Ford Taunus P4

Ford Taunus 12M ( 1965-1966 )

The Taunus 12M P4 ( = Project 4, that is, the fourth new car design at Ford-Werke in Cologne since the end of World War II ) was a mid-sized cars with V4 engine and front-wheel drive, which was manufactured from September 1962 to August 1966.

From September 1965 on the right front fender - still small and inconspicuous (see photo on the right, enlarged) - below a manufacturer emblem, the so-called "Ford - plum " attached. The " 12" in the model designation stood for the displacement of the first embodiment, the "M" for "masterpiece".

Originally the cars in the U.S. by Ford in Detroit under the name "Cardinal" was designed to compete with the time there very successful VW 1200. After completion of the development and review of its market opportunities and costs in the U.S., a local production was discarded and submitted the design to the German Ford subsidiary. Until the P4 got its final shape, some prototypes were manufactured in Cologne in 1960. Visible characteristics of American origin remained the only red taillights without a separate indicator, the bowl-shaped steering wheel and constructed in the USA V engine. This V4 engine was still produced later in the displacement variants and used in other vehicles, from Ford himself among others in 17 m, transit and Capri, but also since 1966 by Saab in 96 first alternative to the two-stroke engine and Matra in the Matra 530 the P4 sold in Germany for the short period of only four years well.

Engine and transmission

The four-cylinder four-stroke V - engine with a V- angle ( " Bank angle" ) of 60 ° was mounted longitudinally in front of the front axle. As with other four-cylinder V-engines in cars such as SAS or Lancia also had each connecting rod crankpin its own, that is, the three -bearing crankshaft had four cranks. In this engine the cylinder one and three were on one side and two and four on the other side, they were thus counted as a series motor and non-banking example in which two connecting rods have a crank pin as usual in V engines. With a stroke of 58.86 mm with a bore of 80 mm, it is (1.2 L ) designed quite short stroke. In order to reduce the inertia forces and moments and to achieve a smoother running, the engine had a balance shaft. Nevertheless, the refinement was worse than comparable four-cylinder engines. A gear wheel on the crankshaft drove the compensation and the camshaft sprocket on the crankshaft an.Das was made ​​of steel, the gear on the camshaft and the teeth pass to the balancer shaft of fabric-reinforced phenolic resin ( Novotex ). The balance shaft was also the V-belt pulley. Above- the crankshaft between the cylinder banks ( "central" ) camshaft operated the valves hanging over tappets, pushrods and rocker arms. The water cooling system with pump, thermostat and radiator fan running constantly had a frost-proof permanent filling. This coolant came from the pump, starting first in the attached to the bulkhead between the engine and interior heater core with electric fan, from the during the heating turned off the hot air was passed down into the open and when heating is on in the interior. Once the operating temperature had been reached, the front of the built-in motor, by flowing the air stream was included in the main cooling circuit. From September 1964, the color of the valve cover was close to the engine power: Green = 40 hp, 50 hp = blue, red = 65 hp. The 55 - PS version fell out of the motor program.

The force was transmitted to the front wheels via a single-plate and a fully synchronized four-speed transmission with column shift. Each drive shaft consisted of a hollow part coming from the transmission with a simple universal joint, in which the leading part of the wheel could move axially relative to the length compensation, protected by a collar. Advantage the P4 was that had to be removed at a clutch repair neither engine nor transmission.

Chassis and Body

The P4 was the first front-wheel drive Ford, during the first years of construction with an idiosyncratic front axle: the wishbone were mounted on engine-transmission block, the place to fulfill a supporting function. The transverse leaf spring overhead, however, attached to a cross-member of the welded to the supporting floor structure body. Since autumn 1964, the wishbone on were hinged to the front elongated base frame and the motor is elastically suspended and largely vibration-free. Through the front-wheel drive is suspended on two leaf springs rigid rear axle could be easily maintained, which is a relatively soft suspension allowed. As a drawback, however, proved the strong side slope during cornering because of the weak -scale cross- stabilizers. To mitigate this peculiarity, received the 1964 P4 harder shock absorbers. To improve the steering and track features the front leaf spring was stored at two points. The rear stabilizer fell in conjunction with these measures away.

Since the model year 1965, disks instead of drum brakes used on the front axle.

There were two - and four-door sedans, a three-door station wagon model, which in contrast to the wagon versions of the other series, not the name " tournament" was wearing, as well as a coupe based on the two-door sedan with a shortened roof and very tilted rear window. A stylistic feature of the bodies was the horizontally extending, forwardly tapering bead on the side panels, which resulted in drop-shaped tail lights. The continuous red taillights contained according to the American origin ever only a two -filament bulb, the one thread as a tail light and the other alternately as brake lights and direction indicators (blinkers ) was used. The electrical system was 6 volt.

The coupe was released in August 1963. It was equipped with the 55 -horsepower engine and a top speed of 146 km / h Despite a shorter roof and around 3 cm on 1424 mm height, it offered a similarly large interior space as the sedan, the rear but with a lower 5 cm headroom. Since September 1964, the 55 -horsepower engine was replaced by the 65 - PS version. As of April 1966, the coupe was also available on request with the 50 hp engine.

Record run

In 1963 a standard- 12M on a racetrack in miramas to more than 100 world records. Within 142 days of the car put 356,273 km with an average speed of 106.48 km / h back ( company Mistral 300,000 ).

Specifications

• The combined weighed 930 kg.