Seven Strange Fords You’ll Never See

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Mac’s Motor City Garage presents a fresh batch of automotive oddities, this bunch all wearing the Blue Oval badge. 

 

When we say here are some cars you will never see, we might not mean you personally. It’s just a euphemism. You readers here at Mac’s Motor City Garage are some of the sharpest car people around, and you hail from all over the world. There isn’t much in the way of automotive product you folks haven’t seen.

Be that as it may, here are some unusual and interesting Fords, including a a few one-offs. Please enjoy, and as always, your input is welcomed.

 

Introduced in 1952, the Taunus M series was Ford of Germany’s first real postwar car. The M stands for Meisterstück—in English, Masterpiece. The 12M, shown here, employed modern styling with flow-through fenders, but the engine was a vintage 1172cc L-head four sporting 38 hp.

The Taunus M series is an easy car to identify due to its unique styling feature: a big chrome knob-type thing in the leading edge of the hood. At the moment, we can’t think of another car that shares it. The second-generation M series introduced in 1959 employed somewhat stunted but more conventional knob-less styling.

 

In 1914 the cyclecar craze was sweeping the country, threatening the low-price market dominated by the Model T Ford. In theory, anyway. Intrigued (or baffled, possibly) by the phenomenon, Henry Ford built his own version of a cyclecar—essentially a lightweight, downsized Model T. Then he parked his creation at the Hotel Pontchartrain in downtown Detroit, frightening the cyclecar industry into folding. Or so the story goes. The cyclecar movement was doomed in any event.

Ford’s lone cyclecar prototype was on display at the Henry Ford Museum for many years, and today resides in a private collection.

 

Two things you’ll encounter in Australia not seen in the United States: an affection for Ford’s Falcon brand, and a healthy market for car-based pickups, which they call Utes. The Falcon nameplate was discontinued in 1970 in the USA, but it continues Down Under to this day.

The Falcon lineup perennially includes a Ute model, for example the FG series Falcon Ute shown here, which was introduced in 2008. Unfortunately, Ford Australia will end production of home market cars in October of 2016, and Utes and Falcons will be no more. (Update: The last Ford built in Australia rolled off the line on October 7, 2016.) 

 

Once his mighty Highland Park Model T plant on Woodward Avenue was up and running, Henry Ford toyed with the idea of an electric car along similar lines, produced in great volume at low cost. The battery-powered car would bear the name of his friend and idol, Thomas Edison.

An additional parcel of land across the street from the Highland Park plant was purchased, and at least two prototypes were constructed. The first test mule, above, bears an interesting resemblance to Ford’s original 1896 Quadricycle. The project never got beyond the experimental stage. However, Mrs. Henry Ford drove a 1908 Detroit Model C electric car, and Henry often piloted his small electric boat along the River Rouge at his Fair Lane estate.

 

Holy anachronism, it’s a 1981 Falcon. Ford of Argentina manufactured the Falcon, with first-generation, early 1960s sheet metal, from 1962 to 1991. Conservative updates every few years included trim changes, a new dash, and ultimately, the adoption of rectangular seal-beam headlamps in 1978.

These Falcons were very popular for taxi and police duty in Argentina, and they remain a familiar sight to this day. Nearly a half-million units were produced. Powerplants include the 170 CID Falcon six, the 2.3 liter Pinto four, and a 2.4-liter diesel.

 

The 1970 Torino King Cobra was Ford’s answer to the Dodge Daytona Charger in the NASCAR aero wars of 1969-71. Note the date on this factory photo: July 31, 1969. Even as the trick low-drag bodywork was being developed, Ford brass was preparing to back down the automaker’s massive motorsports program, and the project was killed.

Just two street versions of the homologation special were assembled, reportedly, along with a clay mockup of a Mercury variant.

 

As part of Ford’s juggling of its product line for the Canadian market, the Meteor was offered from 1949 to 1976. Based on Ford models but sold through Mercury dealers up north, the Meteor offered a bit more chrome and flash than the American Ford.

Take this 1956 Meteor Rideau Crown Victoria, for example. Note the massive deep-vee chrome grille bar, which became a popular bolt-on among the custom car crowd in America back in the day.

