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70-559: It was first shown in September 1966. In August 1967 the model's first and most significant facelift was marked by the removal of the “Taunus” name, and after this the cars were known simply as the Ford 12 M and the Ford 15 M . The Taunus 12M name had been applied to the car's predecessor and the 15M name had also been used until 1959 for an earlier model . This is why the 12M and 15M models introduced in 1966 are usually identified, in retrospect, as

140-451: A Ford Taunus 12M. And for only forty marks extra, the buyer of the basic car could upgrade his gear-change mechanism to the coveted column-mounted device. In 1955 the Taunus 12M received its first facelift. The formerly split chrome grill was replaced by a simplified single piece grill. The prominent hemi-spherical globe design above the grill at this time remained in position, however. By now

210-428: A class up. The Taunus 15M was withdrawn from sale. A redesign of the front of the car saw the prominent globe symbol removed, leaving a more restrained front for the Taunus 12M which competed now without distraction in the small car category, a sector increasingly dominated by Volkswagen ’s Beetle . Having lost its defining globe mascot, the smaller Taunus acquired a thick painted stripe down each side, slightly below

280-523: A column-mounted lever, which was by now mainstream in Germany. However, from February 1968 it became possible, at extra cost, to specify a floor-mounted gear change lever between the (for these models) individual front seats. For the range topping Ford Taunus 15M RS introduced in March 1968 the floor-mounted gear change was a standard feature. Also inherited from the previous model was the combination of disc brakes at

350-649: A compelling argument in a country still impoverished after the traumas of war and national defeat. By the end of 1952 the old Taunus had disappeared from the Ford showrooms, and in December 1952 management decided to offer a stripped-down version of the new Taunus 12M, with all the chrome trimmings and various other "unnecessary" elements removed. In place of the US-style front bench seat the basic version had two individual front seats which comprised simple non-adjustable steel frames with

420-534: A far more extensive collection of upgrades during its four years in production than earlier Ford Taunus models. This may well have reflected the increasing competitiveness of the German auto-market which grew considerably, though not without reversals, through the 1960s. The first and most extensive facelift came after just a year. Advertising of the time highlights a long list of improvements covering matters such as instrumentation and upholstery, although many of these, with

490-516: A little larger. The car having by now grown so much larger than principal domestic market competitors, no attempt was made, when replacing it, to persist with a Taunus in the small car class. Instead, Ford adapted the British Ford Escort design for production, from 1970, at a purpose built plant at Saarlouis . The Escort of this time succeeded instantly in Britain as a worthy successor to

560-467: A new constitution and a new political class. The monocoque bodied new model for 1952 also represented a new beginning for Ford, so identifying it as Ford of Germany's Project 1 (P1) was evidently uncontentious. Not included in these totals are the saloons/sedans converted into two seater cabriolets by the Cologne based coach builder Karl Deutsch. In the 1930s Ford of Germany had, along with Opel , pioneered

630-438: A new ohv-engined Ford Consul had appeared in 1951. The crankshaft on the new German Ford engine was formed hollow rather than from a solid casting, which was seen as a way to save weight. The Taunus 15M was offered with exactly the same choice of bodies as the 12M. It was also offered with the option of a "Saxomat" automatic clutch, married to the three-speed gearbox (though not with the four-speed box). In September 1955, at

700-580: A rate of approximately 167,000 cars per year. Between 1965 and 1973 Opel produced 2,691,300 Opel Kadett Bs which equated to a rate of approximately 336,500 cars per year. Both cars were comfortably outsold on the domestic market by the Volkswagen Beetle according to the official statistics published monthly by Auto, Motor und Sport , and at this stage the Beetle still appeared unstoppable in key export markets. The Ford (Taunus) P6 failed to keep pace with

770-567: A reasonable level of market acceptance in Germany. At the upper end of the range the P6's replacement fared better at once, as the Taunus name returned and the Ford (Taunus) P6 was replaced by the rearwheel drive Ford Taunus TC . This shared the basic footprint and simplified architecture (though not at this stage most of its engines) with the British Ford Cortina Mark III . The Taunus TC would sell strongly against Opel ’s Ascona , and

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840-402: A stylish new body was connected with the road using fashionably small 13“ wheels which will have saved on cost and maximised the space available for passengers and their luggage. Individually suspended front wheels marked a contrast with the approach taken with the original Taunus, but in 1952 the rigid rear axle was all too familiar to Ford's existing German customers. The old Taunus had acquired

