Stuff like this just makes me wonder how different things could have been. If you love racing history like this make sure you subscribe and check out the “racing history nerd zone” playlist on the channel! Stapletonautoworks.com

It’s a shame you had to grow up in the Taurus days. When I was a kid I got to watch Bob Glidden and Bill Elliott clean house with their 80’s Thunderbird’s. My mom had to buy a T-Bird after watching Bill Elliott lap the field twice at Talladega.

In my opinion ford shouldve never stop making the thuderbird

That generation of Taurus was an awful-looking road car and looked even worse as a NASCAR. I'm curious to hear the story about the one out back, though!

Kranefus/Haas also built a Mark VIII but kept the Continental rear deck with the rear spoiler following the contour of the hump. It put the spoiler higher in the center and gained downforce. This same idea was used on the later "Intimidator" Monte Carlos with great success obviously. The team unloaded it at Charlotte in full Kmart livery on purple paint and John Andretti drove it. IIRC, it was as fast as the current Thunderbird right out of the box. I believe this would have been a very successful car and again, if memory serves me, NASCAR was good with it. Then Ford changed their corporate mind and decided to keep Lincoln as its luxury division. A missed opportunity IMHO.

Would love to hear the story of the Taurus.

Interesting point on the rear spoiler. The 2000-2002 Monte Carlos had a pretty similar (not as dramatic) hump in the rear spoiler as the 37 car shown. And, yes, we need to know more about the big booty Taurus!

By gosh Mitch you keep knocking it out of the park with these interviews.. Don Miller a legend during the Miller Lite days should've asked him about the legendary "midnight car" driven by Rusty Wallace... keep up this kinda great work

Damn Taurus looked like it had the newer escort tail lights, hell yea man this back story videos for all brands is fkn awesome. These are a part of racing history 95% of us have never heard or would have ever known without you bringing it to us, im a die hard Ford guy and never knew any of this with the Lincoln as a race car. I cant go to car Museums, last one they almost ran me off because i cant just look at the outside and be happy, i was sliding under them looking at what made them work vs todays stuff so they got pissed and we argued then the big 300lb guy told my little 120lb ass i best get to stepping so stepping i did.

If that car made it to the track. Chevy & Dodge would have been crying to NASCAR about Ford's unfair advantage.

I worked in Ford Body CAD in the nineties. I remember there was some work being done on a T-bird roofline that was a good bit lower than the stock vehicle. This story reminded me of that and how the two could be related. Cool story Stapleton

I've been a nascar fan since I was a little kid in the mid-late 90's, right as the thunderbird went away and the Taurus showed up. I always thought the Taurus was goofy looking and didn't look right on track. I bought a mark viii as my first car, and still own one today, so it's great seeing these cars get some attention on your channel. I knew about the John Andretti car, but I had no idea this car existed! It really makes me wonder what could've been. This body combined with Yates power of that era would've been almost unstoppable. Keep up the good work, you've got one of the best channels on youtube.

I wanna hear more about the Taurus. That thing has a big ol butt stuck on it. Same thing that he said about the Mark7 though, not enough trunk to make downforce, I can't tell exactly what they did, but I'm sure its twice as tall at the trunk as a normal taurus.

Back in 1997, I was working at a car rental office on Sharon Amity Boulevard in Charlotte, NC (Branch 5311 for any old-school “E” folks). We received a reservation from a NASCAR team for a Ford Taurus. As a race fan...I spoke with the guys that were sent to retrieve the car. They said they were going to use it to make some templates...which I thought was pretty cool. They loaded the rental Taurus on an open trailer...and returned it a few days later (with the same mileage...they didn’t even put a mile on the vehicle).

quite a few years back my family and I got to meet Mr. miller while we were on vacation there. He gave us a little tour around the museum. and brought us outside to show us the drag car that he was going to run one last time if his wife did not find out lol. I wonder if he got to run that car? I May have to go back down there and find out. great guy and awesome museum. we enjoyed it a lot more then the hall of fame.

Ford Taurus SHO?? Very cool to hear the OG’s talk about racing history.

I’ve had 7 Marks in the course of my life and I’ve loved everyone of them. The best was when I was in high school surprising the Camaros and Mustangs when we would race.

Been to this Museum last year. Not knowing much about Nascar here in Germany and it was an absolute Highlight to get a tour with Don Miller there.

Can't wait to hear the details directly about the Taurus

Man that’s a cool car so glad someone like you are out there documenting the history of Nascar keep up the good work

I had a 93 Mark 8 in the 90's and loved it. It was fast on the highway and smooth riding. Amazingly it got great gas mileage on the highway, not so much in town. I'd heard rumors of a possible Cup car in NASCAR at the time, and now I know the rest of the story.

