padding: 1em 1em; text-align: left;"> Ford Taunus 17M (P2) production (units): 1957 16,520 1958 81,133 1959 77,508 1960 61,372 Most of the cars produced were sedans/saloons, but the total of 239,978 also included 45,468 estate/kombi bodied cars and (evidently not included in these data) more than 3,000 cabriolets, converted from sedans/saloons by the Cologne based coach-builder Karl Deutsch. </div></div> 1960 replacement In 1960 the Baroque Taunus was replaced with the Bathtub Taunus (Badewanne). The application of affectionately disrespectful names to Ford’s German models seems by now to have become a habit for the German press. In terms of the company’s own nomenclatures 1960 was the year that the Ford Taunus P2 was replaced by the Ford Taunus P3. Commercial Between 1957 and 1960 Ford produced 239,978 Taunus P2s. 45,468 of these were station wagons. This provided a welcome boost to the company’s domestic market share at a time when its only other mainstream model, the Ford Taunus P1 was lagging badly in the marketplace. However, during the same three-year period Opel produced 817,003 of their Opel Olympia Rekord model which competed in almost the same class. Coming second to General Motors in the high volume market segments in West Germany (which would soon be Europe’s largest national auto-market) became a habit that Ford would find hard to break in the ensuring decades. Reputation Around the time the Taunus P2 was replaced by the Taunus P3 tail fins abruptly fell out of fashion even in the USA, which was generally seen as the country that had invented them. The Baroque Taunus had attracted adverse comment for its over-ornate styling even while in production, and the modern clean design shaped for the P3 by Ford’s new styling guru, Uwe Bahnsen, invited unfavourable comparisons between the old and the new models. Second-hand values for the P2 were never strong, and this combined with inadequate rust protection to ensure that few survived for long enough to acquire "oldtimer status". Fifty years later, the car’s rarity and its 1950s style generate more positive reactions, at least among enthusiasts who are prepared to overcome the acute shortage of ready made replacement parts for the car. References Rosellen, Hanns-Peter: Ford-Schritte'', 1. Auflage, Zyklam-Verlag, Frankfurt / M. (1987/88), External links Ford-M-Modelle 1952–1972 P2 Mid-size cars Cars introduced in 1957 1960s cars