Ford Taunus P1

Ford Taunus 12M (1952-1962) Ford Taunus 15M (1955-1959)
Weltkugeltaunus (1952 - 1958)
Overview
Manufacturer	Ford Germany
Also called	Ford Taunus P1 „Weltkugeltaunus“ (Globe Taunus) till 1958 „Seitenstreifentaunus„(Side-stripes Taunus) from 1959
Production	1952–1962 (12M) 1955-1959 (15M)
Assembly	Cologne-Niehl, Germany
Body and chassis
Class	Small family car (C)
Body style	2-door saloon 3-door “Kombi” estate car 2-door cabriolet
Powertrain
Engine	1172 cc Ford Sidevalve engine 4-cylinder in-line water-cooled 1498 cc Ford Sidevalve engine 4-cylinder in-line water-cooled optional from 1955
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2,489 mm (98.0 in)
Length	4,060 mm (159.8 in)
Width	1,580 mm (62.2 in)
Height	1,500 mm (59.1 in)
Curb weight	850–930 kg (1,874–2,050 lb)
Chronology
Predecessor	Ford Taunus “Buckeltaunus”
Successor	Ford Taunus 12M P4

The Ford Taunus P1 is a small family car which was produced by Ford Germany from 1952 until 1962. It was marketed as 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, 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. 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 the 1930s.

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 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 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).