the same lot as his Lincoln, so the commitment should be the same. Ford couldn’t argue and sent an engineer to the dealership.
He told Paul that they were beginning to see that the torque of the newer engine was too much for the transaxle. They also found two broken motor mounts- another known issue.
They agreed to completely replace the transaxle and motor mounts if he agreed not to pursue the Lemon Law. They told him that parts alone were just north of the $4200 cost. So he signed a waiver to not only not go through the Lemon Law, but to run out the rest of the lease.
For the next two and half years, the Sable developed some electrical issues (part of a recall where the power seats could cut into their wiring causing vehicles to burn) and at the very end, more transmission issues.
But all in all, in the 47,900 miles, we were all very impressed. Sure, they had some teething issues, and that caused some frustration. By then, Paul had become an Acura customer, and we moved to our Chevy Blazer. But I still give credit to Ford for taking such a risk.
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My dominant memory of Sable is a drive back to the Twin Cities from Duluth, Minnesota on Interstate 35 at the car’s introduction. Dusk settling in, I wondered what the other-worldly light bar approaching me from the rear was.
In 1989 I bought Ford’s Taurus SHO which was a true sports sedan with the 220 hp Yamaha-engineered block. One of the most-missed cars of my lifetime.
I still vividly remember my first time in a Taurus/Sable. My car-mentor Howard had just purchased a new 1986 Sable sedan in black. He let me drive it, and I remember how impressive it felt. Maybe 6 months earlier my mother had bought a new 85 Crown Victoria, and my first thought was that Mom should have waited for one of these. Where the old Panther car was saddled with a too-tall axle ratio and the clunky AOD, the Sable’s powertrain felt smooth and seamless. The good aerodynamics turned in good EPA numbers so they could design the car to drive rather than to claw for extra MPGs from the bottom side of the fleet average for CAFE.
Now you make me wonder how long it has been since I have seen an early Taurus/Sable on the road. These thoroughly outclassed the GM A body that was its contemporary, but I saw another of those old A body cars (probably a Buick Century) just the other day while all of the Taurii gave up the ghost years ago.
I was never a big fan of the 1st gen Taurus/Sable. The Ford Tempo/Topaz had come out two years earlier with a similar theme and I didn’t like them either.
However, I came very close to buying a second gen Taurus to replace a very old ’83 Cutlass Supreme which was leaking a quart of oil every 300 miles.
Eventually come away with a Toyota Camry which proved very dependable in the long run.
The Taurus/Sable must be celebrated for they gave Ford the cash flow it so desperately needed in the late 80’s thru the 90’s. Hat’s off to the duo.
I think the quality and reliability issues described in this article explain the Camry and Accord sold so well, and why the Taurus and Sable were mostly fleet vehicles by the early 90s.
The 4-speed transaxles were a definite weak spot in the early Tarus and Sable, but the Essex V6 was rock solid. I put 331k on a 1990 Taurus, and have 213k on a 2004. I don’t think the Taurus/Sable were mostly fleet sales until about 2000, when Ford basically quite investing in this model, and let Toyota and Honda own the mid-size car market. Compared to Chrysler and GM offerings (like Diplomat and Lumina) I’d take a Taurus or Sable any day. And Taurus was the best selling car in America between 1992-1996…some of that due to fleet sales, of course. I think the ‘fish face’ bold re-make of the car in 1996 was a bad gamble, from which this nameplate never recovered.
Do you mean Essex or Vulcan? The Vulcan was the 3.0, the 3.8 was the Essex. If yours was rock solid you were lucky.
I love the Gen 1 Taurus and Sables been searching for nearly 6 years for an 86 LX wagon but it’s been so hard to find one.
Looked too weird to me but its good to hear that they were well liked by those who drove them new .
-Nate
It was the Vulcan 3.0 V6 that was the reliable one. The Essex 3.8 was the one that had head gasket problems and overtorqued the AXOD four-speed automatic.
