(first posted 1/31/2017) It was quite simple in the early seventies. If a family wanted a sporty looking and fairly-priced midsize car that could withstand our In Rust We Trust maritime climate for at least five years, give or take a few years, then the shortlist would contain only one model: a Ford Taunus Coupe.
The first generation of the German Ford Taunus TC (Taunus Cortina) was introduced in 1970. The contemporary third generation of the Ford Cortina from the UK, with its more distinctive coke bottle styling, was never available as a fastback coupe. Of course, at that point Ford of Europe already had the Capri, but that was hardly a family car.
Late September and early October I caught two very fine examples of the Taunus Coupe. Both a GXL with a vinyl top and a V6 engine. The GXL was the highest trim level.
The oldest, the 1972 Taunus Coupe, is equipped with the 2.0 liter Cologne V6 engine.
The rear wheel drive Taunus TC was available as a 2-door or 4-door sedan and as a 5-door wagon, the coupe was clearly the niche model of the series. Engine options throughout the whole range were the 1.3 and 1.6 liter 4-cylinders and the 2.0 and 2.3 liter 6-cylinders, ranging from 55 to 108 DIN-hp.
The standard transmission was a 4-speed manual, a Borg Warner 3-speed automatic was optional at extra cost (yet not in combination with the 1.3 liter engine).
The 1970-1975 Taunus TC and Cortina Mk III were developed under the supervision of Semon Knudsen. Does it show ? The Knudsen-Taunus, that’s how they call this generation in its homeland.
In the summer of 1973 the Taunus got an update, with a new dashboard and a modified suspension with front and rear stabilizers.
And here’s the 1974 Taunus Coupe, with the 2.3 liter Cologne V6 top engine.
The main rival of this Taunus generation was the 1970-1975 Opel Ascona A, which was not offered as a fastback-coupe (note that the Opel Manta A was Opel’s answer to the Ford Capri).
A well-optioned rear end, with a fog lamp and trailer hitch.
And a well-optioned front end too.
The 108 DIN-hp 2.3 liter Cologne V6 (the German Ford employees used to call them Unser Fau Sechs) should get the Taunus to a respectable top speed of 175 km/h (109 mph). Some other numbers: weight 1,070 kg (2,359 lbs), wheelbase 259 cm (102″). A lavish car indeed, for the average Euro family in that era.
A rear window with adjustable louvres. On the inside, just like in your house or office.
The Taunus Coupe didn’t get a successor near the end of 1975, when the production of the second generation of the Taunus TC started. The market for such a family coupe had become just too small, even for a niche model.
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I like it. Close-up views of both the front and the rear show definite Ford dna (as in Torino). Clean lines with just enough flourish.
Handsome cars. I would have loved to see these in the United States.
Good looking cars. I’m curious though, was a 2.0 V6 worth it? Was it that much smoother and that much faster then the 2.0 OHC? I have no experience with either one, so I was just wondering.
I recall test reports of “Auto, Motor und Sport” regarding the Cologne 6 cylinder, not necessarily the ones in these fine examples. They were disappointed about its “Laufkultur”. They were rougher than expected. They usually added that you couldn’t get a veritable 6 cylinder engine for that price anywhere in Germany.
Undoubtedly the V6 was smoother, but not faster, depending on the state of tune. The 2.0 V6 was in these for two reasons: Ford had a lot invested inits production facilities, and a six was considered decidedly more prestigious. As Wolfgang said below, there were no other sixes available at that price.
I don’t know about the inline 2.0, but I had a friend with a V6 Taunus 20m that sure was smoother than the V4 that was in my old 17m.
Nice, didn’t know these existed in fastback form. That would have been a much cooler car to ride around in when we visited in the 70’s than my Uncle’s Renault R4, obviously he didn’t get the memo.
Johannes, what were you carried around in during your youth? I’ll be it wasn’t a Taunus GXL Coupe.
Our first own family car was a 3-door Simca 1100. Somewhere in the mid-seventies. Then a 1978 Ford Fiesta 1100S (it got totalled) and a 1979 Ford Fiesta 1300S. The Fords were bought new.
In my early youth I was mostly carried around on/in a bicycle, a Sparta moped, a bus, a train and a Frog DAF.
Talk about regional differences…when I was born in 1966, my father drove an enormous 1958 Oldsmobile 98 coupe, and my mother’s “little” car was a 1965 Ford Mustang convertible, six cylinder with 3 speed manual transmission.
I just looked it up…the Olds had a 6.1L/371 cid V8
Born in 1966 too. When we, the whole family, needed a decent “set of wheels” before we had our own family car, dad just asked his boss to use one of the company’s rides. That could be a double cab Hanomag Henschel light flatbed truck, a double cab VW T2 pickup, or -oh what a treat! – a Benz W115 diesel.