910-405: A thin coating of plastic fabric. In place of the US-style column-mounted gear change the stripped-down version featured a gear lever in the middle of the floor between the two front seats: this was considered very old fashioned at the time. The basic Ford Taunus 12 was offered only as a two-door saloon/sedan. The stripped down Taunus 12 nevertheless retailed at more than 10% less than the price of

980-402: Is recorded that approximately 385,000 of those produced were the (mostly smaller-engined) 12Ms while the larger-engined 15Ms accounted for approximately 285,000. The Ford Taunus P6 inherited its wheelbase from the previous model but the new body was nevertheless longer and wider, though lower. This reflected the design trends evident throughout western Europe at the time. The car also inherited

1050-594: The Ford Taunus 12M , and, between 1955 and 1959, as the larger-engined Ford Taunus 15M . The company produced a succession of Ford Taunus 12M models until 1970, as the name was applied to a succession of similarly sized cars, but the first Taunus 12M models, based on the company's Taunus Project 1 (P1), remained in production only until 1962. In that year the Taunus P1 series was replaced by the Taunus P4 series. At its launch,

1120-451: The Kadett A . However, the Ford (Taunus) P6 which appeared in 1966 was 200–300 mm (7.9–11.8 in) longer even than the new Kadett. In most important respects, the underpinnings of Taunus P6 followed those of the previous model. A four-speed all-synchromesh manual gear box, which in the previous model had been an option, was now a standard feature, however. The gear box was controlled with

1190-617: The Opel Olympia Rekord , the Borgward Isabella , the Fiat 1400 and the Peugeot 403 . What these cars had in common, however, was an engine of approximately 1500 cc, which was something that till now the Taunus had conspicuously lacked. Ford in Germany did not have the investment cash available to develop a new model of their own in the rapidly growing market segment of middle-sized (by

1260-463: The Soviet Union , Ford had in 1948 been driven to having Ford Taunus bodies produced by competitors and specialists from northern Germany, Volkswagen and Karmann . Ford's Cologne management sought cooperation from other German auto-makers with developing the processes necessary for producing the monocoque Project 1 model, but the other German auto-makers had priorities of their own, and in the end it

1330-473: The V4 engine and front-wheel drive configuration which in 1960 had marked out its predecessor as an innovator. However, the P6 came with a choice of four different engine sizes whereas P4 buyers had been obliged to choose between just two. The 12M and 15M shared the same body, but the front grill and headlamp treatments differed as did the rear light clusters. The rear light clusters on the 12M, reminiscent of those of

1400-501: The 15M itself deleted from the range, Ford responded to the intensifying competition by offering the larger 1.5-litre engine from the 15M in the 12M for a supplementary payment of only 110 marks. Cars with the larger engine were now identified simply by the name “Taunus 12M Super”. The Taunus 15M name would not reappear until 1966 when it was needed for certain versions of the Ford Taunus P6 . By 1961, despite its three-box body shape,

1470-471: The 1930s and applied it ever since, the Ford Taunus 12M/15M was still regarded as idiosyncratic in using this configuration. Between 1967 and 1968 the entry level Ford Taunus 12M was offered with the 1183 cm³ V4 engine that had powered its predecessor and for which a maximum power output of 45 PS/hp at 5,000 rpm was claimed. Most 12Ms were sold with a newly introduced 1305 cm³ V4 version of

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1540-417: The 1930s. The planning for Ford Germany's new ponton bodied passenger car began in 1949. Several aspects of the car's development reflected the advantages and the disadvantages of running a business with management decisions necessarily split between two continents at a time when even international telephone calls needed to be pre-booked. The original plan for the strikingly modern design came from Ford in

1610-403: The 1958 facelift, the Taunus 15M and 12M, for the first time shared the same front grill: by now Ford management were evidently losing enthusiasm for the strategy of promoting the Taunus 15M, as far as possible, as though it was a separate model. By 1959, Ford's US management had decided that the earlier policy of selling as separate models the Taunus 12M and Taunus 15M no longer made sense. This