The Kranefuss Haas Lincoln in the photos was a beautiful beast. Who remembers Cale’s 98 team shaking down a Cougar?

Working as a porter at a Ford Lincon Mercury dealership just south of Awesome Bill from Dawsonville Ga I got to drive a bunch of bling-bling back and forth to ATL Ford executive head office. Back then I couldn't figure out why the pimpest ride wasn't being raced. Now I know. Thanks, guys for finally solving a long-ago mystery for me. There certainly would have been a cup with Mark's name on it!

I've owned a few Mark VIII's and have a '95 as my fun car in the garage. Trust me many of us knew all about this car when it was out and couldn't understand Ford/Lincoln built such a car and held it back.

Excellent story!! I really appreciate you bringing NASCAR history to light. You definitely should post the Taurus video!

This content about what nascar used to be is absolutely awesome. You can make the episode's way longer because it's worth watching. Keep it up.

I heard about this back in the 90's. I used to own a 94 Mark VIII and a 96 Mark VIII LSC. Great cars that I owned a long time back in the day.

I went to that museum years ago with my grandpa and my uncle. When I heard the story of that Lincoln I thought it was one of the coolest pieces of racing history.

What a cool piece of unsung NASCAR history. Thank you for documenting this.

Met Don at a car show at Charlotte motor speedway back in 90s looking at car parts. Heck of a nice guy! Humpy was with him. !

Growing up and watching Winston cup and having that curiosity of how these men were doing what they did how these cars went so fast just the little things of yes you did this but how does it work why does it work that's how these men directly influenced me to get into mechanical engineering so to actually see and hear some of the stuff that went on behind the scenes is just amazing for me and I would imagine for anybody that grew up in that time frame this is just thank you it's really all I can say to you and them for sharing their stories this is just amazing

Cool! Love to hear about racing history, this rocks! Glad to see you two exploring the NASCAR background and documenting it for all of us. Always with you & Logan, & keep up the excellent video content! Thanks man!

If they'd made this, I would've owned it at some point. I loved the Mark series. The Marauder was cool as they made it, but a grand tourer would've been so much cooler.

So cool. I remember thinking isn't the Taurus a 4 door when they came out with that body. My dad and grandpa owned Tbirds.

Very cool to talk with Don and get some insight behind that car. I'm sure like a lot of the guys that have been around racing for a long time he has a lot more stories to tell.

Oh I remember the Taurus fiasco, from 4 doors to 2 doors. But ford wanted to use it because it was a huge selling car when it came out. Great video, thanks Mitchell and Logan.

Man, I had a mark viii in highschool..thing was an absolute ripper. Leather and air ride. Got it cheap because it needed compressor and bags. Cool to hear from Don Miller. Big Rusty fan growing up too

I've never seen this before, though I remember John Andretti being a big advocate as the then-current Monte Carlo was absolutely beating up on the Fords.

To document these stories is priceless as when these people have gone what is not written or recorded will be lost forever

NASCAR didn’t want that car racing cause it would have been dominanting the competition like when nascar said the Daytona super bird and the 1974 Dodge Charger Richard petty drove was to fast they want the field equal

Oh hell yeah love this fantastic channel and all the adventures and cool stuff you do and share thanks for all the awesome content so far and what’s to come!

All these stories bring me back to when I was watching Nascar as a teen in the 90s

Never heard about this before. Absolutely incredible! Definitely wanna hear about the Taurus.

Absolutely awesome information, thank you for doing this interview!

I'm 43 and seen all the cool cars that were driven on the track when Nascar was cool. I think the cars they are running now are the best looking since the 90s.

I really enjoyed this interview! And appreciate your content and how your bringing Nascar history to your channel!

I HAVE to know the history of that Taurus in the parking lot. It has always mystified me. I could tell something was up with the rear trunklid/bumper and I would fixate on it as I drove by every day on my way to working at the Penske wind tunnel nearby. I never had time to stop and look into it and would only work there a week or so at a time before returning to Michigan, but could tell it was significantly reshaped and not just a bad repair job. It bugged me so bad that I even had my parents stop and take some photos of it for me years later when they were on a trip south and drove through Mooresville! This is the biggest mystery in my life and I need answers so I can sleep at night!

Really enjoyed watching Bill Elliot driving the thunder bird. Agreed the Monte Carlo was a cool race car. Would like to see the story of the Taurus that is outside.

That’s awesome. Great job. So cool to see stuff like that and right from the source.

