Here’s a car that’s yet to be properly acknowledged at CC. It’s very familiar to me, as one lived on our block, just around the corner from our house in Innsbruck. One rainy day as I was walking home from school–I was in first grade– this Taunus stopped and the driver asked if I wanted a ride home. He obviously knew our family and there was no fear about getting in a stranger’s car back then, so I hopped in and rode a few blocks in his Taunus. I remember every detail, including the rather unusual bench seat, which was uncommon in Europe at the time.
I knew what it was, and that German Fords were sort of miniature American cars. That pretty much sums it up. It had rather advanced pontoon styling for its time when it first came out in 1952, but behind that little globe on its nose sat a rather American engine too: a little flathead four, with 1.2 liters and 38 hp. So yes, it was like a shrunken “shoebox” 1949 Ford.
Ford Germany was of course in bad shape after the war, when it was forced by the regime to build only trucks. In 1948, they managed to put a slightly updated Taunus G93A back into production, which dated back to the 1935 Eiffel. Budd used to build their bodies, but their whole factory was carted off to Russia in 1948, so Ford had to beg other carmakers and coachbuilders to help it build bodies for it. Times were tough.
But by 1949, things were looking up, and Ford Germany was ready to develop a new postwar car. The primary design/styling work was done in Dearborn, not surprisingly, and the similarities to the ’49 Ford are obvious. It was supposed to get a new OHV four too, but the budget just wasn’t there for it, so it ended up with the old 1.2 flathead four that dated back to 1935. In 1949 in Europe, flatheads were already starting to look obsolete. This little flathead four was essentially the same unit widely used in low-end UK Fords, going back to the 1932 Model Y, Ford’s first car specifically designed for Europe.
It came initially only with a three speed (column shifted), but by 1953 a four speed was optional. Back then in Germany, three speed transmissions were not uncommon, and given the generally flat terrain and low speeds, they were adequate, but not so in the mountainous areas and in places like Austria. Four speeds were sometimes referred to as “mountain gearboxes”.
In 1952, relief was available in the form of an ohv 1.5 L four, essentially an evolution of the 1.2. This was of course dubbed the Taunus 15M. The front end was face-lifted, but the globe was still there.
Both the 12M and 15M were not able to compete very effectively against Opel, which was much more profitable and could afford regular styling updates.
In 1959, a more significant styling refresh appeared, but the poor-selling 15M was dropped, effectively replaced by a larger car, the 17M. The 12M still soldiered along with its flathead four, all the way through 1962. At that time it and the UK Ford Popular 103E were probably the last Western European car still with a flathead engine, as the Simca Vedette with its Ford V8-60 engine ended in 1961.
The 12M was too close to the VW in performance, but cost some 35% more, so it continued to struggle somewhat. The Beetle made life difficult for others competing in the lower price ranges, very much like the Model T in its time in the US.
In the fall of 1962, the aged P1 was replaced by the much more ambitious FWD V4 12M, which had originally been developed in Dearborn and conceived to be built both in the US and Germany. We’ve covered that intriguing story in depth here. The new 12M did better than the old one, given that an increasing number of buyers were ready for something a bit newer than the Beetle, which was beginning to show its age sooner in Europe than in the US. The 12M also competed against the new Opel Kadett, which quickly jumped to the #2 spot in the low price segment.
That is one damn cute car! Sad about those old engines, though. I wouldn’t want one of those if I had to leave Innsbruck and head for the hills. I didn’t know how badly Ford struggled during this time against the better competition. You are right – this was a car that we needed to know. I’m familiar with the brand Taunus, but was unfamiliar with its history. Thank you for telling us about it.
Interesting, I hope to hear more about these .
-Nate
I first learned about the Taunus in the 1980s and at first I thought someone had misspelled “Ford Taurus”. (embarrassing admission)
Very interesting to me, living in the UK, to learn about these ‘parallel universe’, German Fords. The cars in the first picture bear some resemblance to the Ford 100E and 107E.
Yes; the ’49 Ford’s slab-sided pontoon styling quickly found its way across the Atlantic.
An interesting story, thanks for the quick review. My first thought is how the color print on that photo has held up so poorly, which is a shame.
Perhaps somebody can enlighten us. But I remember many early 50’s brochures in my house, from the time my parents got married, that seemed brand new and had been kept dry and in the dark. Most had the same colors. I guess low cost, low quality printed pictures may have had those colors from new.
or acidic paper?
A few of them just have been imported into the US, as my folks owned one in the mid-Fifties. It was a brief ownership; the story was that it caught on fire. Unfortunately it was one of the few cars my dad didn’t take any pictures of.
Interesting. My source says that the German Ford Taunus wasn’t sold in the US until 1958, but that some were imported privately before then.
Ford in Britain were making the side valve [flathead] Popular 100E until 1962 as well with a 3 speed gearbox. The engine was a development of that used in the Model Y from the 1930s and I assume the German engine had the same origins.
When the 105E Anglia with reverse rake screen was introduced in 1959 the previous model was renamed Popular and continued as a budget offering.
