If you rename it, maybe they will come

Like choosing the mix on an oldies radio station, getting the retro thing right in the car biz is tricky. You’ve got to evoke warm and fuzzy feelings of days gone by without bringing back bad memories. This helps explain why oldies stations don’t play Donny Osmond’s "Disco Train" much, and why Ford brought back the Mustang and not the Pinto. Evidently, Ford has decided that reaching back into their bag of greatest hits from the 1960s to name the large sedans formerly known as the Five Hundred and Montego may have been a mistake. Both are capable and solid cars. Even if nobody buys them. Ford’s logic appears to be that those names may go a few decades too far back into retroland to resonate with buyers. So the carmaker has just announced it’s dusting off the recently discarded Taurus and Sable nameplates that first appeared in the glory days of the 1980s.

The move may make sense. The Taurus was the last sedan FoMoCo built that sold in any volume, and it was groundbreaking in its day. Ford sold more than seven million of them during a 21-year run, and a company spokesperson says the name is twice as recognized as Five Hundred. Never mind that not everybody’s memories of the Taurus are all that warm and fuzzy, as Ford did little to keep the Taurus current during all those years, choosing instead to milk the SUV cash cow for far longer than would have been prudent.

So Taurus and Sable it is. If that doesn’t work, "Disco Train" has a nice ring to it. Anything, as long as they don’t bring back the Maverick.

-- Jim Travers