1975 Ford Taunus Coupé

“Todo lo que un auto deportivo debe ser.”

“Everything what a sports car needs to be.” — the Argentinian ad certainly exaggerates a little: the Ford Taunus Coupe, despite its sporty appearance, was pretty standard fare.

Our pictured Coupe was born in Argentina, where 2,484 copies were assembled in 1975. When new, it looked a little different. Ingenious Cuban craftsmen “modernized” it with a little help from Russia. The clandestine redesign actually contains parts of at least four different cars. Up front, the lights of a Russian Moskvich 2141 Aleko and a grille insert of unknown origin make the car appear newer than it actually is. The taillights of a GAZ-24 Volga fit perfectly in the Taunus rear end. Plastic bumpers complete the stylish overhaul. 

On the bonnet you can notice remnants of the characteristic “Knudsen nose” that adorned the original design. Semon E. Knudsen came to Ford in 1968 after a long career at General Motors, where he was best known for grandiosely changing the image of Pontiac from “stuffy” to “performance brand”. His tenure at Ford, however, wasn’t that successful — after just 19 months both sides parted ways, with a telling farewell comment by Henry Ford II: “It didn’t work out.”

But until then, Knudsen had the opportunity to impose his American touch on the German Ford Taunus and its British sister model Cortina that were jointly developed at Ford’s European branches during that time.

When the Taunus was launched in 1970, many customers happily bought into the trendy muscle car aesthetics. Experts, however, weren’t impressed. The Ford Taunus even received the “Silver Lemon” award by Germany’s leading automobile club, ADAC, for its mediocre build quality and susceptibility to breakdowns. Yet, after the teething problems were cured, the Taunus became a successful mainstay in the German Ford lineup.

Ford Argentina could choose between the American Ford Maverick and the European Ford Taunus to be produced in its Pacheco plant. The decision went in favor of the Taunus because it had the right size and was available as a 4-door sedan as well. On top of that, Ford Europe planned a redesign for 1974, hence the expensive body molds and tooling from Europe were available for shipping to Argentina.

The engines, however, to be produced in Argentina and based on American designs, required an extensive chassis adaptation to cope with their heavier weight. The production of the 4-door sedan began in 1974. A year later, after the production of the German Taunus fastback coupe had terminated, the stamping tools were shipped to Argentina and the production of the Coupe commenced in January 1975. The Taunus should remain in Argentinian production until 1985, with 293,000 units produced overall.