Right. I forgot about the renamed Popular 100E. Sure enough, the 1172 cc versions of both the UK and German Ford four have the same bore and stroke dimensions, so they are essentially the same engine.
This was a quick post last night; now I wish I had spent more time on it.
For that matter the E494A Anglia (and subsequent 103E Popular) were even more antiquated than the G93A Taunus, which at least had an all-steel turret top and headlights integrated in the fenders a la ’39 US Ford while the Brit made do with a fixed fabric insert and freestanding headlights. The Anglia didn’t have the imperative of staying upmarket from/justifying a higher price than a VW, though.
I wonder if this was the era in which the pattern was set that British Ford was stronger than German Ford while Opel was stronger than Vauxhall, or was that die already cast in the ’30s?
I’m quite sure that was the case already ever since the Ford Motor Company in England was established in 1909. Dagenheim, built in 1929, and was Europe’s largest car factory. Ford Germany got a later start; their new plant in Cologne was pretty big too, but Ford struggled to utilize it fully, as Ford sales in Germany were not as strong. In 1933, they were #8 in the market; by 1938 they had managed fourth place. Yes, they were always behind Opel, which was Europe’s biggest manufacturer until VW took the crown away in the early-mid 50s.
Vauxhall had been a much smaller brand.
So it had parallel wipers in 1949, way before they started to trickle into US cars (1960 Falcon, 1962 Galaxie). Somehow they got the wiper sweep backwards, just like when parallel wipers were first on the 1961 Lincoln. (I only know this having owned a ’62.) Lincoln didn’t fix that until they went back to body on frame in 1970. I guess there must be some concept behind that but it’s wrong, leaving a blind spot in the upper corner on the driver’s side.
And a curved one piece windshield unlike the American Ford shoebox. The windshield is the one thing that makes the shoebox look old. Other than that it’s pretty much the prototype for every sedan since.
Any idea what the “M” stood for?
It was originally intended to be called “Taunus 12 Meisterstück” (Masterpiece), but that name was already controlled by a bicycle manufacturer, so they just used the letter “M” to differentiate it from its predecessor.
Perhaps somebody can enlighten us. But I remember many early 50’s brochures in my house, from the time my parents got married, that seemed brand new and had been kept dry and in the dark. Most had the same colors. I guess low cost, low quality printed pictures may have had those colors from new.
I must have been 3 or 4 years old when my father had a greenish metallic one, a Taunis globe. I still remember he came home one summer night with or better without the windshield, it was shattered and he put some pieces of cardboard in it.
I was probably fascinated by this event because I had to sit in the car and I still remember the warm summer wind in my face.
The Taunus must have later been replaced for a Z12 Panhard Tigre. In violet with tiger print upholstery.
Local news in El Salvador made mention of a 1956 Taunus station wagon in a ‘car cemetery’ that I’ve yet to locate. The ‘cemetery’s’ owner referred to the Taunus as his favorite in the lot. The guy seems rather humble, and is more interested in buying car remnants and keeping them on the lot, whether anything sells or not. Sounds more like a hobby of his.
https://historico.elsalvador.com/historico/749151/autos-clasicos-coleccionista-salvadoreno.html
Wow; what finds there are down there.
Like Paul I remember these Ford Taunus 12 M “Weltkugel” from my childhood. Without fact checking I guess they had drum brakes all around, hopefully hydraulic ones. The rear suspension was certainly a rigid axle on flat springs. The rear axle certainly got jumpy on bad roads…..and the roads were bad in those times. Nonetheless, they were successful because the consumers weren’t spoiled yet in those early years of the Wirtschaftswunder. Better than a motorcycle for sure.
These Taunuses were regular sightings for me in California – in 1/87th scale from Märklin and Wiking in the model train department of our local hobby shop.
Oh yes!
In my opinion the Wiking models were the highest fidelity of the various scale model brands out there.
We got the UK models also sharing the 49 shoebox styling Consul Zephyr and Zodiac but they had the new oversquare OHV engines and Mac phearson struts up front so were technically more advanced than the Taunus We also got the UK sourced flathead models with mildly updated FordY engines and mechanical brakes untill the modern ‘looking’ 100E came along it retained flathead power untill just before the end when it morphed into the 107E with 998 OHV and four speed which carried on in the 105E Angle box.
Looking back, it still intrigue same that UK Ford and German Ford could be so similar, share so much (like basic engines, styling themes) and still be so different.
Seeing a German Ford in the UK prior to the Cortina mk4/Taunus, Granada generation was an event to say the least!
GM were little better, though the pairing between the relatively small Vauxhall and Opel did start a little earlier, in the early 60s, than Ford of Europe, with the Escort, Capri and Transit in the late 60s.
It has a wart in the middle of its forehead.
To be kinder, it is otherwise one of the better executions of large styling writ small, but it is still a bit like a tiny-wheeled bolster.
GM worked out that to get large styling small, it has also to be low, and that led directly to the Corvair. To which they fitted swing axles.
And some think there cannot be a post about a German car from this period without mentioning those.