 

15 thoughts on “Seven Strange Fords You’ll Never See”

  1. I’d never heard of the Argentian Falcon and it amuses me greatly.. This could have been Ford’s equivalent of the VW Beetle which also existed for decades with minimal changes. Less than a half million units in thirty years is pitiful though. It must have been rugged if it stood up to police and taxi work, but it must also have been unloved.

    I could use a Ute, I refuse to drive a vehicle that is twice as tall as it is wide. I don’t need more than the 1000# capacity of a modern car, but a need a bed. The Chevy SSR was a great idea until they gave it a price that made it impractical for all uses.

  2. Ute or Utility is actually short for Coupe Utility – the original name for this type of vehicle and it was us Australians who invented the Coupe Utility way back in the 1930s Utes are not PICK UPS as they are of unitary construction and are a derivative of the passenger car range . Pick ups, on the other hand usually have a separate chassis on to which a separate bed or load tray is bolted to. And generally are larger overall in size than a passenger car

    The German Taunus was Ford Germany’s first unitary body car [no separate chassis] and apart from the round domed badge protruding from the leading edge of the bonnet [“hood” to you ignorant yanks] its styling and dimensions were very similar to Ford of England’s Consul and Zephyr of the same period. The styling of the Taunus and Consul/Zephyr ranges was heavily influenced by American Fords of that period

    The Argentinian Falcons were infamous in their home country, as they were vehicle of choice for the Argentine secret police, frequently being used by that organization to snatch hapless Argentinians off the street.

    Missing from the line up is the FORD VEDETTE which was a V8 Ford passenger car built by Ford of France starting around 1947 and going through several incarnations before the design rights along with Ford’s entire French production facilities, were sold lock, stock and barrel by Ford to French car maker SIMCA, which itself was eventually acquired by Chrysler

  3. I haven’t had enough coffee yet to confirm, but I recall the European Fords beginning life as failed US attempts to create a small, low-cost car for the booming postwar economy that was now considering two-car fleets, but didn’t want two standard size cars.

    However, the crucial Ford mistake was to scale down an existing design, not to simplify meaningfully. The green eyeshades discovered It costs an hourly worker just as much time to zip gun a 1/4 inch nut as a 1/2 inch. (Curse you Volkswagen!) Thus, there was no meat on the bone, profit wise, because a smaller car commands a smaller price.

    Both designs were franchised overseas to recover at least some of their investment, which did in fact help to establish Ford in markets where they were wistfully recalled for their prewar goodness. Likewise, the Taunus would set the table for Cortina’s unit construction, the first to embrace airframe design principles in a passenger car.

    Also, Bill, it would be worth digging out two very cool South American icons: the ’66 Galaxie, which soldiered for years with the classic 292 V-8 Y-block, and the Argentine Kaiser, essentially a more highly styled Rambler American with the SOHC Jeep inline six, a car Brock Yates predicted (begged, actually) in an editorial years before.

    • Not sure what you mean by both designs [ie the ford and VW] were franchised overseas. The Taunus was only built in Germany and sold only in European markets. VWs were built in various countries around the World but all the factories were owned by VW. And whilst a VW might look l externally the same to another VW produced elsewhere around the world, there were subtle differences depending on which country it was being built in.

      As for the Taunus setting the table for Cortina’s unit construction, not true. The first Ford England Consul and Zephyr which were released at the same time as the Taunus were of unitary construction from the word go The Taunus/ Consul/ Zephyr were not a direct copy, albeit scaled down, of a full size American Ford. It is certainly true both the German and English Fords styling was influenced by American Ford styling but both designs were indigenous.

      What is also true is that these Ford designs – styling and mechanically, were in part based on an aborted Chevrolet design, the Chevrolet Cadet which was designed by one Earl MacPherson and which was entirely of unitary construction and which he also incorporated in the design, another of his inventions, the integral shock absorber, coil spring unit which is now famously known as the MacPherson Strut and which can now be found on virtually every car now being produced. When Chevrolet decided against producing the Cadet, MacPherson resigned from Chevrolet and took his Cadet design along with his Coil strut design, to Ford. The rest, as they like to say, is history.

