TIL

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 01/22/2019 at 16:25 • Filed to: Ford Taunus P2

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My history lesson today comes from my now !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which has a veritable cornucopia of little treasures.

To begin though, a little background. For much of the last century Ford’s European operations were based in Britain and Germany. Each of these operated as its own semi independent fiefdom with different models for the same market segment. Ford of Britain sold in the UK and its present and former colonies while Ford-Werke aimed at central Europe. This had the interesting and unintended consequence that Ford ended up supplying each side with military hardware during WW2.

If we move quickly on from this rapidly forgotten (especially by Ford) awkwardness we arrive at the late 1950s. Ford of Britain had the MkII Consul

Ford-Werke had the P2 Taunus

Because the two Fords kept to their respective areas you weren’t going to get a Taunus in the UK.

Except you could.

Against all reason and logic a UK importer brought in a presumably very small number of Taunuses and our friends at Motor magazine !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . They were reasonably impressed, commenting on how it could pull in top (third ) gear from 10 mph and had a fancy Golde steel sunroof as fitted to many Fords for decades after. It was also quite a lot more economical than the little MG 1300 I found yesterday.

Just Jeepin' > Cé hé sin 01/22/2019 at 16:34

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I somehow had missed most of the WWII  controversy, so this was interesting to dig into a bit.

A short read on Ford-Werke’s use of forced labor and their relationship to Ford during WWII, as documented by Ford:

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ford-motors-report-on-german-subsidiary-in-world-war-ii

Definitely awkward, but from that it doesn’t sound like the U.S. Ford company had any control over matters....

On the other hand, this much longer diatribe is pretty damning. Haven’t done much more than skim it.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Corporations/Ford_Fuhrer.html

Cé hé sin > Just Jeepin' 01/22/2019 at 16:43

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Yes, Ford were even paid compensation by the US government for bombing damage to the Cologne factory.

Henry I was a fairly nasty piece of work.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Cé hé sin 01/22/2019 at 16:47

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I’d like the two-tone model, please. Underpowered, and with a manual transmission and column shift.

Cé hé sin > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/22/2019 at 16:52

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I don’t think you had a choice other than the manual gearbox, though they did do a version with the S axomat automatic clutch.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Cé hé sin 01/22/2019 at 16:53

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It’s worth note that the P2's styling is quite consonant with the contemporary US market Fords.

Also worth note: the Soviets were making GAZ version Ford AA trucks and other variants, so Ford vehicles were not merely with the US, Britain, Canada, and Germany, but in a sense the USSR as well.

not for canada - australian in disguise > Cé hé sin 01/22/2019 at 17:07

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Another interesting fact of Ford’s international operations, starting out, Ford’s subsidiaries in the Commonwealth outside of Britain (so Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, so on and so forth) were subsidiaries of Ford of Canada, not Ford of Britain or Ford USA. Meaning the ute is technically a Canadian invention in a really roundabout way, as it was first created by Ford of Australia, which was created by Ford of Canada.

WilliamsSW > Just Jeepin' 01/22/2019 at 17:25

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Ford of Argentina has some very ugly history also - and quite a bit more recently then Ford of Germany. 

ranwhenparked > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/22/2019 at 22:17

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And, postwar, the Ford influence continued at GAZ in styling of the M21 Volga, especially the MkII facelift.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Cé hé sin 01/22/2019 at 23:15

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I never heard of Saxomat. Volkswagen had a funky two-speed transmission for a few years that would disengage when you had your hand on the shift lever, or vise versa.

Cé hé sin > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/23/2019 at 05:24

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The Saxomat  was used by several German makers in the 50s and 60s. It combined a manual gearbox with a centrifugal clutch which engaged as engine speed increased. This wouldn’t on its own allow you change gear so there was an electric over ride which released the clutch whenever you touched the gear lever. Sachs, who made the Saxomat, went on to do the VW unit you’re thinking of which appeared in Porsches and Citroens as well. This had a three or four speed box with a torque converter  for starting and an electrically operated clutch (just like the Saxomat) for gearchanging.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ranwhenparked 01/23/2019 at 08:59

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Then there was the ZIS limo, reverse engineered from a Packard, and the successive generations of ZIL limos ripping off Packard again , Cadillac, Lincoln...

ranwhenparked > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/23/2019 at 11:33

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And the Chaika limousines that were also Packard copies, with Chrysler transmissions.