The AXOD was upgraded to the electronically controled AXOD-E in 1991, with an additional upgrade during the 1992 model year. Being electronically controlled, the AXOD-E did not need a governor, which was driven by a stream of transmission fluid. During the 1992 model year, the transmission fluid that formerly fed the governor and was doing nothing was re-routed to the front gearset, which was the point in the transmission that was ovestressed by the more powerful 3.8 engine. The change was made by a change in the transmission fluid routing…changing two of the tubes carrying the fluid. It was a change that I did on a 1992 Sable wagon, with the new tubing ordered from my friendly Ford dealer. It was easy after the transmission pan was removed. I changed the filter at the same time.
From that point on the AXOD-E transmission had no more issues with the 3.8 engine, and its overall reliability and durability improved markedly. It was retained with only slight modifications and a renaming in 1996 when the even more powerful Duratec V6 was introduced in the Taurus/Sable.
The article confused me – I didn’t realise until now that Ford had two Essex engine plants; one in the UK and one in Canada.
Two completely unrelated Essex V6s!
FWIW, I liked the idea of the Taurus/Sable and thought it was about time they made something so modern & generally decent.
Parked next to our Granada/Scorpio, it was still a bit too damn’ big for Europe.
My mom had a 1987 Mercury Sable wagon. Biggest pile of junk of all time. I don’t think an issue exists that it didn’t have
We had Ford loving friends who had a first generation Taurus that was pretty decent, but when it got crunched badly by some 88 year old who apparently had Parkinson’s, but was still driving. It was decided to be totalled by the insurance company, and they wound up with a 2nd gen silver Sable, and then a silver Sable Wagon. Both of them were OK until they hit the 12K mile mark and they both had the same issues. Transaxle, power steering pump, windshield wiper motor, in sequence at almost the exact same age of ownership(They were bought 3 months apart). The wagon was sold to the daughter and her husband, who had just had a baby, and they were generally happy with it. The one they kept was constantly at the dealership, whose owner they were friends with, so everytime the car was waiting to get fixed, they got a loaner from the used lot. Most of the loaners were boring as hell, but a couple of them were pretty wild for a couple in their 60’s to be driving. One was a very much modded ’79 Camaro Z28 that had a 383 stroker in it and it terrifed them. I ended up driving it to a couple of their doctor’s appointments, with the wife crammed into the back seat. Her getting in and out was more entertaining then the car was. I had to basically grab her rear end and hold her up so she could get out. I didn’t think women still wore girdles until that happened. The other crazy loaner was a Crown Vic that was some sort of chief’s car, it had the spotlight on the driver’s side, and an added console under the dash with a giant hole in it. I guess the radios were in it. Engine wise, I don’t know what it had in it, but it made the Camaro above seem slow and weak and had a very big cam in it. The husband was scared of it, the wife loved it and was sorry to see it go. I actually thought about buying it, it was fun, and was actually a color I liked, very dark blue. Closest I ever came to buying a Ford.
Not an ’86, but my Dad bought 3 new Sables in a row…first an ’89, a ’92, and a ’96. I think part of why is that the Mercury dealer was nearby.
It really seemed the coming of the car of the future, in ’86. That year I was shopping for a car and did by far the most extensive search for not just different models, but even non-competing models. Guess part of it was figuring out which type of car was for me…it worked, as I haven’t really deviated since then, but I have to admit I don’t buy cars very often (unlike my Dad, as you can tell by his frequent Sables). I test drove a Taurus MT5 wagon…my friends thought I was crazy, but it did help me figure out what I wanted and didn’t want.
Anyhow, you can accuse me of being stuck in my ways, but I think people often buy cars in anticipation of a change in their lives…well, my life has probably changed less than most anyone I know, though of course I’ve gotten older, so the VW GTi I ended up with in ’86 doesn’t really suit me 38 years later….in my case too bad, since VW no longer sells the Golf (which is what I own now), though they do sell the GTi, I’m no longer the target audience for another one of those, and I’m also resistant to buying a CUV to replace the hatchback I’d like to buy. I can’t even buy one of those full sized sedans, other than imports, nobody offers those either. Guess I should have bought one earlier while they were still for sale.