Holy crap what a great interview, hit this outta the park, gunna have to check out this museum my next day off work, place is only a few miles up the road from me and I need to see this car in person

I grew up in a lil trailer court in my hometown and our neighbor was a really nice old man that helped teach me alot of things from taking care of my bike to building jumps for it that weren't going to come apart after hitting the jump 3 times haha..he drove a green colored Lincoln mark VII...that thing was showroom mint right up to the last time I saw it in his driveway...truly miss ol Harry

I remember back then when one of the Nascar weekly TV shows on either TNN or ESPN network, there was mention of Jack Rouse playing with a Lincoln for use in Nascar. Seems like Jeff Andretti was driving it in practice.

Would definitely love to hear the story behind the Taurus because it’s clearly stretched out in the back and to me it looks like it has lights from an escort 🤨 depending something interesting going on there

We are building a 1993 Ford Thunderbird for a customer! Race car version! The Superbird would’ve been an awesome thing to see! It was before my time! Cool video

I`m definately down for the story on that silver car! Back then I wasnt a Ford fan either, (team #3 forever!) but I do like the cool stories of how and why things happened, no matter the driver, team or brand! Keep `m coming, I`ll keep watching, liking and commenting!

I love these type videos. Your passion for racing history is amazing. Please keep making these. Don't forget the car builds as well. I like a variety of content, keeps it from getting stale and redundant. Great job you two.

Cool interview! That car is very interesting. Looks good. Imagine if it could have been raced.

Definitely want to hear more about the one off Taurus

Please do the story of the Taurus. Always been a NASCAR fan and it’s cool to learn the back stories. I guess I’m a racing Nerd!

We need more on this car and that Taurus sitting back there. And if you know where anymore of cars like this are we need those stories

There's a couple other significant. Mark Viii's ,land speed record tan one, twin supercharged white one Tasca Ford built I believe animal jims black one.. Lowest drag coefficient car that Lincoln has ever produced., I owned a champagne and a silver one, both awesome cars they were like a flying couch with air ride. But parts getting tough to find.

Yup. This was a good looking car and the Taurus was eurgh. I had been a Petty fan as a little kid because my Dad drove Dodges, but as Dale was emerging became a fan.

i think it would have been the Mercury Marauder and it would have been an absolute monster in its first season and then Mr. Bill France would step in and do what he did to Gordon's T-Rex and rewrite a bunch of rules around that particular car to either ban it or remove its advantage

I LOVE old history like this! It's what made me want to know EVERYTHING about NASCAR!!! But.....I certainly didn't know about this! So glad you are getting stuff like this on film. Sadly, guys like this won't be around for ever and if stuff like this wast documented, it would be lost. That car would probably be gotten rid of as "some old dumb race car" and it would just suck if that were to happen. Awesome video dude!!!

I love your Nascar videos. You really do a great job of getting the history. I have been into Nascar since the 60's and I have a 89 Iroc Z and a 04 Intimidator Monte Carlo. Keep up the good work. I watch all of your videos.

Another great video in the discussion/interview series. Well done again. This truly isn’t you father’s Lincoln. The rear bumper lines, with the comparable photo you posted, drove it home. Love to see a video on the Taurus, if you’re up to it. Just wanted to add, no matter the brand you take the time to give it respect. Greatly appreciated.

This channel really comes up with some gems sometimes. Great job man.

Awesome content! Love the little known NASCAR stories. Looks like the back glass in that taurus has been modified.

I already see some differences in the Taurus outside, so naturally I'd love to hear about it.

My Mom driving a Mark viii at the time, I remember being super excited when they tested this car.

The race Taurus actually looked infinitely better than the street version. I actually am a bit fonder of that 98/99 body style because it was such a weird footnote in the history of things. That Thunderbird tho was legit. In reality though, the Taurus was fine, it just had some superspeedway struggles by itself but always drafted well. So many "coulda, shoulda, woulda's" out there, gotta tell as many of those stories as you can. Great job!

Nice job and history. So the Sprint car and the coupe modified is what I grew up with and owned throughout my racing career. Keep up the good work

Don Miller .. was the man . Penske Racing South !!!!

Stapleton, I'd love to see 00 Reutimann's Dominos or Burger King Specials either in a Proper Museum Home or Raced Again. I love to see some of the Earlier Toyotas be Homed in either a Museum or Race Track. I still Mad at China Red Bull is doing Red Bull things, especially if the F1 Team is too big for its own good.

