THE CORTINA’S SISTER
THE SAME, ONLY DIFFERENT
Named after a mountain range the Taunus was built by Ford of Germany from 1939 and sold throughout Europe. Various models were produced, all markedly different to the equivalent UK-built cars. Autumn 1967 saw a sporting version, the 15M RS, unveiled — it was the first Rallye Sport badged Ford. To streamline production, in 1970 Ford of Germany and Ford of England merged forming Ford of Europe.That September theTC (Taunus Cortina) was introduced, built on the Mk3 Cortina platform. Ford offered theTC as two or four-door saloons and a five-door estate, a fastback coupe was later introduced before theTC was superseded by the TC2 in 1975. In 1982 the European model range was replaced by the Sierra.
Getting comfortable
The interior had sun-bleached seat backs and was largely beige. “The seat stuffing turned to dust so I bought a black vinyl pre-facelift rear seat. The fronts are, I believe, from a 1970s Porsche. They almost look like the Ford Tombstones but are more comfortable, I’d previously tried MX-5 seats but they were too small. I also put in a new headlining and found some retro Sharp speakers for the parcel shelf — usually the first change I made to cars back in the day. The only issue currently is I want to fit a rev counter but the 1.6 Taunus didn’t come with one, the 2-litres had a V6 and the Cortina version has different wiring.”
The Taunus was back on the road in May. “Thanks to the lockdown I had more free time on the car which encouraged me to get it finished,” admits David. “I’ve since done about 200 miles. The first change I made was to pull out the straight-cut gearbox I’d installed — too noisy for normal driving so the standard four-speed went back in.
“I was also having an issue with the 44 IDF downdraught carbs, after using the laser thermometer from my pizza oven I determined cylinders two and four were firing intermittently. I ended up cleaning the carbs four times and it still needs a rolling road session to get them perfect. Probably the most worthwhile change was to a Bestek electronic ignition I was really impressed with that. I’ve added aftermarket clear rear lenses since the originals were scuffed and I expected people to hate the wheels but, so far, no one has. I have some Rostyles ready to go on if I change my mind.
“My kids love the Taunus, it’s good fun to drive and very involving compared to a modern. It’s just what I wanted — a car I rebuilt and only had to do the nice jobs on. Next I really fancy getting a Mk1 or Mk2 Granada two-door.”
“I EXPECTED PEOPLE TO DISLIKE THE SCHMIDT WHEELS BUT SO FAR NO ONE HAS!”