My Taurus Game Day Experience – Back Story & Plan

Well, I’m pretty darn excited – a few weeks ago, I filled out an application on a Ford website for something called the Ford Taurus Game Day Drive Experience (click here to see the application and Ford’s info about it).  Long story short, they were looking for sports fans that utilize social media to communicate with friends, colleagues, etc.  They also wanted fans that were into road-tripping, and with my tradition of attending a different KU road football game every year, I was a perfect candidate.  I filled out the application and frankly forgot about it.

Then, on Monday evening, I got an email telling me that I’d been selected a winner!  So, after filling out some paperwork and talking with a Ford fleet manager, I’m ready to go.  Tomorrow night at 5:30, a 2010 Ford Taurus will be delivered to my apartment and it’s mine until Monday evening!  I’ll be taking that Taurus to two different football games this weekend – Saturday’s Kansas vs. Southern Mississippi in Lawrence, KS and Sunday’s Green Bay Packers vs. St. Louis Rams game in St. Louis.  They’re providing me tickets to the Packers/Rams game and an allowance for gas and for a hotel, so my buddy Corey Cassaw are going to head to St. Louis on Saturday afternoon and have some fun downtown.

But the best part might be the car…for a few reasons:

• I drove a 1988 Ford Taurus station wagon all through high school (see the below shot of it).  At the time that car was made, the Taurus was a revolution in the car world, saving Ford and surprising the heck out of just about everyone.  Hard to believe, but it was also the best-selling car in America then.  Of course, by the time I got my Taurus (hand-me-down from Mom & Dad) in 1999, it had 180,000 miles and a lot of Wisconsin winter-induced rust so I hated it.  But it never let me down and I wish I could have it back now.

1988 Ford Taurus Station Wagon

• I’m a huge Ford fan.  Have been since age 14 when I took a fast ride in a Mustang Cobra convertible.  My next car will be a Mustang GT convertible.
• The new Taurus is a game-changer, if you haven’t heard.  It is a complete, 180-degree shift from the previous rental car queen.  It’s got style, power, tons of high-tech features and quality to match anything in it’s price class.  Ford’s using it as their flagship vehicle now and that’s why it includes technologies like:
  • Seats that can heat, cool and massage you as you drive, plus heated rear seats too
  • Cruise Control that can sense when you’re getting close to cars in front of you and automatically slow you down
  • Blind-Spot warning system
  • Back-Up camera that also lets you know if cars are coming as you back out of parking spots
  • Sync: lets you control just about any phone/MP3 player via voice commands and steering wheel controls
  • MyKey that lets you set up a special key for your teenage driver, preventing the car from going over certain speeds, the stereo from functioning without seatbelts and the stereo from going past a preset volume.  Not real useful for me right now, but in about 20 more years, a godsend!
• Best of all, I’m pretty sure I’m getting a loaded, top of the line model – maybe even the twin-turbo “EcoBoost” SHO model with 365 horsepower.  Other people that have done this Experience got the SHO so I’m hoping I do too – here’s a picture of one:

2010 Ford Taurus SHO

So I’ll be Tweeting, Facebooking, video taping and picture-taking from Lawrence to KC and on to St. Louis, with a mega-recap post coming on Monday.  Follow along by subscribing to this blog or by any of the social media I’m a part of (see the top left of this page).  I’m so excited that Ford chose me for this and I can’t wait to get started – hope you enjoy sharing my experience and most of all, I hope you take a look at Ford* next time you’re car shopping.  Enjoy the ride!

* Nope, they didn’t tell me to say that and they haven’t given me one single rule or guideline about what I have to say.  I could end up thinking this car is terrible and I can post that if I want to.  But I am proud of Ford for the way it’s conducted business since hiring KU-alum Alan Mulally as CEO and I want them to succeed.  America needs them to succeed.