1680-462: The Ford 15M Rallye Sport generally referred to as the 15M RS. This model, especially in its coupe form, quickly acquired something approaching cult status among a determined body of enthusiasts. However, the 15M RS was itself upgraded in the Spring of 1968, which was when a floor-mounted gear change became standard equipment on this model. Subsequent facelifts seem to have been restricted to rearranging

1750-547: The Ford Taunus P6. It was the sixth newly designed German Ford to be launched after the war and for this reason it was from inception known within the company as Ford Project 6 (P6) or the Ford (Taunus) P6. Between September 1966 and August 1970 when it was replaced 668,187 Ford (Taunus) P6s were produced. This was uncannily close to the 672,695 units of the predecessor model produced between 1962 and 1966. The Taunus P6 used different names for different engine sized cars, and it

1820-466: The Ford's competitors to take this step many years earlier. Though it probably figured in Ford's thinking that, except on cars exported to the US, Volkswagen themselves continued to offer some models with only 6-volt electrical systems until 1972. The upgraded cars for September 1967 also featured fuels tanks enlarged from 38 litres to 45 litres, which will presumably have marginally reduced luggage capacity, since

1890-534: The German market) the Ford Taunus 12M, with its roomy modern body came to be seen as a high quality product, but on launch it was 37% more expensive than the 1952 price of the predecessor model. By this time another 1200 cc small car, the Volkswagen Beetle , was also gaining a foothold in the market place, and while the Volkswagen could not compete with the new Taunus 12M on cabin space, its lower price offered

1960-470: The Taunus 12M had become outdated and outclassed, with an engine, suspension system and gear-box which still followed pretty closely their original 1935 designs. In August 1962 production of the Taunus P1 came to an end, after 555,463 cars had been built. The car was replaced by the Taunus P4 which retained the “Taunus 12M” name, but applied it to a Ford's first German built front-wheel drive model, powered by

2030-469: The USA who drew up a proposal based on the ponton format Champion model introduced to the US auto-market a few years earlier by Studebaker . The Studebaker design had already proved highly influential on the domestic programs of mainstream US auto-makers. Cologne based production engineers adapted the US proposal for the German market. The Studebaker featured a large roundel directly above the front grill on which

2100-402: The base price for the Ford Taunus 12M had been reduced to below 6,000 Marks, and with incomes on the rise nationally the stripped down Ford Taunus 12 was quietly dropped from the range. From 1957 the Taunus 12M joined other German automakers in offering the automatic “Saxomat” clutch as an option In 1958 the wide chrome bars of the radiator grill were replaced by a less flamboyant grill. But

2170-485: The benefit of five decades of hindsight, appear very trivial. Following the annual summer vacation shut-down the cars that came off the production line from September 1967 nevertheless appeared with restyled grills and dashboards. Many mainstream cars had by now accumulated long lists of optional extras, and on the Taunus P6 there was a resorting of which items of extra equipment came at extra cost and which were included in

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2240-523: The body that was loudly proclaimed in Ford's advertising was its interior roominess, reflected in its generous exterior dimensions. The car was marketed and, with its less powerful versions, priced, squarely against the Volkswagen and the Opel Kadett . Opel had noticed Fords getting larger, and the new Kadett B which appeared in 1965 was 100–200 mm (3.9–7.9 in) longer (depending on body type) than

2310-603: The car placed Ford ahead of the pack, being unusually modern in terms of the bits that showed. It was one of the first new cars to appear in Germany since before the war , and featured a radical ponton format “three box” body as pioneered (at least in Germany) by the 1949 Borgward Hansa 1500 . The three-box car body format would soon become mainstream, but when the Ford Taunus 12M appeared in 1952 competitor manufacturers including Opel , Volkswagen and Auto Union were still competing with models based closely on designs originating in

2380-411: The class leading width of the car's 1,321 mm (52.0 in) track encouraged the manufacturer to promote the car's handling and cornering qualities. Telescopic dampers also improved the suspension of the wheels at the back of the car where the steel beam axle and the semi-elliptical leaf springs would have been familiar to drivers of earlier Taunus models. The Ford (Taunus) P6 seems to have undergone

2450-449: The differences between the cars to potential customers. The new engine was based on the unit that had originally been developed with a side-mounted camshaft for launch in the 1939 “Buckeltaunus” . Now, however, the originally planned side-valve configuration was replaced, for the first time on a German Ford, with overhead valves . This reflected developments also underway in England where

