Driving an affordable family sedan with a powerful six-cylinder under the hood - Ford made this possible with the Taunus in the 1970s.
Opel only offered four cylinders in the Ascona, the Commodore was one class higher.
VW was not yet a competitor in the middle class, the VW 411 (Type 4) flopped.
The Taunus brought real progress, especially with the engine. In 1970, the Ford Cologne car followed the P5 ("large bathtub") that had been discontinued three years earlier. But it also made the front-wheel drive and the rough V4 engines of the expiring P6 forgotten. Basically, these were simply sawed-through V8 units that the American parent company had found sufficient for the German market in the sixties.
The Taunus TC1 was a completely new car for the entry-level models with its rear-wheel drive and the smooth-running inline four-cylinders. In addition, the mid-size sedan looked lovely, like an American road cruiser. With the TC predecessors, visual restraint was considered a virtue - they celebrated the »perfect functionality« or the streamlined shape of the bathtub - many could not resist the creamy look of the Taunus TC.
"No one else was as American as the Taunus TC," says Jürgen Engelmann from the Taunus Fan Club.
Above all, the front with the wide, distinctive radiator grille turned out to be impressive: It is thanks to the then Ford CEO Semon Emil Knudsen.
He breathed an American flair into the Taunus, from the sweeping body lines to the large instrument clusters in the interior.
"In Knudsen-Taunus you sit like in a spaceship," says lover Engelmann, who in 1987 was the first car to drive a Taunus TC 1.6 liter with 75 hp after obtaining his driver's license.
This performance was easily enough at the time, because such a Taunus TC weighed only 1000 kilograms.
Only the 1.3-liter basic variant with 55 hp turned out to be underpowered.
Those who chose the Taunus 2.0 with 90 hp already got the V6 engine.
The top machine was the 2.3 with 108 hp.
In addition to the sedan, the Taunus was also available as an elegant coupé and a spacious station wagon.
The standard equipment of the TC was sparse with crank windows, bony manual transmission and a bare tin roof.
Extras such as a vinyl roof, radio, additional headlights or fine carpets were available for a surcharge.
With various facelifts, Ford made the Taunus TC more modern in the years that followed.
The undercarriage, which was initially very spongy, was retuned and got stabilizers.
Visually, the facelift was sober.
Chrome trim was removed, but there were more plastic elements on the bumpers and radiator grille.
In 1976 the baroque Knudsen nose disappeared, and the coupé was also taken off the market.
In 1982, Ford's traditional Taunus model was over.
With its successor, Sierra, the factual European design language finally returned to Ford's middle class.
Why that of all people?
When Semon E. "Bunkie" Knudsen had the Taunus TC developed, muscle cars were still booming in America: relatively inexpensive sedans and coupés off the shelf with great V8 performance.
An eight-cylinder would hardly have fit in the Taunus.
But even with a six-cylinder, the TC was an automotive dream in Germany in the early 1970s.
"A V-engine was considered American, was considered chic," says Engelmann from the Taunus Fan Club.
There was also a tasteful design.
Even the Knudsen Limo is a feast for the eyes for vintage fans.
The fastback coupé, which is reminiscent of American style icons such as the Dodge Charger, is an absolute eye-catcher.
A comparable Opel (US parent company GM) looked much more sober back then.
At most the Kadett-C-Coupé came across as sharp as a Knudsen-Taunus, but only offered four-cylinder engines.
With the individual facelifts, the new objectivity also moved into the Ford Taunus.
But even a later TC 80 with a lamellar grill and plastic trim remains essentially a mini road cruiser.
The technology under the sheet metal cover is the same on all TCs as on the Knudsen TC1 - for old Ford friends that means above all: rear-wheel drive.
Or as rear-wheel drive fans like to say: Drive across, see more!
In addition, there is a tough, almost indestructible engine technology.
The basic design of the four-cylinder in-line models is derived from the old Ford Eifel from the 1930s.
The cast iron blocks last practically forever - if only it weren't for the rust on the sheet metal lining around them!
Availability:
Hard to believe, 1.8 million copies of the Taunus TC1 Knudsen alone are said to have rolled off the production line.
But rust and tough everyday operation decimated the stock badly.
With TC2 and Co. the sheets became even thinner.
Nevertheless, the younger Taunus models built up to 1982 are most likely to be found today. But even well-groomed Knudsen models sometimes change hands.
It is worth taking a look at Great Britain, where the Ford Taunus TC was temporarily sold as a structurally identical Cortina.
Spare parts supply:
In 1977 a fire raged in the central warehouse at Ford Cologne, which destroyed almost all spare parts for the models at the time.
Body parts and interior replacements are only available for the Taunus today through slaughtered old cars.
It looks much better with technical components: all common wear parts are available as reproductions, so that a 50-year-old Taunus can be kept alive technically today.
The Motomobil company maintains a large range here.
Interest groups such as the Alt Ford Friends sometimes even produce small series of seat covers and other spare parts.
Spare part prices (exemplary):
Alternator: from 130 euros
Set of front brakes, new: approx. 80 euros
Fender, used: approx. 100 euros
Water pump: approx. 140 euros
Weak points:
Rust is rampant at the Ford Taunus like an epidemic. The nucleus is often the standing metal sheets in the engine compartment, where dirt and moisture collect in the folds. The gammel then eats its way over the strut domes up to the A-pillars. The sills are also vulnerable. If the area around the jack mounts only consists of puff pastry, restoration is usually no longer worthwhile. "With the Taunus, the only thing that really helps is: cover the roof with somewhat rust-free specimens with corrosion protection or cavity wax, otherwise you won't have long fun with the cars," emphasizes Engelmann. The engine technology, however, is pleasingly simple. There are hardly any auxiliary units; there is so much space in the engine compartment of the four-cylinder models that you can stand inside. The six-cylinders are also very robust, thanks to their V-shape they cool well and run wonderfully smoothly.The timing belts should be changed every 60,000 kilometers, but this has usually long been done with the still roadworthy veterans. The stylish vinyl roofs tend to crack with age, specialist companies offer new covers.
Price: Broken shacks and restoration objects can be found from 1000 euros.
Ready-to-drive Ford Taunus TC with patina in condition 3 cost from around 4000 euros upwards.
Well-groomed Knudsen are in the five-digit range.
Depending on the equipment and - especially with a six-cylinder - 13,000 euros and more are no longer uncommon.
Contact points on the Internet:
www.taunus-fan-club.com
www.forum.hecktrieb.de
www.alt-ford-freunde.de
