The Ford Taunus TC is a range of large family cars that were manufactured and marketed by Ford Germany across three generations from 1970 to 1982. The Taunus TC and Ford UK's Cortina range were rebadged variants of each other, the "TC" badge standing for Taunus Cortina. For all but the first generation (which had significant outer sheet metal differences), the two cars were identical apart from badging and trim.
Taunus TC (1970–1975) In September 1970, a new Taunus, the "Taunus Cortina" (TC), was introduced by Ford Germany. Ford offered a two or four door saloon and a five-door estate (identified as with previous Taunus estates, as the Taunus Turnier).
Between 1970 and 1975, when the Taunus TC gave way to the Taunus TC2, a fashionable fastback coupé was also included in the Ford Taunus range. Unlike in Britain, Ford Germany saw a niche in the market for a more "sensible" coupé model than the Capri, which also meant that care was taken to retain as much as possible of the saloon's luggage and rear seat accommodations.Auto-Universum 1971, p. 28
Origins The Ford Taunus TC series was conceived in the late 1960s to be a "world car" alongside its technical sibling the Cortina Mk III, with development and design work taking place on both sides of the Atlantic. The car was developed under the supervision of Semon E. "Bunkie" Knudsen, till February 1968 a high profile General Motors executive and from early 1968 till Autumn/Fall 1969 Ford's Dearborn-based chairman. The car is often nicknamed "Barock 2" (recalling the Taunus P2 series of the late 1950s, commonly known as the "Barock-Taunus") or "Knudsen-Taunus" in Germany, because of the prominent hood/bonnet scoop that, as the legend has it, was put there on direct order from Knudsen. Otherwise the major design work is rumoured to have been done by German car designer Luigi Colani, who later supplied design concepts for BMW's motorcycle division in the late 1970s.
The lower end of the market segment previously occupied in Germany by the Ford Taunus P6 being targeted, since 1968, by the smaller Escort, the Taunus TC was presented as a slightly upmarket replacement for the P6 which ceased production in August 1970.Oswald, p. 404 The wheelbase of the new car was longer than that of the P6 but the Taunus TC had shorter overhangs, so that overall it was slightly shorter. Nevertheless, it was noted that the TC appeared from the outside to be larger than it was, which many buyers appreciated. The interior was no longer free of a transmission tunnel, since with the Anglo-German design of the Taunus TC, Ford Germany abandoned, for the time being, front-wheel drive for this class of car, asserting that rear wheel drive was less expensive and simpler to produce and to maintain.Oswald, pp. 404 & 406 (The obvious benchmark in the market place for the TC, the Opel Ascona, would also retain a "conventional" rear wheel drive configuration till 1981.)
Option packages
The standard Taunus was marketed as the "Taunus N", with progressively more extensive or sporty packages were identified in 1970 with the suffixes "L", "XL", "GT", and "GXL". The base version was not manufactured in large numbers, with most customers selecting higher trim levels.Auto-Universum 1971, pp. 32–33 A similar approach with "options packages" was introduced in Germany by Opel at this time.
The L was a more comfortably equipped base version, with the XL adding certain luxuries such as height adjustable front seats, a clock, and larger headlights. The sporty GT (not available as a 1.3, as for the GXL) received bucket seats with built-in headrests, full instrumentation, a leather steering wheel, and twin headlamps amongst other equipment. Lastly, the top-of-the-line GXL added all the comforts of the XL with the sporty equipment of the GT and additional extras such as a vinyl roof, a dual-tone horn, and deeper carpeting.
Cortina Mk III, UK This model also formed the basis of the Cortina Mk III, but with different door skins and rear wing pressings from the "coke-bottle" styling of the Cortina. In addition, there was never a Cortina III equivalent to the fastback bodied Taunus TC coupé. The unification of Ford Europe's model range had started with the Escort and Capri and was continued (albeit to a lesser degree) with the Taunus and Cortina. The Taunus TC and Cortina Mk III were thus both developed under the auspices of Ford of Europe, and most major components, including the entire floorpan, were identical.Auto-Universum 1971, p. 25
Technical progress Significant advances were made with the rear suspension. The previous large Taunus had featured a rigid rear axle, suspended using traditional leaf-springs, but with the TC Ford used a rear suspension configuration involving coil springs, with the axle located using two longitudinal and two lateral linkages. The front wheels, no longer driven, were suspended with a conventional wishbone suspension, which eschewed shock absorbers and gave the car a soft 'freeway' ride and, with the heavier 6-cylinder engines, a tendency to excessive understeer. Press criticism of the trade-off between the car's road-holding and ride comfort soon evolved into a more general critique, not convincingly addressed by the manufacturer for several years, that Ford had launched the Taunus TC before they had finished developing it.
A telescopic steering column designed to collapse in the event of a frontal collision (rather than penetrate the driver's chest) had been mainstream in competitor models from Opel and Volkswagen for some time, and with the TC Ford now also incorporated this safety feature on their new mid-size range for Germany and mainland Europe.