2520-412: The existing Ford Taunus which was by now an aging model that would nevertheless continue to be listed in parallel with the new model throughout most of 1952. However, it transpired that the name “Meisterstück” ( "Masterpiece" ) was unava⁹ilable for any Ford vehicle, having been patent-protected by a German bicycle manufacturer. Therefore, by the time Ford's radical new car came to market it arrived under

2590-541: The front and drum brakes at the rear. September 1967 saw the introduction of twin braking circuits as an additional safety feature, and in February 1968 servo-assistance for the braking system was introduced as an option on most models and included in the price for the more expensive versions of the car. The front suspension geometry was developed from that of the Ford P4 and again incorporated MacPherson struts which combined with

2660-411: The fuel tank was positioned on the right side of the boot/trunk, under the rear right-hand wing. The increase in fuel tank size applied to the saloons/sedans and the coupés but was not extended to the “Turnier” station wagon versions of the cars, The engine cooling system was also modified for the September 1967 upgrade, and no longer incorporated an expansion tank. Autumn 1967 also saw the unveiling of

2730-534: The full width of the car in place of the individual front seats fitted by most European manufacturers: this was a matter in respect of which the Taunus 12M was seen to reflect its manufacturer's North American parentage and thereby conferred a certain glamour at a time when the United States was a widely accepted role model across much of Europe and especially in West Germany. A maximum 38 PS/hp (28 kW) of power

2800-410: The globe design directly above the grill lasted another year. Early in 1954 the Ford Taunus finally received the 1500 cc engine that had been planned for successive Taunus models ever since 1939. Hitherto the Ford Taunus 12M had competed as a large (if rather underpowered) car in the sector increasingly led by the Volkswagen Beetle . Its size had always invited comparison with larger cars such as

2870-463: The growth in the German auto-market which appears to have contributed to a major rethink. In 1970 Ford ceased to manufacture front-wheel drive cars, and would stick to the tried and tested and (it was said at the time) cheaper and simpler rear wheel drive configuration until the arrival in 1976 of the Ford Fiesta . The 12M/15M was effectively replaced by two models, one of them smaller and one of them

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2940-494: The introduction in 1957 of Ford's second new post-war model, the Project 2, known to customers at the time as the Ford Taunus 17M . The larger and flamboyantly styled Taunus 17M was seen as a much more powerful competitor to sell against the successful Opel and against the Borgward Isabella , which acquired something approaching iconic status in the later 1950s. For 1959, Ford's smaller Taunus no longer needed to try to compete half

3010-486: The lead (in Germany) of the 1937 Opel Olympia . Ford of Germany had no experience of this construction method, having spent most of the 1940s concentrating on building light trucks. Project 1's predecessor, the Ford Taunus designed in the 1930s, had had its body built by Ambi Budd , an independent specialist pressed steel body builder in Berlin until 1948, and after the Berlin firm had its surviving plant crated up and shipped to

3080-439: The level of the car’s waist. It thereby acquired its “Seitenstreifentaunus” (Side-stripes Taunus) soubriquet. By this time, the Ford Taunus 12M's twenty-five-year-old underpinnings were becoming uncomfortably obvious, and the car was having to compete largely on price. However, that also meant that in terms of the amount of car offered for the money it represented something of a bargain. The 1959 entry-level price of 5,555 marks

3150-454: The name “Ford Hunsrück” was thought uncontroversial for a successor to the Ford Taunus. However, the “Hunsrück” name was blocked shortly before launch, possibly because of problems encountered explaining the pronunciation of “Hunsrück” to management colleagues in Dearborn . This left the name Taunus, and it was proposed to name the new car “Taunus 12 Meisterstück" in order to differentiate it from

3220-399: The name “Ford Taunus 12M”. The “12” in the name referred to the engine size of 1.2 litres and the “M” was the only part of the “Meisterstück” name available to Ford. During development it was intended that the car would be powered by a 1,498 cc engine. This was in many respects the engine that had originally been intended for the previous Ford Taunus first produced in 1939, but now it

3290-456: The number of dials on the dashboard and reconfiguring the options list. In a static market the P6's achievement in matching its predecessor's annual volumes would have been counted a success, but the German auto-market was growing at this time. After 1962 small passenger car makers in Germany had to confront not merely the Volkswagen , but also the Opel Kadett . Between 1966 and 1970 Ford produced 668,187 of their P6 model, which equated to

