The last true station wagon offered new in American Ford dealerships was the 2007 Focus (no, the Flex doesn’t count). Just a few years before the demise of the Focus wagon, the final Taurus wagons came off the Hapeville line. Here’s one of those cars, found last year at a boneyard about 250 miles to the northeast of its birthplace.
The original Taurus didn’t change very much over three generations and 22 model years.
Sure, there were some chassis upgrades and facelifts, but the good old Taurus wagon stayed comfortingly familiar well into our current century.
Because I’m an older Generation X guy whose parents mostly drove Detroit cars during my childhood, this is the part of the story in which I’m supposed to get teary-eyed about Kingswood Estates and LTD Country Squires. However, our family hauler was a 1973 Chevy SportVan Beauville and we never had any wagons (except for a brief and nearly forgotten dalliance with an extremely rusty 1966 Opel Kadett at about the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing).
That said, I think we all lost something when wagons (and hatchbacks, and sedans, and minivans, and sports cars, and motorcycles, and probably even Zambonis) became culturally irrelevant after the Rise of the SUV.
The final model year for the original Taurus was 2007, although it was available only to fleet buyers starting in early 2006. A handful of 2005 Mercury Sable sedans and wagons were sold before the curtain went down on the Taurus’ Mercurized sibling
The Taurus wagon held on until the 2005 model year, with the final examples built in late 2004. This car was assembled in March of that year.
The base engine in the 2004-2005 Taurus wagon was the good old Vulcan 3.0-liter pushrod V6, rated at 155 horsepower and 185 pound-feet. That’s what we have in this car.
A 3.0-liter DOHC Duratec with 201 horses and 207 pound-feet was available, but I have yet to see one in a late Taurus/Sable wagon.
Ford revived the Taurus name for the 2008 model year, after much outcry. The Five Hundred badges were pried off the Volvo S80-derived sedan that had worn them for a few years and replaced by Taurus badges. Likewise, the Freestyle CUV became the Taurus X. Other Taurii followed, but the name never had a magical sales effect. Perhaps things would be different if Ford revived the Mainline name.
This car’s final owner appears to have been an employee of the United States Postal Service.
I hope the mail got through on its final day.
You’ll find one in every car. You’ll see.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
2004 Ford Taurus station wagon in North Carolina wrecking yard.
[Images: The Author]
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