Yes, we truly were early adopters by using an open bed crew cab truck as a family car…
I’m another ’66 born. Sept. for me. My Dad had a 65 Impala SS.
So the three of us have all seen Abraham last year…
Just an expression here for a male who turns 50. At which point a female sees Sara(h).
It’s got a tiny little Bunkie Beak.
Never liked these too much. The body shape in general seems to be rather attractive and Americanesque, despite the somewhat awkward proportions (understandable for such a relatively small car, which was also required to seat 4-5 adults and have a usable trunk to be practical for a one-car family), but the styling is ruined (for me, at least) by the utterly dull, typically European bulging circular wheel arches and rectangular headlights. The vinyl top looks quite ridiculous on these, too.
IMO, Opel with its Rekord C Coupé was a lot more successful in simulating the American muscle/pony-car look. And it was a real hardtop, too…
Still, quite a decent attempt for this side of the Atlantic (without the vinyl top, anyway).
Any of these TC Taunus were an unusual ‘spot’ in the UK but the Mk.III Cortina was everywhere. The GXLs and GTs Cortinas had twin round headlights until the 1973 facelift which looked better than the single rounds of the cheaper models or rectangular headlights that replaced them.
Early TC Cortina front end, with a much younger me.
The European Gran Torino 🙂
Of course Ford also had the bigger Granada Mk1 fastback, which was in the same segment as the Opel Rekord. The Rekord D that is, given the 1972 introduction of the Granada. Early-seventies apples to apples comparison:
Opel Kadett vs Ford Escort
Opel Ascona vs Ford Taunus
Opel Manta vs Ford Capri
Opel Rekord vs Ford Granada 4-cylinder
Opel Commodore vs Ford Granada V6
Opel Admiral~Diplomat vs -nothing from Ford of Europe-
Opel GT vs -nothing from Ford of Europe-
I quite like these–the Torino DNA is clear in the fastback and rear panel, though we never had inside louvers as an option! Automotive mini-blinds? And it does have a modestly sized (euro?) Bunkie Beak. But it doesn’t mar the styling so much as give it some character.
The fog lamps on the orange one are a bit too big for my tastes…but otherwise, nicely kept and I do like the panasport wheels.
I don’t think air conditioning was on the options list. Therefore the mini blinds supposed to reduce the heat built up on sunny summer days. – At least a little bit.
Air conditioning in Germany (and all of Europe) came quite late, except for the most expensive luxury cars. In the 70s, it was extremely uncommon. Keep in mind that Germany and most other European countries are quite northerly, and hot days were fairly uncommon until the global heating trend that started in the mid-late 70s.
IIRC, a/c had a huge upsurge in use in the 1990s or so,
You’re right about the 1990s. And I remember that especially Nissan with its Primera was the A/C booster in Europe.
Air conditioning is something that has come with extra refinement. Whilst winding the windows down in very hot weather didn’t make so much of a difference when most ordinary cars made plenty of road, engine and general mechanical noise, once that’s been tamed opening the windows makes a big difference, especially at higher speeds.
Even later here in Norway, At the end of the 90s the new cars usually had AC, but even then there was sold new cars without.
I remember the story of the BMW sales reps in Texas, who disconnected the power rear windows in a black Bavaria sedan, and then forced some visiting reps from Germany to sit back there on a sunny summer day in the hopes that it might inspire the people in Munich to re-engineer the air-conditioning to where it would be competitive to the air-conditioning found in a mediocre American car.
I do not recall seeing these cars with fog lights as large as on the orange car.
These truly desirable cars were really nice. Loved the sound of the 6 cylinder engine. Remember them as quite fuel efficient also, compared to i.e. the Volvo 144S my parents were driving. A shame you do not see them anymore.
While they may not have been factory options there were aftermarket automotive Venetian blinds available. Not super common but I do remember seeing them from time to time back in the early 70’s.
Those aren’t fog lamps on the orange Taunus. They’re called “long range lamps” in English, according to the packaging. A must-have for the (mostly young) sporty car guy back then.
I’m sure that Mr. Stern can shine a light on these…
My Dad put those ‘long range lamps’ (called spotlights/spotties/driving lights here) on the successive MkIII, IV and V Cortina wagons we had from 1977-86. Certainly worked rather well!
Those inside venetian blinds were quite popular in Australia before the widespread advent of affordable air conditioning -not surprising they’d show up in Europe too. Many fifties and sixties cars had them. The trick was whether the slats were angled right, or they’d cut down your vision too much. And if the engine was rough, they’d rattle abominably at idle. And going over bumps. And….