      The reason aircraft design techniques were used in designing the first Cortina – although the technique had been previously employed on a limited basis in the designing of the Edsel – was that Ford America was attempting to impose on Ford England a FWD V4 engined design codenamed the Cardinal [which eventually ended up being produced by Ford Germany as the Taunus] Ford England thought the design too expensive to produce and that it probably wouldn’t sell, let alone make a decent profit for Ford, so proposed their own design instead. In order to win Dearhorn’s approval, Ford England needed to demonstrate they could build their design cheaper than the Cardinal design, Ford England had worked out that they could keep manufacturing costs down as well as producing a strong but light bodyshell by employing aircraft design techniques, specifically stressed skin design techniques. The end result was the Cortina which went on to become one of Fords most successful designs ever.

  5. Hi everyone,
    Please forgive the delay in some posts appearing. The spam filters are snagging them somehow — we’re tweaking it. Thanks for your patience. -MCG

  6. And don’t forget that the Maverick was produced in Brazil fo many years after it left the US market. Mavericks have a huge following in Brazil and Mexico.

    • Absolutely. Ford Brazil also took over the Willys Aero, which went through a couple of reskins down there, one by Brooks Stevens. The 2300 I4 was built there too, good engine.

  7. I’m usually not impressed by muscle cars but I remember the first time I saw the King Cobra in a magazine as a kid and was totally smitten. No one can honestly say that it’s beautiful or even pretty but, for me, it has an absolute magnetic presence. I finally had the privilege of seeing one in person at this year’s Louisville Concours and I was dazzled.

    • John Slee, the Argentine Falcon was based on the original XK Falcon released in America in1959 as a 1960 year model. Throughout its entire production run, the Argentinian Falcon was pure XK Falcon. the only things changed on it during its production run, apart from the fitting of 4 cylinder engines towards the end of its production life was the front and rear sheet metal – mostly in the form of different grills, headlights and tail lights. Much of the updated items were taken from the parts bin for other Ford vehicles being built or assembled in Argentina at the time, for example the ovoid tail lights and rectangular headlights were from the Ford Taunus that was assembled by Ford Argentine.

      The Australian XA/XB/XC Falcons were built on the floor pan that debuted with the XR Falcon and which was entirely different to that of the XK/XL/XM/XP Falcon series. XA/AB/XC Falcon styling, although similar to American Fords of the same period was done entirely in house by Ford Australia. The Cobra Falcon was essentially a Falcon Coupe tarted up and was a marketing exercise by Ford Australia to use up stocks of the two door Falcon body shell. The two door Falcon not being the sales success Ford had expected. [They were too big, heavy on petrol, the rear sheet metal design made rear visibility for the driver negligible and very difficult to manoeuvre in to parking spaces and consequently the buying public stayed away in droves]

      • Er yeah sorry I meant the Torino jobbie, not the Argentinean. Got my captions mixed up. Oops.

        Compare the rear quarter window and fender shape of the Torino Cobra to the XA-XC. Obviously some design sharing going on there.

        • Ir was [and still is] common practice for a design from a division of a car maker to resemble the design from another division of that same car maker even thought there has been no design collaboration between the two divisions involved, hence why the XA-XC Falcon resembles the Torino.

          Prime examples in the case of Ford is Ford England’s Mark Two Consul/Zephyr looking similar to an American Ford of the time. and Ford Australia’s XD Falcon looking like an enlarged Ford Europe Ford Granada

  9. The Falcon ute has been a bolt on tray since 99. They came as traytop or bed type. Good vehicles and very strong. Drive like a car almost unlike the imported utes that ride like a dray. Current model is FG not XG, that was 93-96.
    The Argentine Falcons were a bit dated in the 70s yet alone the 90s. I hope they built the bodies like the Aussie one. The US models are quite fragile. As was the XK in Oz.
    The XR -XY Falcon were a different car to the XA XB XC. As different as the 60-66 ones were to the XR. And those big fat XA XB XC coupes had a hint of Torino styling, that is all.
    Not dissimilar underneath however and many things actually interchange but no sheet metal at all.
    The Crown Vic and the 4 door versions seemed to be different in every market. In Oz we only got more basic 4 door models though by 57-58 they had a quite a lot of ‘bling’ Called Customlines and the utes, yes utes were Mainlines. All V8s 272 and 292.

    • As for seven strange Fords I guess it is where you live I have both FG ute and traytop here. See early Falcons in the area regularly and have had a cyan blue 56 Customline drive by twice today. [it is local] And sold some wheels to a chap with a Mk1 Zephyr recently. And early Mustangs are very common here too. And a few very late ones around too.

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