So good to see Mr Miller again, I dealt with him a number of times during my stay in NASCCAR, a nicer guy you will never find. Cool story, I knew of the KH Lincoln as I had access to the shop and took photos of it back in the day. I did not know the Superbird stroy, shows that there are still stories to dig up. THX

Long time subscriber, first time commenter. Love the content you and Logan put out. My grandfather worked for Texaco, so I grew up around the old Yates 28 show cars. I rep my Stapleton Auto Works Robert Yates style shirt and hat all the time. Thanks for telling the stories of old time NASCAR and keeping the history alive!!

Nascar seems to have a lot of this... Incredibly nice, soft spoken, mega successful people that just want to tell stories to whoever will listen. I hope you get Schrader one day. He's seriously awesome to meet and talk to. My first experience with someone heavily involved in Nascar happened at my uncles house in upstate NY around 92 when I was 8. He owned a couple hundred acres of land with ponds, I was brought over to go fishing, I was only 8 and admired Rusty Wallace and had his shirt on, but I also liked Dale Earnhardt and was wearing a #3 hat. We went back to my Uncles house after fishing and he was having coffee with a friend who said "hey son, cool shirt but that hat isn't okay around me" jokingly. My uncles friend was Geoff Bodines crew chief and told me a long story about why his driver wasn't friends with Earnhardt anymore. 🤣

I am always impressed at your age the ability to get this type of interview. I find it ironic that Edsel Ford made a bad decision about a body style.

This is wild. Thank you so much!

Great video, another piece of the puzzle regarding the mid '90's Lincoln-Mercury NASCAR flirtations.

In the late 90s the monte was WAAAY better looking than the taurus, but the grand prix looked best

LOGAN and Mitchell are back at it again. Like,share and enjoy everybody. This is magnificent content and the story told through the eyes of thw ones before us that made racing today what it is. You guys are blowing my mind with these interviews.

You are consistently bringing the best content on KZfaq, and for that, I thank you.

Front wheel drive cars got like 4 more inches of rear width or something like that if I remember correctly... shaped em like a wedge... dope vid again dude 🤘

Stapes! You’ve been hitting them all outta the park lately with these uploads!

The car they used in the test wound up being reskinned and converted over to a Ford Thunderbird and Dale Jarrett promptly won with at Bristol in August of 1997. And of course, Don Miller was a partner in Penske Racing when Rusty, Don, and Roger Penske formed that team. It's no wonder Rusty put so much into winning and being competitive as he owned part of his car. I never knew Rusty was a partner in his own race team back then.

Great video Mitch. At the time, Ford's decision to switch to the Taurus in '98 was extremely disappointing to me as a 16 year old fan, especially because it was getting axed just in time for Nascar's 50th anniversary. The Thunderbird was so much better looking than the new Taurus (even as a blue oval fan, I can't see how anyone would actually spend money on that Taurus body style). The Thunderbird was the last vehicle in Nascar (at that time) which was still a V8 RWD platform in street car form. Growing up, I was a big fan of Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Davey Allison, and Alan Kulwicki, and those T-Birds were some awesome looking machines. You bring up a fascinating point at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="870">14:30</a> - as a young kid, you probably figured Ford was the hokiest thing on the track (and the street) because of the lame choice of body styling. Being a little older, I got to enjoy the T-Bird setting records at Daytona and Talladega and was the car my favorite drivers and teams chose. By the late 90's, there was no doubt the Monte Carlo and Grand Prix were much better looking race cars. That being said, I'd still love to see a video about the old Taurus sitting out behind the museum. Keep up the great work!

Absolutely fantastic video. The R&D that never came about is the always the most intriguing.

I really love this kind of content, its so important that these stories are recorded and put out there for prosperity, thankyou for continuing to do this content ! #SAWChequeredFlagSquad (C.F.S) watching every video to the very end !

Love the channel btw and love how you're teaching the history of a sport I love, last post was definitely not meant to throw shade...Just an old Nascar fan/dude perspective 👍☺

Was working at Ford Racing when that happened. And the Ford Taurus Prototype out in the parking lot with the Monte Carlo rear bumper Was Developed in my department in Dearborn

Love these stories! Great channel.

Killer content Mitch, loving these stories of what coulda been. I really like all the cheated up stuff the old timers used to do, would really like a sit down with 4-5 older guys just talking about cheating and things they got away with!!!! Thanks to you and Logan for all the foot work you put in!!!!!

Awesome. Y’all never disappoint.

I remember hearing about these cars being tested. But went with the Taurus instead

Great content thanks for sharing

Taurus video please, automotive and racing history is very important to be shared especially with fine gentlemen of the era that can share their first hand experience

ABSOLUTELY want you to elaborate on the Taurus man….love these videos man, keep ‘em coming

Cool stuff! the Mark viii's are awesome cars that I've owned like 5 of

Dude I go here a lot this is awesome as always love love these videos !!!