3360-414: The option of a four-speed gear box in 1950, but the new model at its 1952 launch came only with the older three-speed box, controlled using a column-mounted lever. (Until the 1960s European cars in this class never offered the option of an automatic gear change.) In the early years all the cars, regardless of equipment level, and whether saloon/sedan, or cabriolet bodied, came with a single bench seat across

3430-533: The previous model, took the form of an extended lozenge. The rear light clusters on the 15M were rectangular. As on the previous Taunus 12M, the engine was front-mounted and drove the front wheels. In France and Britain this layout was beginning to gain wider acceptance thanks to cars such as the Peugeot 204 and the Morris 1100 , but in Germany, apart from pioneering models from the by now relatively low volume Auto Union brands that had introduced front wheel drive in

3500-466: The price of the various versions of the car. The “Taunus” name was removed: from now on the Ford Taunus 12M was sold as the Ford 12M, and the name of the 15M was similarly diminished. At this point the 6 volt electrical system was upgraded to a (since 1966 available as an optional extra) 12 volt system, reflecting the progressively greater demands placed upon the electrical systems from the growing complexity of componentry which had already persuaded most of

3570-432: The relatively high 9:1 compression ration, and all required to be fuelled with “super” grade high octane petrol/gasoline. The body was an all-steel monocoque structure, following what had by now become a universal pattern among the larger European auto-makers. The choices were broadly the same as for the previous model : Most buyers chose between the two-door and four-door saloon/sedan. A three-door station wagon ("Turnier")

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3640-456: The same as the Taunus 12M received its update, Ford also introduced a Taunus 15M de luxe. This top-line model was identified by a particularly elaborate front grill and a two-tone paint scheme. Various luxury features hitherto unavailable or else offered only as optional extras were included in the price for buyers of the Ford Taunus 15M de Luxe. These included items such as the windscreen washer, reversing lights, tubeless tires, vanity mirrors in

3710-447: The same engine, but bored out by an additional 4 mm (0.2 in). This unit was offered at launch and throughout the model life. Two different versions promised different levels of power, at either 50 or 53 PS/hp. The more powerful of these two was only offered between 1967 and 1968. The two engines were designated as “LC” and “HC” engines, which was short for “Low Compression” and “High Compression”. The oil companies were at

3780-462: The smaller Ford Anglia . In Germany it was substantially smaller than any Ford offered in recent years, and it faced the market dominance of Opel and Volkswagen. The 1968 Escort offered cramped cabin space to challenge the Volkswagen owner's experiences, but without the Volkswagen's compensating virtues, and the Escort would have to wait until the launch of its next generation before it would begin to win

3850-421: The smaller engines fitted in the 12M, but for this application the bore was increased to 90 mm (3.5 in). In 1967, a year after the model's introduction, a 1699 cc engine became available for the faster Ford 15Ms. This larger V4 engine had first appeared in 1964 in the larger Ford Taunus 17M . Unlike the less powerful units used in most 12Ms and 15Ms, these 1699 cc units were available only with

3920-404: The standards of the time and place) family cars, but by installing a 1498 cc engine in the Taunus 12M they were able to announce almost as a new car the Ford Taunus 15M which could be profitably produced and sold alongside the car with which it shared virtually every component apart from the engine block and cosmetic touches, including a strongly differentiated front grill, intended to emphasize

3990-455: The subsequently introduced Ford Taunus 15Ms. The naming of the car is another area which may have been complicated by the way that responsibilities were shared between different management teams in two continents divided by an eight-hour time difference and the Atlantic Ocean . The immediate postwar era was seen as a new beginning for a newly divided Germany with, in the west , new borders,

4060-482: The sun visors and a headlamp flasher. Many of these will have been regarded as relatively mainstream in North American cars, which will have added trans-Atlantic glamour to the Taunus 15M in a country where, especially in the south of Germany, the continuing presence of large numbers of US troops enabled Ford's customers to be far more up to date than most other Europeans with trends in the US auto market. Following

4130-443: The time introducing to German motorists “super” grade higher octane fuels at correspondingly higher prices, which encouraged car manufacturers to offer improved performance versions of cars using higher compression ratios than had hitherto been usual. The next engine up, available as an optional extra on the 12M, and the standard engine on the 15M, was of 1498 cc. It shared the same 58.86 mm (2.3 in) stroke length of both