The Cologne V6 that Ford used in the 1970’s Mustangs and Pintos must have been garbage as I remember seeing many with blown motors back in the day for sale in the good old Pennysaver. My Mustang buddy says he avoids any Mustang so equipped from that time era and that the 2.3 4 banger is a sturdier unit.
I think “garbage” is a bit strong, but like many European engines designed in the pre-smog era, I don’t think it was very happy to be both strangled with emission equipment and also have to power all the accessories (PS, a/c, etc) that many/most came with in the US.
I think the 2,3 and the 2,8 actually was pretty good engines for the day, not on pair with an american V8s in terms of smoothness, power or reliability maybe, but they tend to last quite some km’s. But with US emissions and AC, Power everything and heavy cars, these engines must work!
The 2ltr OHC unit was only 9 HP down on the 2.3 V6 and never offered in the more rounded British Corrina MK3. Nor was this coupe properly to protect Capri sales.
Strange that both Taunus and Cortina stood along side each other in show rooms in Portugal ,we’re they were assembled by Ford Lusitania, and Sweden but not in France, Germany and Italy.
Poor old US de smogged 2.8V6 had the same HP as a European 2lt 4. 100hp. and didn’t wrestle with a/c..
Yes a/c was just considered a gadget avaliable only in Rolls Royces ,Jag XJ 12 s and American cars…. I marveled at the idea of rear window blind AC invests to Europe. I was forced to Sutton sweety vinyl seats with just the window down.
In addition to the issues Paul mentions, the 2.6 and 2.8 Cologne V-6s also used mechanical lifters. Something of an anachronism in the seventies (at least for Ford engines), the valves tended to get out of adjustment and make lots of mechanical noise.
While a valve adjustment would clear things up, a surprising number of owners did not recognize the need, and merrily clattered down the road for 60 or 70 thousand miles.
‘Mercans DON’T ADJUST VALVES!!!! DAMMIT!!!!
I adjusted the valves on my Dad’s Pinto 2.8 V6 because the Ford dealer + all other mechanics around refused to do it.
I notice a lot of vintage cars with mechanical lifters have valve thrash after “restoration”.
Heh I notice it too. It’s kinda funny, the rarest of the rare Muscle cars had mechanical lifter versions of standard engines, and overrestorations often seem to go to these these setups during the rebuild even if the engine originally would have been hydraulic, because performance, without effecting the aesthetic…. Then the owner clatters the car into the local cruise night, oblivious to the periodic need to actually adjust the damn things.
Lovely looking cars. It’s a shame they were never sold here in the USA, at least I’ve never seen one. I’ve always liked European cars of the early 70s. And particularly the Germans. And with their Autobahn with no speed limit, at least they were made for fast driving. If only our American cars, even at the time, were built like that.
Nice finds. These fastbacks were never very common in their day, and were very decidedly “American style”, and as such, catered to a certain segment of the market that liked that approach. While I prefer to avoid gross generalizations, there’s no doubt that both Ford and Opel catered to a more downscale (blue collar) market, with their American styling and simple RWD technology. These really were the Torino GTs of Germany, in more ways than one.
Absolutely. Ford (Escort and Taunus) and Opel (Kadett, Ascona, Rekord) were massively successful in northwestern Europe throughout the seventies. Simple, well-built and (important !) in that era they simply had the best paint job quality & rust proofing of all mainstream brands on the market.
We almost had this Taunus in Brazil, but Ford found out the Maverick was cheaper to built and could share the engines with the pick ups, the Galaxie and the old Willis-Overland vehicles. I kinda prefer things happened that way, to me the Maverick is a cooler looking car
Nice looking cars but I might like the fastback better without a vinyl roof.
Nice, we only got the UK Cortina not the Taunus, the odd V6 Cortina is around and a few of the crappily built Aussie straight six Cortinas came here but mostly only fours survive Ive even seen the odd 1300 kent powered versions, they were a gutless wonder so of course no automatic version was built, people age faster than 1300 Cortinas accelerate.
I have to wonder why on earth anyone would have bought a 1300 Cortina. I guess it’d be okay if you lived in flat country, but it’d be useless on hills.
…60 hp 1.3 liter…
It was a OHV in the Cortina and Escort not OHC.
Thats a odd upper radiator hose set up. Is that the way they were set up from the factory?
Sure is on all the Pinto-engined Cortinas I’ve seen – here’s a 1982 2.0 Cortina’s engine bay:
I suspect it’s so they can put very soft motor mounts in to minimize vibration, but the engine moves a lot so they needed a way to accommodate that without pulling the hose off. At least that makes sense to me.
