Meeting was held at Speedway Cafe, in Newport Beach. 6 SHOCal members were present, along with Vadim and 3 representatives from SVT. The meeting was to gather information on what the public wanted from a Ford Taurus SVT. The meeting was videotaped.
We were asked a series of questions about our SHOs. 4 members (including myself) owned SHOs, 1 owned a Contour SVT, and another owned a '80 Lotus Espirit with a SHO transplant.
Questions included:
What prompted you to buy your SHO?
Did you buy your SHO new or used?
If you could change anything to your car, what would it be? What would
you like to see on a Taurus SVT?
What cars do you feel are comparable to the SHO?
How do you feel about other companies grouping with auto dealers? (ex:
Alpine/ BMW) *
What does the name "Cosworth" mean to you? Have you ever heard of Cosworth?
*
If you had a choice of obtaining the same car, would you rather have it
imported from Germany, or made in the US? *
How do you refer to your car? Taurus or SHO?
Would you like the new Taurus to be called a Taurus SVT, or by a completely
different name?
How do you feel about taking your car to the dealer for service? <cough>
What does SVT mean to you when you hear it?
What does the "M" mean to you in a BMW? (ex: M3) *
Did you know the SHO engine was manufactured by Yamaha before you purchased
your car?
Did Yamaha play a part in you making a decision on purchasing the SHO?
What do you like best about your SHO?
How do you feel SVT should go about supporting new products/ideas?
How would you like the Taurus SVT to come as far as performance mods?
How did you find out about SHO Shop?
How did you find out about SVT's projects like the Cobra and the Lightning?
How do you feel SVT would have made a difference if it was around in '89
when the SHO was introduced?
* Now note the attention paid to the Cosworth label and the German manufactures. Are we reading something here?
We were them handed a piece of paper with the following noted:
Sport Sedan Specifications
325hp, Twin-turbo 3.0 V6
6-speed manual transmission
Automatic Shifting Mechanism
All-wheel-drive
0-60mph: 5.5 sec (approx.)
Top Speed: 155mph, electronically limited
SVT asked if a $40,000 price tag was sufficient for a car with these specifications. SVT wanted to know if we would change anything in the setup. The group thought (with the exception of me) that the turbos were not a good idea. What was the life expectancy of the turbos? The group thought SVT should warranty the turbos for 100,000 miles. SVT seemed a little shocked, but noted that anyway.
The meeting went over pretty well. The representatives from SVT were a great bunch of guys, who listened to every detail we made. We were treated to lunch, and then presented with a gift package which included an SVT hat, mousepad, deck of cards, stopwatch, and a poster. From here, the tape goes back to Ford, and hopefully we made a difference.