The Ford Taunus TC is a range of large family cars that were built by Ford Germany from 1970 until 1982. The Taunus TC was based on the same basic construction as the Ford UK's Cortina range, with the "TC" badge standing for Taunus Cortina.
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 sedan/saloon and a five-door station wagon/estate (identified as with previous Taunus station wagons, as the Taunus Turnier).
Between 1970 and 1975, when the Taunus TC gave way to the Taunus TC2, a fashionable fast-back 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 sedan's luggage and rear seat accommodations.
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 car
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. The 2,578 mm (101.5 in) wheelbase of the new car was 51 mm (2.0 in) 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. (The obvious benchmark in the market place for the TC, the Opel Ascona, would also retain a "conventional" rear wheel drive configuration till 1981.)
Packaging up the options list
Rather than specify optional extras from a long list of possibilities as might have happened a few years earlier, customers were now encouraged to select from a range of "equipment packages", identified by suffix letters. The standard Taunus was identified in sales material as the "Taunus N", while progressively more extensive or sporty packages of extras were identified in 1970 with the suffixes "L", "XL", "GT", and "GXL". The base version was not destined to be produced in large numbers, with Ford hoping that most customers would select one of the packages. A similar approach with "options packages" was being 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.
The British sibling
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 fast-back 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.
Source: Wikipedia
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