4200-656: The use of model names that would have positive associations for customers. While Auto Union customers were enticed to buy cars with names such as DKW F8 and BMW were inviting customers to be seduced by names such as BMW 326 , Ford were selling the Ford Köln , named after the major cathedral city Cologne, where the Ford factory was located, as well as the Ford Eifel and the Ford Taunus named after hilly areas of great natural beauty. For Project 1, Ford Germany evidently intended to invoke another hilly region of natural beauty, and

4270-437: Was also at this point that a 3-door kombi/estate version joined the range. A cabriolet version had been offered since December 1952, being the result of a conversion by a coach building specialist based, like Ford, in the Cologne area and called Karl Deutsch Poor workmanship on the early cars was a source of some disappointment. Nevertheless, fairly soon (and in the absence of much direct competition during its early years on

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4340-453: Was also helped in shared European export markets by the Cortina's supply problems resulting from lengthy strikes at Dagenham . The Taunus TC was produced at an annualised rate well ahead of the rates achieved by the Taunus P6. Ford Taunus P1#Taunus 15M (1955–1959) The Ford Taunus P1 is a small family car which was produced by Ford Germany from 1952 until 1962. It was marketed as

4410-413: Was also produced as was a two-door coupé, similar to the two-door sedan/saloon up to waist level, but with a shortened roof line and an increased rake for the back window, restricting severely the available headroom for those sitting in the back of the car. But there was an absentee: the P6 was the first post war Ford Taunus design for which the company offered no coach-built cabriolet version. A feature of

4480-511: Was barely more than that asked for the much smaller and more cramped Volkswagen. As Ford's management had feared, the arrival of newer models from competitor manufacturers was leaving the once fashionable Taunus 12M languishing in the sales charts. Its once broad niche between the small relatively cramped Volkswagen and the growing class of middle-weights was under increasing pressure from entry-level versions of more recently introduced models from Opel, Fiat and Peugeot . In September 1959, with

4550-402: Was delivered to the rear wheels. This was a useful increase on the 34 PS (25 kW; 34 hp) claimed for the previous model, and may have reflected a higher compression ratio and increases starting to come through across Europe in respect of available fuel octane levels. In May 1953 the Taunus P1 finally became available with a four-speed gear box, though only as an optional extra. It

4620-539: Was displayed the propeller of an airplane. The Ford Project 1 also featured a prominent roundel at the front of the car, but in place of the Studebaker's propeller design, the Ford roundel featured a hemispherical depiction of half a globe. This bold and unusual decoration led to the new car becoming known as the „Weltkugeltaunus“ (Globe Taunus). The proposal from Ford in America called for a monocoque construction, following

4690-477: Was noted that 48 of the cars exhibited were fitted with engines employing overhead valves while only 6 featured sidevalve engines. That Ford were still powering their entry level Taunus P1 with a sidevalve engine ten years later, in 1962, would leave the model looking badly outclassed under the bonnet/hood. The two-door modern slab sided Ford Taunus that appeared in January 1952 with an old fashioned engine married to

4760-423: Was partly in response to the lack of effectiveness with which the 15M model had been competing against Opel . General Motors were evidently cash rich at this time and Opel, between 1953 and 1957, offered an extensively redesigned or upgraded version of their Opel Olympia Rekord every year, and were dominating the middle-weight sedan sector of the German auto market. However, another important game changer had been

4830-429: Was to be developed into an ohv unit. However, cost constraints intervened, and when the new Taunus 12M appeared in 1952 it was powered by the 1,172 cc side-valve unit that had powered not merely its predecessor, but also its predecessor's predecessor, the Ford Eifel of 1935. By 1952 sidevalve engines were already seen as old fashioned. In an analysis undertaken of the models shown at the 1952 Paris Motor Show it

4900-445: Was with support from Ford of France that the production lines for German Ford's project 1 were set up at the company's Cologne plant. In due course, and not before a certain amount of confusion concerning the naming of the car, Ford's Project 1 was released to the market as the Ford Taunus 12M. It proved a success. By the time the half globe was removed from the car's nose, 247,174 of the 12M version had been sold along with 127,942 of

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