That’s a good suggestion Mike, and makes sense to me. I remember the 2.0 Pinto being a very enthusiastic jiggler in all the Cortinas my parents had over the years.
…in a 1978 Taunus TC2 family & cargo hauler…
Or even more perplexing, something with sporting pretensions like the Capri…
Somewhere between 40 and 50 percent of all Fox body Mustangs came equipped with the 2.3 Lima motor, certainly no powerhouse.
In fact, Ford dropped the V-6 option from ’87 to ’93, forcing buyers to choose between too little and too much.
This is a fair point, but the level of performance of nearly any of the 1300 Capri models was truly abysmal. Original German cars made 50hp; English models 52hp (and I’m not clear if those are gross figures, either). The book Essential Ford Capri gives details specs, and both of those needed 23.0 seconds or more to reach 60 mph. The heavier Capri II 1300’s are slower still. The only 1300 model that seems acceptable in this context is the 1970-71 England made dual carb 1300GT, and that car still only eeked out 72 hp and would reach 60 in 14.9 seconds. Different standards in Europe, certainly, but quite a bit worse than even the slowest Mustang II or Fox, I would wager. Mom actually had a ’79 2.3 notchback Fox with the 4 speed, and it never felt as slow as that.
14.9 to 60 is about what a 2.3 Mustang would do. A few seconds faster after injection and 8 plug’s. I think those rated around 11 or so.
From what I remember when those blew up (as they would invariably do) they were unceremoniously thrown out and replaced by the 1600/2000 Pinto units. My P100 pick up had the 1600 replaced by the 2000 and it made a difference. Even this was not enough and my plan was to replace it with the Cologne 2.8 V6/5 sp. but then someone made me an offer I could not refuse and away to a new home it went…
Used to be one just around the corner from me Hawkesbay is very flat leaving it isnt though we had 1100 Escorts too a real poverty pack. They were cheap I guess though govt depts here usually go for the cheapest deal they can get they got 2.0 Cortinas in the 70s.
Nice cars, and that red one is stunning.
To me, these are more attractive than the Capri, and with decent rear suspension probably more comfortable and better handling as well as being more spacious. The UK never had them, but we did major on Capris of course.
The UK only got the Granada Coupe in full Brougham Ghia spec with the 3 litre Essex V6 and later the 2.8 litre Cologne V6
I prefer the British curves, and I’ve never liked the fastback on this body.
The ’76 windowline-upgrade Granada on the other hand…
The Leyland P76 Force 7 looks like a big Taunus!
As a big Cortina/Taunus fan, I love these fastbacks – they were never sold here (like the UK we had the Capri instead) so I’ve never seen one in the metal. The lucky Argentinians even updated the body to the corresponding Mk V Cortina/TC3 Taunus styling; there was some naff striping on them when new, but minus the stripes the MK V fastback looks fab and would be on my top-10 cars to own list
Side:
Rear:
Great Scott ! Never saw that one before, and it’s looking good !
That’s a nice one! I certainly wouldn’t mind one, perhaps with an upgrade to an SVO Mustang-spec 2.3 Turbo?
The orange car is my father his car he have it from the dealership secondhand in 1977 and stil have it its stil in totaly new condition and till 1999 it was his daily car but now its in the garage and he only driving to carshows
Thanks Erik! Indeed, it was in a stunning showroom condition.
For all those who like to have a look into the ´71 Taunus brochure:
https://danieljennen.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Prospekt-Ford-Taunus-1971.pdf
p.s.: My personal all time favourite Taunus is the brown GXL four door Sedan on the frontpage. And – yes: WITH a vinyl roof …
What strikes me is the use of “Limousine 5-tuerig (5-door sedan)” rather than “Kombi (wagon)” for the Turnier model which is very clearly a wagon.
Hmmm. Those louvers wont do much good UNDER the window. Solar radiation needs to be intercepted outside the car. These will simply get nice and hot and shed their heat to the cars interior. White or mirror would work better ..but would be a distraction.
This is a good looking car. Kind of like the Mercury/Ford Capri from way back when.
Funny, I’ve of course heard of them forever, but I don’t know that I’d ever seen even a pic before. And with my admitted bias towards both German and European cars I should like them. But visually at least, I do not. I don’t know what they drive like of course, handling, power, seats etc, which can make a dramatic difference, but the styling leaves me cold.
Louvers were quite popular here for a time, 70s/80s? But always mounted on the outside, usually on hatchbacks or fastbacks IIRC. Seems like they were very popular on Datsun Z cars. The E28- 80’s BMW 5 series I had for quite a while did have an optional sunshade inside for the back window. Not sure how much good it really did, but it looked nice. Seems like those could have been an inexpensive option at the time for the Taunus.