Engines Despite obvious US-management pressure to maximize commonality under the skin, the range of engines fitted on the Taunus TC differed from that on contemporary Cortinas in respect of the less powerful cars, and the UK company's venerable ohv Kent engine never found its way into the Belgian assembled Ford Germany version of the car.Auto-Universum 1971, p. 26 The rather lumpy V4 engine that had powered the Taunus P6 models in the 1960s (and which, in enlarged and more powerful form, would live on to power Ford Germany's Transit vans and full-size Granada model through much of the 1970s) was also passed over for the Taunus TC. The less powerful Taunus TCs were powered by a new four-cylinder OHC engine that was shared with the newly introduced American Ford Pinto and was offered, at this stage, with 1294 cc or 1593 cc: a 1993 cc version of the four-cylinder engine would be added from 1976 in the Taunus TC2.Oswald, pp. 406, 407, 411 In the meantime, signalling a move away from the strategy followed with the Taunus P6, customers willing to pay for more power could now specify one of the compact V6 units carried over from the top range P7 models, the six-cylinder engines offering a choice between 1999 cc and 2294 cc engine displacements.Oswald, pp. 404, 407, 408
Transmission options All the Taunus engines except the smallest 1.3-litre unit could be specified in combination with a Borg-Warner B35 three-speed automatic transmission in place of the standard four speed manual box.
1973 facelift The Taunus TC received its only significant facelift in September 1973. Through the 1960s rival manufacturer Opel had set the pace in terms of frequent model changes and facelifts, reflecting North American practice and the deep pockets of its General Motors parent. The mainstream German owned automakers that had survived till 1970 had not attempted to follow Opel down this path, but Ford had settled into a pattern of generally four-year model changes. From production statistics between 1970 and 1973 the Taunus TC was evidently a commercial success, but in 1974 sales were dipping alarmingly, as customers waited for a new Ford Taunus. A new Taunus was not yet ready for launch, but in September 1973 the existing model received a facelift with various changes in respect of trim package and engine combinations. The Taunus TC also received a new grille, now incorporating a second pair of front lights: rectangular headlights, reflecting contemporary styling trends, but hitherto restricted to the "XL" (and more exalted) trim packages, now became standard across the Taunus range.Oswald, pp. 404, 405, 408 The other major change was to the interior, with the steeply sloping and highly stylised dashboard of the original car replaced by a more angular and plainer design but with much improved ergonomics – this fascia would stay with the Taunus into the TC2 and TC3 versions. Ford Germany's Taunus output, which had slumped from 245,955 cars in 1973 to 138,357 in 1974, recovered to 181,530 in 1975.Oswald, p. 357
On manual transmission 1593 cc four-cylinder engined cars September 1973 also saw small changes to the gear ratios for second and third gear. At this time lateral stabilizer bars were also fitted front and back which provided a belated answer to widespread criticism of the original car's propensity to wallow when changing direction or driving on irregular road surfaces.Oswald, pp. 406–407
Commercial Ford Taunus TC production (units): 1970 59,821 1971 253,283 1972 233,366 1973 245,955 1974 138,357 1975 181,530 (from end Nov, TC2)
This data covers the Ford Taunus TC cars produced by Ford Germany. It does not include Ford Cortinas which were assembled in Dagenham The Ford Taunus TC was more visually striking that its predecessor and was welcomed on account of its good looks. Overall evaluation of the car's commercial success should perhaps combine data for both the Taunus TC and the Cortina Mk III which got off to a slow start thanks to a lengthy plant shut down resulting from a succession of strikes in 1970. Nevertheless, separating out figures for the Ford Taunus TC, produced under the auspices of Ford Germany at their Belgian plant, an hour down the road from their German head office, approximately 250,000 cars were produced during each of the three years 1971, 1972 and 1973, and in each of these years the Taunus TC was Ford Germany's top seller. Year by year output data for the rival Opel Ascona have not been located, but between 1970 and 1975 Opel produced 691,438 Ascona As,Oswald, p. 251 confirming that during its first three full years of production the Taunus TC was in the till now unusual position, for a German Ford, of outselling its Opel rival.
World auto sales were badly hit by the 1973 oil crisis. Ford Germany output in 1974 was down by slightly under 40% on the previous year. (Opel output was down by 33% over the same period.Oswald, p. 171) Even in 1974 the Taunus was Ford Germany's top model, beating the smaller cheaper Escort if only by a small margin. In 1975 Taunus output recovered to 181,530, although by now the Taunus was no longer Ford Germany's top performer, with 215,760 Escorts produced by Ford German in 1975, the Escort having belatedly gained wider appeal with German buyers, following the launch in December 1974 of the less cramped Mk II version.
Taunus TC2 (1976–1979)
At the end of November 1975, in time for the 1976 model year, production began of the Taunus series "GBTS", also known as the "Ford Taunus TC2".
Cortina comparisons