The 1960 Ford Taunus 17M is one of those cars that has slipped from view, yet its styling had global influence.
Its shape found its way onto the 1961 Lincoln Continental, 1961 Ford Thunderbird, many Chryslers and even the 1971 VH Valiant.
Yes, the ’71 Valiant!
The Taunus’s styling was the work of German born Uwe Bahnsen and his American boss, Wes Dahlberg.
The design idea was called “Line of Reason”.
It involved a recurring oval theme of curved sheet metal defined by sharp edges which gave it the characteristics of an aircraft fuselage.
Oval headlights, curved side glass (the first in a mainstream European car), an absence of rear fins, thin upturned bumpers and minimal chrome enhanced the fuselage appearance.
Bahnsen had a stellar career with the blue oval, leading their European design studios and producing the Fiesta Mk I, Capri Mk II, Escort Mk II and Mk III, Cortina/Taunus Mk III and Mk IV, Granada Mk II, Sierra and Scorpio.
Dalhberg returned to the USA in 1967, and led the styling of the 1972 Lincoln Mk IV and 1971 Pinto.
Authors David Holls (former design director of General Motors) and Michael Lamm explain why we should pay more attention to the 17M.
In their book A Century of Automotive Style they said:
“In June 1958 Elwood Engel (one of Ford’s most senior US designers) toured the Ford German studios.
“Engel took a keen interest in the 17M, particularly its fender and hood contours.
“These looked like the designer had taken wire frames and formed stiff outlines of the fenders, covered the wire with light canvas and then had gently blown compressed air up into the canvas from beneath.
“The hood and fenders flared out ever so slightly, but there was a hard edge to where the ‘wires’ would have been.”
Back in the USA, Engel applied the theme to his proposal for the 1961 Thunderbird.
After a long and complicated sequence of events, Engel’s T-Bird became the Lincoln Continental.
The production T-Bird also used the 17M’s design theme.
In 1962 Engel was headhunted to Chrysler as its vice president of design.
At Chrysler, he would use the Taunus 17M/Continental/T-Bird design theme over and over again.
One of the designers who worked with Engel at Ford was Colin Neale.
He followed Engel to Chrysler.
In the late 1960s Neale managed the company’s international design studios, and had significant involvement with the fuselage themed 1971 VH Valiant.
Essentially, the VH ‘s shape is a 1970s version of the Taunus.
David Burrell is the editor of retroautos
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